He’s taken on the political establishment and (some would claim) won.
He’s taken on the media establishment and made a little progress there.
And now, Nigel Farage is taking on the financial establishment with the launch of his new daily email, Fortune & Freedom.
In this video, I share four important points to consider before you take any advice from Nigel Farage and his Fortune & Freedom investment newsletter.
Accompanied by a fairly blistering attack on financial advisers, Farage has launched a daily investment newsletter called Fortune & Freedom.
The unregulated newsletter claims to “show you the opportunities and ideas to help grow your wealth in a New Britain, unleashed after Brexit.”
Here are 4 things you should consider before signing up to Fortune & Freedom.
1 – Nigel isn’t a financial adviser
Farage has some experience, before politics, as a commodies trader on the London Metal Exchange.
Trading commodities has little relevance to the world of financial planning and investing.
His political experience is slightly more relevant, but not central to making smart investment decisions.
Farage’s partner for the newsletter is Nickolai Hubble, who has a degree in finance and law.
His claimed experience inside a global investment bank amounts to nothing more than an internship while studying at University before Hubble became a newsletter writer.
2 – These investments will lose you money
Launching the newsletter, Farage and Hubble talk about some incredibly high-risk, speculative investments.
They refer to the benefits of holding gold.
As a non-income producing asset, gold is arguably not an investment and certainly should not form more than a tiny percentage of a typical investment portfolio.
They also talk about why the Euro looks doomed.
The future of the Euro as a currency is far from certain, given the current sovereign and banking debt issues in the EU, but currency trading is another non-investment. It’s high-risk, speculative and a pretty good way to lose money.
Last but not least, they refer to the potential for cryptocurrencies.
The only potential cryptocurrencies have, from an investment perspective, is to lose you money.
3 – Investing is not a hobby
This is a daily email newsletter, delivered to your inbox at 9am every morning.
There’s a saying within our profession; if investing is your hobby, you need to get a new hobby.
By reacting to daily news, opinions and investment ideas, you are likely to damage your wealth.
Investing is a long-term activity and should always be related to your long-term Financial Plan.
If you think charges on investment funds and financial products are damaging to your wealth, wait until you see what reacting to market news and attempting to time the markets can do!
4 – This is an unregulated service
There’s an important distinction between information and advice. The former is general, while the latter is tailored and personalised based on your specific circumstances and objectives.
While being delivered in partnership with a regulated firm, the Fortune & Freedom newsletter is an unregulated activity. In other words, there is no recourse if any goes wrong, should you act on the information in the newsletter.
While it’s a free newsletter, there’s money to be made by delivering adverts to subscribers; we don’t yet know what these adverts will be, but the fear is that they will direct subscribers towards high-risk and speculative investments, along the lines of those discussed in the newsletter.
Financial newsletters like this exist to sell things to their readers.
Before investing money, put a Financial Plan in place.
Seek regulated advice from a suitably qualified and experienced (with relevant experience) professional.
In our experience, the cost saving associated with going direct to an investment provider, and cutting out the adviser, is often minimal. In any case, the value lost in layers of consumer protection and professional expertise always far outweighs any cost savings.
Stick to mainsteam investments, not speculative trading. Precious metals, shorting currency and cryptoassets are all shortcuts to losing wealth.
Armed with this knowledge, and recognising that the ‘financial establishment’ is not part of some global conspiracy to part you from your wealth, we wish the very best to anyone who subscribes to Fortune & Freedom.
