Mar 31, 2020 | EWAN ROSIE
Published: 31st March 2020
It’s a prime time for lists; business check lists, DIY to-do’s, people to call, ways to stay healthy – it can seem endless.
That being said, making a list can be a great way to prioritise and ensure you’ve got all bases covered.
This week we wanted to bring you a list of coaching tips. Our job isn’t just to manage your investment portfolio and cover the technical side of things – it’s to coach you towards financial planning success, advocating a patient, disciplined and calm approach.
Think about the following five points to keep your emotions in check now and over the coming weeks:
1. Don’t stress over paper losses – Investors only make or lose money when they actually sell investments. The reality is that a large proportion of your current investments are not needed for expenditure in the near future. So, you can sit tight, focus on other things and wait for the recovery.
2. There is light at the end of this tunnel – whether it’s reporting about the number of cases, the length of lock-down or the financial markets – it’s all focussed on what is happening here and now – the short-term. We advocate a long-term approach and it’s important to remember the purpose of this now more than ever. Patience will pay off and history tells us markets will recover.
3. Take control – not only of your emotions but of the things currently in your power. For example, your expenditure – now is a great time to assess your outgoings. Are you spending too much? Have those direct debits got out of control? Are you spending money on things that you really don’t need?
4. Time to reflect – use this as an opportunity to think about your future and goals. It’s what we call your bigger picture. Has this event changed the way you think about money? Has it shifted what you want to achieve long-term? Now is the time to reflect on these things so you can update your financial plan when the time is right.
5. We know it can be hard to practice what we preach – this is all sound advice, but these things can be difficult to implement without help. Whilst social distancing could be here for a while, we’ll still be available and ready to support you with whatever technical advice or emotional guidance you need.
Keep safe, healthy and please reach out if you would like to chat anything through with us.
Past performance can’t guarantee what investments will do in the future. The value of a portfolio can go down as well as up, so there’s a chance you’d get back less than you put in.