Investment damage control

How does one actually do damage control on capital investments?

Guaranteed products

There is hardly any damage control to be done on guaranteed products, in today’s negative interest world they are almost non-existent. Your guarantee is exclusively dependent on the quality of the guarantor (the issuer). If the quality is bad, then the guarantee is weak and the whole product can become a total loss. An example in Switzerland is the Swissair grounding. Swissair has always been a poster child for the Swiss economy, and yet stocks and bonds became worthless when the company went bankrupt. So it is important to a) know this and b) invest your money in a diversified manner. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!

That’s why verifying all recommended products is extremely important to VVK AG. Particularly when it comes unlisted bonds, the selection of the issuer is very important to us and we really put it to the acid test – to the greatest possible extent. But, there is still a remaining risk for every financial product.

The capital-safeguarded products recommended by VVK are always guaranteed by a Swiss insurance company and this guarantee is controlled by FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority). However, in today’s times of low interest rates, the guarantees of current insurances are no longer 100%, they range between 40% and, at best, 80%.

Bank products

For plain bank products, such as bank accounts, things are a little different. The government guarantees your deposits up to CHF 100,000 for all banks. Cantonal banks, in particular, also have an extended government guarantee and possibly even special reserves. But, after the bank crises we experienced, we no longer trust any bank 100% – the banks are too interwoven. Also, we don’t know of any law that stipulates this guarantee.

So, if you want a high degree of security, put a maximum of CHF 100,000 into your bank account and invest the rest in fixed assets, stocks, bonds of selected companies, real estate, or gold.

Fluctuating investments = stock market investments

This is different for fluctuating investments: shares, bonds, or funds that are traded on the stock market. These by definition fixed assets, because you are investing in companies after all. Over the past decades, they have been the most secure investments even in times of crisis; however, after a stock market correction, it often took several years before you got back to the initial levels of your investment. Therefore: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, diversify well and keep cash reserves in your account.

With a VVK provision plan, you also have the certainty that you implemented it in your financial situation.

The investment mix as damage control bases

We have revised the VVK investment offer based on these principles. The investment mix of the different investment categories, which you can find under “Investments”, gives every investor a fair chance of regaining losses from the past in the long term.