Well, that’s a bit better

It’s that time of the year again when investment companies send out the valuation of our Pension funds, ISAs and Investment Accounts.

If you haven’t already received yours, you will in the next few days.  These valuations are based on the value of your investments as at the end of the last financial year 5^th April 2020.  So this will give you a clear picture of the performances of your investments over the last quarter.  The exact period of this pandemic and probably one of the most volatile periods in investment history.  No doubt, you will be somewhat disappointed in the values as at 5^th April and the comparison it makes with the value on 5^th January 2020.  

Yes, as the saying goes, the value of investments can go down as well as up, and they certainly have gone down this time but thankfully most people are pretty resigned to the fact.  Mainly, I suppose we are all in the same boat and there was not much we could do about it.  The fall in the markets happened too quickly.

So how did the market movements affect your investments?  Looking at my own pension funds over the period they went down just over 15%, and yours maybe roughly the same.  Whereas the UK FT100 went down 28% and the US S&P 500 went down 33%.  So I am unhappy my pension fund had fallen in value, but not as much as the international markets. 

But hey!  It’s not as bad as that.  The 5^th April was only 1 week after the UK lock down.  At one of the very lowest points in the markets.   Thankfully, now we have all gone passed the worst of the pandemic and the world is starting to get back to work and the “new normal”.  As usual the world’s stock markets are seeing the improvements of each country’s arrangements and looking into the future.   As a result, since the date of our valuations on 5^th April 2020 the markets have steadily gone up. 

 

 

 

Here’s the picture of the major indices where your investments are invested.

UK FT100              + 14.82%

UK 250                  + 22.94%

US S&P 500         + 22.00%

JPN Nikkei           + 22.99%

US NASDAQ        + 27.93%

EURONEXT100   + 14.54%

               

If we just take the average growth rate of these indices over this period to be around say +20%, it would be fairly reasonable to say that since 5^th April 2020, the valuations of your investments and pensions have gone up by roughly +20%.

 
So, multiply the value of your investments on 5^th April by a factor of 1.2 will give you a rough guide of today's value.

 

Well, that’s a bit better.