Expert View: When investing, think long-term

One of the biggest issues facing investors at the moment is to decide both where and when to invest.

While the stock market has shown signs of life during March, bear market rallies are not uncommon during downturns.

Although price earnings multiples for the FTSE 100 are below long-term averages, they are still well above previous bear market troughs. Currencies are expected to devalue further as governments begin the process of “quantitative easing”.

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Expert view: All is not lost for savers

The UK now has the lowest base rate since the creation of the Bank of England in 1694. While this is good news for some borrowers with tracker mortgages, this presents real problems for those in our community who rely on interest on savings to make ends meet.

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Expert view: Turmoil can be an investor’s best friend

The financial system is going through unprecedented turmoil both in the UK and abroad. Its problems have begun to contaminate the wider UK economy with unemployment rising and more companies failing. We may have avoided financial Armageddon following the Government's intervention to shore up the UK banking sector, but the next 24 months look set to be the most challenging for the economy for at least a generation.

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Expert view: The banking crisis isn’t all bad news

In the midst of an economic crisis, it is extremely difficult to maintain perspective. The worst banking crisis since the Great Depression has shocked even the most fervent of bears, led to numerous redundancies and exacerbated panic over contagion in the existing economic system. The UK economy has serious problems, with a housing market in freefall and the highest level of consumer debt per capita in the world. However, that it can, at this stage, be described (by Alistair Darling) as "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years, is highly questionable. Britain is not going to return to the rationing of the 1940s, the three-day working week, or the 3m unemployed of the early 1980s. Whilst unemployment will rise sharply, there is a great deal of flexibility in the labour market due to the recent influx of foreign labour. Interest rates are historically low and inflation is slowing as commodity prices fall to reflect the slowdown in the global economy, easing pressure on consumers.

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