Times are changing, credit has been easy to come by and we
have all been critical of the banks and financial institutions for
their lax attitude to lending money but the world has changed.
It is now difficult to get credit and, when available, it is expensive
relative to a year ago.
We have inflationary pressures due to the rising cost of commodities.
We have the shifting of the economic power base away from the more
established powers to what were the emerging nations such as China,
India, Russia, South America and Eastern Europe. These areas are
largely free of the credit problems facing the more established economies.
This all means that our investment portfolios and retirement plans need to
be realigned to benefit from these new opportunities where appropriate
for those clients whose risk profile would warrant such investments.
The performance figures below demonstrate how investment funds
exposed to different markets have performed, highlighting the
importance of being invested in the right areas and, the benefit of
investing for the long term.
|
Fund
|
Year to Date
|
1 Year
|
Average Annual
Return over 3 Years
|
Average Annual
Return over 5 Years
|
Williams de Broe
Cautious Managed
|
-1.59%
|
-4.02%
|
8.05%
|
-
|
Schroder Cautious
Managed
|
-2.71%
|
-4.86%
|
9.04%
|
-
|
|
AXA Emerging Markets
|
-2.57%
|
20.68%
|
32.63%
|
30.23%
|
JP Morgan Natural
Resources
|
4.18%
|
18.77%
|
39.34%
|
41.63%
|
|
M&G Global Basics
|
13.01%
|
20.33%
|
27.43%
|
28.72%
|
Threadneedle Latin
America
|
16.87%
|
36.16%
|
44.12%
|
41.32%
|
|
Neptune Russia
|
6.87%
|
43.2%
|
52.15%
|
-
|
It should be remembered that past performance is not a reliable
indicator of future results; the value of your investments can fall as well
as rise in value. Funds that offer potentially higher returns such as
those investing in emerging markets carry much higher risks and are
subject to exchange rate movements as well as the performance of the
underlying stocks.
This applies to our ISAs, PEPs and Retirement Plans and highlights the
need for regular financial reviews. We all have annual tax efficient
allowances for these arrangements - if you don’t use them you lose them.
We and our Associates continually try to monitor and review where our
clients are invested to ensure portfolios are consistent with attitude to
investment risk. As part of the review process, we ensure the contract
charges and costs for life assurance are competitive and levels of
cover and contributions are adequate.
If you would like a financial review, please speak to
your usual Jerroms contact.
|
