Short-Term Planning Causing Long-Term Financial Stress

In today’s economy where financial security is the motto, not enough people are living by it.

More than 80% of people who do not work with a financial advisor only plan their finances for the short term, according to a new global survey by deVere Group, the world’s largest independent international financial consultancy group.

The trend cuts across income brackets, ages, and nationalities, highlighting the growing need of sound financial advice in an increasingly cluttered fiscal landscape.

“In Japan, 40% of all share trades are now day trades, whilst in Britain a growing number of divorcing parents are reportedly raiding their pension pots,” Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere, said in a statement. “It is alarming as longer term planning gives people more opportunities and more time to reach their ultimate financial objectives – which for most of us is financial freedom.”

When asked the question, “Do you typically plan your finances ones year ahead, one to three years ahead, or three years or more ahead?” 82% of potential clients without an advisor responded with the first option.

The survey, conducted between June 2012 and May 2013, drew from a sample of 654 people aged between 25 and 75 years old in the middle to high net worth bracket. They were based in various countries including the UK, the US, Spain, Germany, France, South Africa, Japan, and the UAE.

“The earlier you start your financial strategy, the easier the journey to your financial goals will typically be,” Green says. “As we have seen across the world, governments are being forced to continually cute age-related benefits, meaning that older people will not be able to count on external support to the extent they have done in the past, so we have to be more financially self-reliant in retirement. Plus, we’re all living longer, and as such, the money we accumulate throughout our working lives has to go further than it ever has done before.”

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