Talk:Investment policy statement

Why is there nothing in the IPS about debt? That's always one thing we ask about in helping forum members, and it seems like a critical element of an investment policy. If one has high-interest debt, paying down that debt is likely to be the best investment. Neglecting this is likely to mislead investors into ignoring this. This comes up for me now because I'm helping someone with their IPS, and their first priority should be to pay down high-interest debt, and to save more. It would be irresponsible not to include this right up front. I would just add it to the wiki page, but don't know the history of how this IPS "template" was developed, and whether or not this was left out intentionally.--Kevin M 15:53, 20 April 2012 (CDT)


 * Personal finance is probably beyond the definitional parameters denoting an IPS. You can look over the chapters in the authoritative text regarding Investment Policy, and see if such matters are a part of the process: Amazon.com: The Management of Investment Decisions (9780786303922): Donald Trone, Williaim Allbright, Philip Taylor: Books. The topic of personal debt might be handled in the stub page: Household budgeting, which could then be linked in an introductory statement. --Blbarnitz 16:13, 20 April 2012 (CDT)

From another perspective (similar to Blbarnitz), paying down debt is an implementation of the plan. You may be referring to debt as something bad, i.e. credit card debt and loans. Mortgages are another form, not necessarily bad. This may stray into the area of personal finance, meaning how to manage a budget and lose focus on the intent of the discussion. It depends how / where you want to include debt on the page.

Additional background: I added the Investing plan section because the IPS can be too complicated for some investors or not needed (simple goals). It was build around EmergDoc's thread on the topic, which has a lot of practical suggestions. --LadyGeek 16:22, 20 April 2012 (CDT)