The US government’s decision to introduce trade tariffs has resulted in significant stock market turbulence – but what does this mean for pensions, stocks and shares?
Whether you are retirement planning in Cheshire or elsewhere in the North West, it is well worth assessing what steps you should take to protect your personal investments.
While not everyone has stocks and shares, anyone with a private or workplace pension may be indirectly exposed to the markets, especially when that scheme pays out based on investment performance. For people in a defined contribution scheme, the value of your pension will ultimately depend on the returns from these investments. For people approaching retirement, there may be a dilemma over whether to sell investments to draw down from their pension – or hold off until there is more stability.
Retirement analyst Helen Morrissey urges this group not to panic or make knee jerk decisions, such as changing investment strategy or reducing contributions. The risk there is that this could impact retirement income, so it is especially important to ensure any strategy is well diversified. Similarly, with other investments, it may be worth holding your nerve until prices recover, or you may find yourself caught selling when prices are low and not buying until they have risen.
While the markets remain in a state of uncertainty, nobody can accurately predict future trends. Regular investors might well end up benefiting from market falls in the long term. Indeed, as the market recovers, investments will rise in value – but, as ever, timing is key.
