From the editor
'Buy and hold' won't work
The back page of last week's National Enquirer ran a very tempting advertisement indeed. A mystic offered to grant all the wishes of every reader. Free! You just had to fill in a form giving your personal details and listing the five things you most wanted (a specific amount of money within a specific amount of time, a new boat or house, a holiday of a lifetime or just "financial security"), send it off – with no cheques or cash enclosed – and wait.
I'm pretty sure MoneyWeek hasn't much of a cross-over readership with the National Enquirer, but I think this proposition may remind you all of something. Yes, it's the financial services industry. Financial advisers don't use quite the same wish-fulfillment methods. But most make much the same promise – list your financial goals, do as they say, and a better life will appear.
But no mystic can deliver on your financial wishes. And odds are your IFA can't either.
• Read the full editor's letter here: 'Buy and hold' won't work
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