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Harrold Financial Planning Limited
Tel: 01953 851151 (Head Office) or 01603 967851 (Norwich Office)
email: info@hfp.co.uk

In This Together

We hope that since our last update you have been in receipt of our letter enclosing our tax tables but, more importantly, this finds you and your loved ones well.

Clearly the Coronavirus still dominates the headlines and has caused upheaval to our lifestyles and there may be some way to go, but we have at least seen more positive news in some parts of the World and there are reasons to be more optimistic. China believes it has brought the emergency under control and has eased some of the restrictions it imposed to stem the spread of the virus. Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said last week that the country was in “an apparent stabilisation phase” following a decline in the number of new cases and fatalities over four consecutive days. Countries like Germany, Switzerland and Portugal still have very low fatality rates overall, mainly because of the numbers tested.

From a financial perspective we have also seen the measures being taken by central banks around the world, including the Bank of England having some effect on Stock Markets.

Whilst the media are quick to report bad news, it was probably less well documented that following the announcement of the UK lockdown and a financial stimulus package from US Government last week that that the markets rallied strongly and in fact, Wall Street had its best performance in nearly 90 years whilst the FTSE recorded its second biggest percentage rise ever. This is not necessarily a sign that the markets had bottomed out as there is still clearly some uncertainty of what lies ahead but a lot of these gains were held over the following days with the FTSE100 index finishing the week up nearly 8%.

We continue to monitor the situation, but as always would point out a few key principles that should be borne in mind regarding finances, which are as follows.

Stay invested

The main advice is to hold your nerve. Don’t get distracted by all the ‘noise’ of the markets moving up and down. Although we have seen the markets stabilise following the initial falls, if for example, you see the market jump up 600 points, only to witness it lose 1400 points and then rise another 800 points in the course of a week or even a day, you know emotion has taken over from all rational thought. In such circumstances, it’s better to wait until things calm down, no matter how long that may be. As we always point out, it is impossible to predict the bottom of the curve so it’s better to keep your funds invested. Otherwise, by taking your money out, you could risk being out of the market on the very days it recovers and does well.

Remember the adage it is “time in the markets, not timing the markets”.

Think long term

The coronavirus situation is without doubt unprecedented, fast moving and deeply concerning. Yet although we might not have gone through anything like this in our lifetime, the stock market has experienced crises before and recovered. We have highlighted this before and although not many of us would have lived through either of the World Wars, more recent events like the Gulf War, oil shortages and the 2008 financial crisis would have certainly been events we can recall.

So, while in the short term your investments are likely to be affected, anyone investing in the stock market knows they should be thinking about a longer period. Coronavirus will continue to unsettle the markets, but volatility will always be a part of investing.

Diversify, diversify, diversify

We appreciate that this may become a repetitive message from us here at HFP, but we always advocate a balanced mix of different investments, including shares, government and corporate bonds, property and cash.

We are still seeing new investments being made and when investing new monies, to top up your ISA for example, this doesn’t have to be completed in one go and could be drip-fed into the markets to mitigate some risk, by spreading this over a wider period when things may be less turbulent.

It may have missed your attention, but the end of the tax year is this Sunday 5 April 2020. Although late if you are making plans, it is not too late!

Don’t check obsessively

The best advice at times like these is not to sit and check your investments on your phone, tablet or desktop all the time. Switch off your notifications as it will only make you anxious and could tempt you into making a knee-jerk reaction. There’s a lot to be said for the sentiment expressed in Kipling’s poem, “If you can keep your head when all about you…” particularly when markets are volatile.

And finally

We have posted information on our website following the measures introduced by the Chancellor recently and this is entitled “Covid -19: Help for businesses, employees and the self-employed” which may be of some interest when considering what changes may be of use. The link to this is here.

At HFP the wellbeing of our team and providing you with an ongoing service remain our top priorities and our whole team remain employed on a full-time basis and have already been operating remotely for the past week. We have the systems and technical support to continue working in this way for as long as necessary to ensure continuity and consistency of our service to you.

As you may be aware one of our advisers, Max Samuel, decided to leave HFP for a new post in Dubai. We have decided that under the current circumstances it will be virtually impossible to employ a replacement and to train and monitor them adequately and efficiently. We have taken the decision to postpone employing a new adviser for the time being. We had started the process and even finalised a short list of candidates all of whom would be excellent replacements and we have told them we will be back in touch when we are ready to move ahead.

In the meanwhile, I would suggest that you contact any of our advisers if you need assistance, but we will be continuing the process of contacting Max’s clients over the coming months.

We recognise that these are difficult times for many but we also believe that there are reasons to be cheerful. Even as this pandemic had worsened it has also brought out the best in humanity and it has seen communities coming together and all over the world with acts of kindness to raise spirits

We were also strong advocates of the global clapping to recognise the amazing and selfless work of Doctors, nurses and all healthcare workers on the frontline. Of the 500,000 people infected globally around 130,000 have already recovered and much of this can be attributed to the heroic efforts of healthcare workers.

Staying safe, well and caring for each other is obviously of the utmost importance and although this has been keeping people apart, please note that we are at the end of the phone or an email, or can arrange communication via other mediums such as Facetime or Skype if you would prefer.

It is therefore largely business as usual for us, but we wish you all well and hope to catch up soon. In the meantime, keep yourselves and others safe.

Robyn Lovatt
Director
robyn@hfp.co.uk

Neil Warne
Director
neil@hfp.co.uk

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This publication is for general information only and is not intended to be advice to any specific person. You are recommended to seek competent professional advice before taking or refraining from any action on the basis of the contents of this publication.

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Harrold Financial Planning Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Registered in England and Wales Number: 06447402

 
 
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