Much has been made this week about the stock market crashing which got me thinking, I’d better find out what’s it all about, so I’ve been on the phone to my old mate Tim Skelton of Skelton Financial Services in Hoddesdon, he reports as follows :-

Tim, Whats all this about the stock Market Crash ? Well, earlier in the week it looked like doom and gloom all round but a surprise cut in US interest rates and a recovery in global share prices and all of a sudden the World seems a happier place.

What does it mean to your average investor and is there cause for panic ? The stockmarket volatility we are currently seeing is caused by fears of a recession in the US. This is of course very unsettling for clients and its only natural to be concerned about how this affects the value of your investments. My clients often ask what action they should take in response and they will usually be better off resisting the temptation to make changes to their long term investments simply becuase of short term stockmarket movements. If your personal circumstances and investment goals remain unaltered and you are still able to take a long term view then it is probably appropriate to ’sit tight’ through any periods of uncertainty and  adopt the Lance Corporal Jones methodology and ” don’t panic ”

Should investors carry on buying stocks and shares at the moment ? Yes, in my opinion this is the ideal time to buy although understandably, investors are often reluctant to invest new money when markets are volatile but it is possible to make volatility work in your favour. Regular investing removes the need to get the timing right and means you remove the risk of investing everything when the market is at its peak. In summary it is wise to be cautious in the first half of 2008 but the second half could see more favourable results.  Tim Skelton, Skelton Financial Services, Hoddesdon

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