#16: Endowments vs financial discipline

Fat Wallet listener Kennith Brand asked us to unpack the advantages and disadvantages of endowments. In this podcast, Simon and I try to wrap our heads around what these products are, why they're offered by insurance companies and whether you should be putting your money in them. Regular listeners will be unsurprised to find that we end up in ETF territory without trying very hard.

I can see a world where endowments would be useful. If you struggle to keep your hands off your savings or investments, endowments could become a savings vehicle. However, opting for an expensive product with little transparency might not be the best way to address this issue.

I am a firm believer that your financial house should be in order before you start investing. You can't grow your capital if you still have debt. You should have a financial fail-safe in place in case you become injured or disabled. You should have an emergency fund so you don't have to sell your ETFs when you need money. Putting all of these things in place should help you develop the financial discipline you need to save towards a goal and to invest without needing to sell your investments.

Simon totally stole my thunder by doing a presentation on the basics of wealth creation like a boss, which is good, because he is my boss. I highly recommend you spend the hour.