The following is taken from an article by Ian Cowie, writing in the Money section of the Sunday Times this weekend, I thought you might find its central message reassuring:
“Short-term stock market shocks are very harmful for day traders or speculators but need not necessarily matter much to medium and long-term investors. At times like these, it may pay to remember that shares reflecting the changing composition of the London Stock Exchange delivered higher returns than cash over three-quarters of all periods of five consecutive years since 1899.
In plain English, that means if investors could hang on for five years, they had a 75% chance of beating bank deposits, according to comprehensive analysis in this year’s Barclays Equity Gilt Study. Despite much worse setbacks than the current crisis — such as the Great Depression and two world wars — shareholders who remained invested for a decade had a 90% probability of beating deposits.”
Here is the link to the full article:
As always, if you have any questions on this subject or indeed on any other finance related matter, please do not hesitate to call me.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely
Graham Ponting CFP Chartered MCSI
Managing Partner
