Financial Services For The Individual

Having mentioned that, why should one be concerned about these services? For a very simple reason - they affect your overall financial planning and your bottom line.

There are a whole range of financial services out there that are available to the individual - from the average income earner to the high net worth individual. In fact, there are too many to mention and some of them are quite complicated. This is just a personal view - but for the most of us, it is perhaps sufficient to follow the simple principle of not overpaying for such services. This comes with a disclaimer, of course. Some individuals who can afford it prefer to have personalized services, such as personal banking services and personal financial advisers.

These individuals may find it is more practical to pay for such services when measured against the value of their time. Simply, this will mean the the ROI (return of investment) on their time is much more the the service fees and charges for these premium services. It simply makes more sense to pay for these premium services, and utilize the time saved to making more money... At least, that's the idea.

For most people, however, these additional premium financial services usually come with a premium (read: additional expenses) which could well be channeled to other more profitable channels.

Personally, for "everyday operations" and cash-flow, I prefer to stick with a simple credit card (with very low maintenance fees) and a savings account with no (or minimal) service charges. Any other services which come with "colourful" names and a slew of terms and conditions that I cannot understand, I try to avoid. This principle has worked well in most instances.

So, what services do you need? You decide.