Sunday, June 01, 2008

Failed quest to simplify my life

Back in January I stated that one of my objectives for 2008 was to simplify my life by reducing the amount of time I spent on administering my investments . While I have managed to move some payments (inwards and outwards) on to autopay I still have quite a few payments which I have to make manually (including several which require me to write cheques each month). The principal problem areas are:

1. building managers who refuse to allow autopay (even though it is in their interest to do so);

2. government rates and government rent. Autopay is not available for these;

3. distrust of the service provider. I have heard enough horror stories of service providers who continue to debit their former customers' accounts months after the service is terminated to be very careful about signing up to direct debit arrangements;

4. too many investments and too many non-investment related expenses which require non-automated payment by me.

I am currently taking a good hard look at my investments with a view to selling some of the smaller ones to reduce the administration work. I suppose I could take a positive view - my finances have reached the stage where my time has become an increasingly material consideration when making investment decisions.

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