{"id":2394,"date":"2019-09-25T16:40:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2023-09-19T10:34:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T10:34:11","slug":"the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nervous TV reporter once approached legendary Nottingham Forest football manager Brian Clough and hesitantly asked: \u201cCan we have a couple of words for the programme, Brian?\u201d\u00a0The normally belligerent Clough nodded with unusual acquiescence. The camera was readied, the microphone was switched on. Clough looked into the lens, smiled and delivered \u2014 as requested \u2014 a couple of words. The second was \u201coff\u201d. He then strode off, roaring with laughter. The lesson: be careful what you wish for \u2014 you might just get it.<\/p>\n

Over 35 years in the City, I cannot think of a time when we have been more at risk from the unintended consequences of the things we want to happen.<\/p>\n

The obvious starting point is politics. The issue of our relationship with the EU has been so mishandled for so long that any outcome \u2014 remain, soft Brexit, no-deal Brexit \u2014 should now come with one of those bits of paper that are up scrunched up in boxes of prescription tablets listing potential side-effects ranging from diarrhoea to death.<\/p>\n

Many of us will welcome less restrained government spending, but we should also be wary of governments running up huge debts. It increases the likelihood of inflation, which is the easiest way to reduce those debts.<\/p>\n

I have three <\/strong>thoughts to share with fellow investors who, understandably anxious as events develop, may be fretting about what to do to safeguard their savings.<\/p>\n

The first is not to lose your trust in companies. The most recent data from the Investment Association shows that investors took out nearly \u00a31.7bn from equity funds in the UK in July alone. Where is that money going? I fear a large proportion is being sunk into cash accounts. These are already yielding a negative return when you take inflation into account, and could become much worse if inflation suddenly shoots up.<\/p>\n

The best companies have survived world wars. They have also withstood inflation at 15 per cent in the UK and much higher rates in some countries in which they trade \u2013 as well as governments of every hue. This is because good companies adapt to the environment around them. They survive because they are providing goods and services that we need. You may lose money over the short term, but history suggests that, over the long term, equities are best placed to grow your wealth.<\/p>\n

Second, now is not the time to deviate from the basics of good investment \u2014 buy quality and diversify. Volatility can generate bargains, not all of them genuine. Do not be tempted by a company because it is trading on a quarter of the share price it was two years ago, or because it has just endured a big sell-off on bad news and you are assuming the market is overreacting. You may be right, but examine the circumstances carefully and ask: \u201cCould it get worse?\u201d The answer is usually yes \u2014 and too often it does.<\/p>\n

Think globally, be sensible in your ambitions and you open up a world of opportunities to protect and sustainably grow your wealth. Diversification matters, too. Money is like manure, as the adage goes \u2014 so spread it.<\/p>\n

One of the advantages of passive funds is that they can be an easy way to own a big range of companies, but be aware that they can also hold hidden pockets of concentration risk. Passive funds also invest without discrimination at a time when I think it will pay to be more discerning.<\/p>\n

Finally, I started by warning investors to be careful what they wished for. I end by cautioning you to be careful of what you fear most.<\/p>\n

It is human instinct to be most worried about the things most likely to happen \u2014 like a stock market fall in the next two or three years. Yes, that will probably happen, but markets recover quickly and you can lose more money trying to time them than staying put.<\/p>\n

Behavioural psychology has shown how bad humans are at taking into account low-probability events that come with very high costs.<\/p>\n

You cannot avoid unintended consequences, you cannot avoid market turmoil and you cannot completely avoid unlikely things happening. But you can reduce their impact by not overreacting in the wake of negative events and by sticking to good principles beforehand \u2014 diversifying and investing with patience and prudence.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions regarding ensuring your family are fully protected, please call Tim Norris on 0800 731 7614 and we would be delighted to arrange a meeting at our offices in the heart of Teddington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article appeared in the Financial Times Personal Finance section on Wednesday 25<\/p>\n

September2019. Simon Edelsten is the manager of the Artemis Global Select Fund and the Mid Wynd Investment Trust. The views expressed are personal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A nervous TV reporter once approached legendary Nottingham Forest football manager Brian Clough and hesitantly asked: \u201cCan we have a couple of words for the programme, Brian?\u201d\u00a0The normally belligerent Clough nodded with unusual acquiescence. The camera was readied, the microphone was switched on. Clough looked into the lens, smiled and delivered \u2014 as requested \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A nervous TV reporter once approached legendary Nottingham Forest football manager Brian Clough and hesitantly asked: \u201cCan we have a couple of words for the programme, Brian?\u201d\u00a0The normally belligerent Clough nodded with unusual acquiescence. The camera was readied, the microphone was switched on. Clough looked into the lens, smiled and delivered \u2014 as requested \u2014 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Financial Planning Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fpgonline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fpgonline\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"fpgonline\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c\"},\"headline\":\"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":790,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Latest News & Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Financial Planning Group\",\"description\":\"Personal & Business Finance Solutions\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c\",\"name\":\"fpgonline\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"fpgonline\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/fpgonline\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group","og_description":"A nervous TV reporter once approached legendary Nottingham Forest football manager Brian Clough and hesitantly asked: \u201cCan we have a couple of words for the programme, Brian?\u201d\u00a0The normally belligerent Clough nodded with unusual acquiescence. The camera was readied, the microphone was switched on. Clough looked into the lens, smiled and delivered \u2014 as requested \u2014 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/","og_site_name":"The Financial Planning Group","article_published_time":"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00","author":"fpgonline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"fpgonline","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/"},"author":{"name":"fpgonline","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c"},"headline":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences","datePublished":"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/"},"wordCount":790,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Latest News & Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/","name":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences - The Financial Planning Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-25T16:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-19T10:34:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/the-investment-risks-of-unintended-consequences\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Investment Risks Of Unintended Consequences"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/","name":"The Financial Planning Group","description":"Personal & Business Finance Solutions","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7cc77e66f7465100af51d9355d408c","name":"fpgonline","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e211cb7cf788d6a73d3947bfa4a46e43e4f94a35eab481978a1b6f169179150?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"fpgonline"},"url":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/author\/fpgonline\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3128,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fpgonline.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}