Acumen Financial Planning Newsletter November 2018

Newletter November 2018

Acumen Financial Planning is an Accredited and Chartered Financial Planning Firm authorised by the FCA. No 218745

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..”

In the last few weeks there has been some significant volatility in stock markets around the world. This is because of a number of reasons such as Brexit progress (or lack of), world trade and general global economic concerns. Further to that the frequent news item that is “Brexit” may be on your minds in the coming months. Understandably you may wonder if a re-position of your investments is advisable. For example a move to cash or a move to a different geographical sector. In order to answer that we bring you back to a recent example why this may be a folly. Prior to the Brexit vote and indeed prior to Trump being elected president a proportion of the general public (not our clients) changed investment strategy by electing to be more cautious. And what happened? The respective markets picked up dramatically in both cases and left those with their new cautious strategy lagging behind. This goes to prove it is so hard to “time markets” by electing to dip in and out. Further to that it is important to note that evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of gains in equities over long periods comes from just a handful of days. Let’s not miss out on that and as a client once said to me “Acumen protects me from myself”.

Our clients have a globally diverse portfolio covering the 4 major asset classes - shares (UK and overseas), property, fixed interest and cash. We don’t time the market. We don’t speculate. Whilst market volatility can be hard to stomach, reacting emotionally and changing strategy could prove more harmful than helpful.

We thank you for being clients, we thank you for your patience and we will continue to provide the expertise you deserve.

We leave you with a great but simple illustration from Carl Richards, an author from America, who studies investor behaviour. Seeing portfolio values dip in the short term can be testing but concentrating on the long term in conjunction with a financial plan discussed annually with our financial planners will see you achieve your full financial promise.

We wish you all the best for the coming months and our planners look forward to seeing you for your annual review.

David Gow Director, Acumen Financial Planning 8 Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 7TH

Copyright © 2018. Acumen Financial Planning Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: the information provided in this document is based on our current understanding and legislation at the time of publication (April 2017). Although endeavours have been made to provide timely and accurate information, Acumen Financial Planning cannot guarantee that such information will continue to be accurate in the future. No individual or company should act upon such information without receiving appropriate advice from a qualified professional. Acumen Financial Planning is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA

no: 218745. Registered in Scotland Number 215343. Registered Office, Commercial House, 2 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen, AB10 1XE.

Team News

Life at Acumen Financial Planning is going from strength to strength with continued steady growth, several new members of staff, two office moves and an acquisition. We now have a team of 44 staff, with the latest additions to our paraplanning and administration teams.

Our Aberdeen team moved to new premises in Arnhall Business Park, Westhill in February, followed by an office move for our team in Edinburgh to Randolph Crescent in July. For directions to any of our offices please refer to our website or call our team who will be happy to help.

Many of our team have been working towards various qualifications over the last few months and we are pleased to announce the addition of our Training & Development Manager, Nicola Doohan, who joins the firm with a significant amount of experience in the profession. As our business continues to develop, details of our current vacancies can be found here.

Most recently we were delighted to be awarded the CISI Accredited Firm of the Year award, for the second time at the recent awards ceremony held in Birmingham last month. A fantastic achievement and testament of our teams’ hard work in continuing to provide you with highest level of expertise and service.

Medical & Dental Financial Planners

We are pleased to announce that Medical & Dental Financial Planners have joined the Acumen Financial Planning ‘family’ of firms and the team have recently moved to our premises in Westhill.

Medical & Dental Financial Planners is run by Director and Certified Financial Planner, Graham Ogston along with paraplanners, Katherine Harvey and Christina Cribbes.

The team at Medical & Dental are specialists in financial planning for NHS and private medical professionals providing advice on pensions; retirement planning; savings and investments; estate and tax planning. Medical & Dental will continue to operate independently as their own specialist firm, becoming part of The Financial Planning Group, with the added support from a dedicated Business Support team in the form of IT, Compliance, Marketing HR, and Recruitment and Development.

Client Surveys

In 2019 we will be introducing client feedback via online surveys. These are confidential and will be sent to a selection of clients who have recently had an annual review. On occasion we are asked to take part in larger surveys such as Dimensional Investor Surveys, again which is an online survey and completely confidential. These are not in any means compulsory but do provide us with useful insights and feedback for improving and developing our business further. If you have any particular questions about these surveys please contact our Marketing Manager, Jill Lepre.

Newletter November 2018