The question is, “Are you and your clients on board?”

On 23rd July 1988 a female vocal group called Yazz were top of the UK Charts with their only real hit, The Only Way Is Up! Anyone investing in the main indices at that time would have seen the following returns up to today (16th June 2005)

FTSE 100 +171%

Dow +266%

NASDAQ +578%

(All figures approx)

In fact during that time we’ve experienced many world events that have adversely effected investment returns for example the Gulf War (December 1990), the ERM Currency Crisis (September 1992) and the World Trade Centre (September 2001). Conversely we have experienced great periods of growth at the end of the Eighties and during the Nineties.

I remember being called into an “emergency meeting” in January 1994, the FTSE had fallen from its high of 3300 points in September 1993 back to 2800 points. The meeting was to discuss the question “Will the FTSE ever reach 3500 in our working lifetime?”

The answer lies with Yazz……….

The thing is that we don’t actually know when the markets are going to rise and it will always be a bumpy ride when they do, but history tells us that the main investment, over a long term, (a period of 10 years or more) that will beat Deposits is exposure to world stock markets. Below are two exerts from articles from the financial press, the first from May 2003 and the second from Feb2004 – both are advocating – “get into shares”.

Daily Mail - 7th May 2003	Sunday Times - 15th February 2004

Thus the experts were saying get into shares a year ago and that the place to put your money was still shares in February this year. Sure, the markets had risen during that period but this is still the place to be and since then there has been an Autumn rally in the FTSE 100.

Of course, we know that we don’t put all our eggs in one basket. It has to be a spread of shares and across the main world markets but this is always the place for at least some of your own or your portfolio.

If you would like some advice on how to make the financial provision for the future and would like to speak to one of our trained advisors please e-mail deVere & Partners.

So the message has to be, “If you’re not in shares, now is the time to start building for your future”

Indeed “The Only Way Is Up!” ...

Historical Events: their impact on the US Stock Market

*(The markets rose 8% during the year following Pearl Harbour)