Investment risk and volatility – keep calm

KEEP A CLEAR HEAD

Investment requires a disciplined approach, and a degree of holding your nerve if markets drop. Investment professionals know that markets can be volatile and will inevitably go down as well as up from time to time. They know the worst investment strategy you can adopt is to jump in and out of the stock market, panic when prices fall and sell investments at the bottom of the market.

HAVE A PLAN IN PLACE

A well-defined investment plan, tailored to your goals, that takes into account your financial situation, your income requirements and your capital needs, can help you weather short-term fluctuations in markets. Market volatility is also a timely reminder to keep your investments under regular review, so that you can help ensure that you have the right exposure and weighting to different stocks in a variety of markets – UK and global. Your risk profile should be visited on a regular basis with us.

Much depends on your investment time horizon. Younger investors may be happy to invest in assets with a higher potential for growth, but those closer to or in retirement may want to opt for a more conservative approach that offers less risk and reduced volatility.

The value of investments and income from them may go down. You may not get back the original amount invested.