Something that has been talked about repeatedly during the Covid-19 crisis is just how much we don't know. It has been a lesson in how limited our foresight can be. At first, we did not know how far or how quickly the virus might spread. Neither did we know how severe it may turn out to be.
Defined Benefit Pension Schemes, which offer members a fixed level of pension income in retirement, have become less and less common in Ireland in recent years. Due to increased longevity and difficulties in providing these benefits, a large number of these scheme have wound up in recent years or closed to new members.
When financial planners are asked at parties about what they do for a living, many hesitate to be specific because the inevitable follow-up question relates to where they think the stock market, the currency, interest rates or the economy are heading.
Ever been on holiday where the weather wrongfooted you? The brochures promised tropical bliss, so you packed accordingly. Instead, you are greeted by bone-chilling wind and rain. Shivering and exposed, you resemble an undiversified investor.
Having a financial plan is imperative not because our lives are ordered, structured and predictable, but because they are not. The truth of that statement, sometimes elusive during periods of plenty, has never been more evident than in recent months.
The economics professor had a problem. Or rather his students had a problem. Despite their best efforts on a test he had set for them, the students were still averaging only 72 out of a possible 100. Faced with a mass revolt, the professor had a brilliant idea.