Iona Bain
2016 is finally here and many young people will be looking askance at their bank balance after the inevitable Christmas blowout.
You may be hoping for a fresh start for your finances, but your resolutions will probably be limited to spending less, possibly saving more (if you can bear it!)
But what about investing, stock-picking and pensions?
For many young people, these areas seem shrouded in mystery and it doesn’t help that advice about these complex issues is prohibitively expensive.
That’s where so-called robo-advice can help. But it pays to be aware of the downsides to cheap online advice.
Here is an article I did just before Christmas for the Herald, focusing particularly on Scottish attitudes to managing money online, but its conclusions apply to young people all over the country this New Year.
It not only reveals the state of play for robo advice (and indeed bespoke face-to-face advice) going into 2016, in case you’re behind the times when it comes to the latest goings-on in the financial sector, but also highlights some new dangers to look out for (including the possibility that some big financial advice firms will abuse new technology to maximise profits…)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/personal_finance/14168056.Can_robo_advice_fill_the_gap_for_canny_Scots_/
Watch this space for more informative and original analysis of all the big young money issues coming on the horizon…
