I’ve told many who’ll listen that I think this will be a good year for investments, despite the usual ups and downs and the proviso that I’m not a fund manager paid large amounts to manage and know about such things. ‘How can you be so positive?’ I’m asked, ‘look at what’s happening, our country’s falling apart?’ Thing is, the health of your investments and our own, sad economy and social structure are pretty loosely connected. Most managed funds will favour the US, whose GDP is around 25% more than ours. Asia still makes most of our stuff and Europe has kept its collective head further above water than us. And a majority of companies in our own FTSE100 make most of their money outside the UK. At last glance, our main, recommended ‘Balanced’ fund managers have only around 15% in all things Brit. Not good for Britain, perhaps, but, a positive spin, it will give investors more money to spend here. Won’t it? Anyway, to paraphrase D Trump, if I’m right, I’ll take all the credit and if I’m wrong, none of the blame.
“UK slips into recession as economy contracts 0.1% in December”
This week’s big economic and bad election news is that we are, or certainly have been, officially in a recession. You may not have thought you were, or you may have thought you have been for some time, as we and its effects are all different.