One of the challenges with writing these is not so much finding something to write about, it’s that there is so much I could write about! I know what excites.
Read moreMonday Musings 15/08/2022
Monday Musings
Recession. It’s a scary word, isn’t it? But it’s one we’re hearing being thrown around a lot at the moment. And of course we’re all concerned. But recession doesn’t always look the same, and predictions are that the coming recession will not look like ones we’ve experienced in the past. At Straight Talk part of our role is to look forward, listen to economists dissecting current market trends, use our own experience and intuitions to see through to the most realistic, lest emotionally driven predictions. Currently, despite the doom and gloom in the press, savings are still high, the housing market is, for now, robust and private debt levels remain sensible. We will be watching the impact of the cost of living crisis has on this but there are those in the industry who are looking to what low prices will do to investing – i.e. will those with income to invest take the opportunity to invest whilst prices are low, hoping to hit the market at a point when long term growth will be enviable. Most pundits seem to be pointing to a short recession with a good recovery, but there are no guarantees – no one has that all important crystal ball, sadly.
But this does lead on to another worry. Many with cash to invest are choosing not to invest at the moment on the basis that cash is ‘safe’. Whilst cash is low risk, it is certainly not NO risk. Whilst your pounds in the bank won’t disappear, don’t forget that inflation will have a dramatic impact on the real value of those pounds (i.e. exactly how much they can buy you). Quilter recently published a useful guide showing the real value of £100,000 held in cash over 3 years for different levels of inflation. I’ve put the table below:
Your financial plan should always include access to enough cash to cover you in case of emergency and for your short to medium-term cash needs. If you would like to meet one of my team to discuss investments this can be in your home or our client suite at the office.
So, to the markets:
31.12.2021 | 15.08.2022 | % Change | % Change on week | |
FTSE 100 | 7384 | 7500 | Up 1.57 | Up 0.82 |
Dow Jones | 36338 | 33761 | Down 7.09 | Up 2.91 |
Nasdaq | 15645 | 13047 | Down 16.60 | Up 2.70 |
S&P | 4766 | 4280 | Down 10.19 | Up 2.99 |
NIKKEI | 28791 | 28546 | Down 0.85 | Up 1.32 |
Hang Seng | 23398 | 20175 | Down 13.77 | Down 0.13 |
Shanghai | 3640 | 3276 | Down 10 | Up 1.55 |
CAC 40 | 7153 | 6553 | Down 8.38 | Up 0.62 |
DAX | 15885 | 13795 | Down 13.15 | Up 0.97 |
Not all of its bleak out there. Sometimes we hear good things in the press. Ok, not often. But sometimes. For example, news came in the press recently that the.
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