What A Year!
I think it wise for this month's Informing You to be brief, and to the point.
Given we have experienced, probably the worst financial crisis in living memory, the fact that the FTSE 100 index is today 18% higher than the start of the year would appear miraculous. The fact that the media were predicting financial Armageddon all year shows that it does not make sense to pay much heed to what is spouted by them. There is an old saying that you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and although I am not inferring that lies were reported, there was an unbelievable zeal to make things out to be far worse than they were. It does not appear to only be the stockmarket that is reported this way as in this morning’s newspaper a few inches of snow was reported as being “extreme weather conditions”, and of course, true to form, the financial pages reported the slight fall in share prices as “markets tumble”.
What does 2010 hold for us? Well no-one can be certain, but I believe the growth of so called emerging economies will continue, and significant profits will be made by companies in the West providing goods and services to them as the pound is likely to weaken further against foreign currencies. The domestic outlook is, to be honest, pretty bleak, and whoever wins the General Election is going to have to slash spending and raise taxes to try and reduce the debt burden. Not a great recipe for GDP growth. Even in these times of telephone number deficits, the reported cost in interest that the Government may have to pay in three years time of £87bn each year did bring me out in a cold sweat. Sheltering money from the tax storm that is on the horizon is also going to be a recurring theme for probably the first half of the next decade, and this is no doubt a subject that Informing You will focus on in the coming months.
But enough of that, it is Christmas, and I would like to thank those that have passed on kind words about Informing You and Letter from Linlithgow, as it is nice to know that these are appreciated. For now I want to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a fun New Year.
Steven Forbes
Managing Director
NOVEMBER 2009 FACTS
MARKETS AND MANAGERS WE MET LAST MONTH
FTSE All Share
1 year return +24.1%
5 year return +12.3%
S&P 500
1 year return +34.2%
5 year return -7.8%
FTSE Eurotop 100
1 year return +23.9%
5 year return -2.4%
Jupiter Merlin Worldwide (John Chatfeild-Roberts)
1 year return +27.1%
5 year return +51.3%
River & Mercantile UK Equity High Alpha (Hugh Sergeant)
1 year return +24.6%
Since launch November 2008 +47.4%
JPM Global Consumer Trends (Peter Kirkman)
1 year return +55.7%
Since launch April 2008 +19.9%
Invesco Perpetual Latin American (Dean Newman)
1 year return +88.4%
5 year return +242.4%
First State Asia Pacific Leaders (Angus Tulloch)
1 year return +46.2%
5 year return +145.2%
Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategy (Multi Asset Team)
1 year return +22.1%
Since launch May 2008 +14.9%
Schroders US Mid Cap (Jenny Jones)
1 year return +27.6%
5 year return +49.8%
(source - ft.com December 2009)
Best Bank Accounts
Halifax Websaver Extra Account paying 2.8% only available over the internet with instant access.
Investec Bank High 5 Account paying 3.29% gross, minimum investment £25,000 and three months’ notice required on withdrawals.
(source –Moneyfacts December 2009)
