What is there to look forward to in 2021?
Even though 2021 has started like no other year, with a national lockdown. There are plenty of positives to help you through the next few weeks.
The COVID 19 vaccine is now here, and some of you over 80 may have already had your first dose. The vaccine will initially protect the most vulnerable of people in society, but by the spring most people over 50 will have had the vaccine and life will be looking a whole lot more like normality. With sunshine and holidays to look forward to. In the financial world, there are real positives occurring right now. The FTSE 100 last week hit 6,901, when you consider that on 23rd March 2020 the FTSE 100 dropped to 4,993. This is tremendous news for the financial economy, with an increase of 38.2% from its lowest point at the start of the first pandemic lockdown.
With the Bank of England base rate at 0.1% the lowest ever deposit base rate, there is absolutely no deposit account that can keep the value of your money maintaining a true real value, as inflation is predicted to average 1.5% in 2021.
With serious talk of the base rate reducing to a minus figure, which would mean banks charging you for holding money on deposit to encourage people to spend rather than save in bank deposits, it is a potentially great time to invest for the longer term.
With professional independent advice in line with your own attitude to investment risk, you could invest for the medium to long term with the confidence that the markets are on a healthy upward path. There is still some way to go before the highest ever FTSE 100 value of 7903 on 22nd May 2018.
The footsie’s official name is the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index. It is essentially a list of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. This is a great guide to show how the stock market is performing overall.
At Brian Mole IFA Limited we have vast experience in investing for clients over the past 30 plus years. We have seen all market conditions over the years. Through our expertise we create a risk profile for each individual client through a series of in-depth questions. This allows us to then create a level of investment risk tailored specifically for every individual.