China’s Black Monday – what happened to your investments?
On 24th August, the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell 8% in a single day, plummeting 40% from its peak just a few short months ago in June 2015 after heady gains in the first half of the year. Black Monday not only affected investors in the country itself but has sent shockwaves around the world as billions have been wiped off equity markets prompting panic among investors. Perhaps you have incurred some significant losses yourself?
Investing in equities always involves risk and right now we are going through a period of great volatility in equity markets with China overtaking Greece as the source of most concern for investors. This kind of market demands active management and agile responsiveness by investors to protect invested capital against downside volatility.
However, micro-management of this nature requires real skill and is extremely difficult for many industry professionals, let alone the go-it-alone investor. That is one reason why here at Infinity we are happy to be working in an exclusive partnership with Tilney Bestinvest (TBI), the best investment managers in the business.
TBI have a dedicated team of research analysts who are crunching data non-stop to analyse the markets and feed information to the investment team who act on the information received adjusting the asset allocation of their multi-asset portfolios (MAPs) accordingly.
The research team has had its beady eye on China for a while, first highlighting concerns in early July when most investors were still focused on the Greek crisis. TBI’s team Chief Investment Officer, Gareth Lewis, first took action as a result of the worsening situation in China on 18th August, reducing equity exposure on all Multi Asset Portfolio (MAP) funds. Further action was taken the following day after discussion with colleagues at an ad hoc Asset Allocation Committee meeting. As a result, the Growth asset model was reduced by 1% and 2% on consecutive days with other MAP funds also reduced by commensurate percentages.
Fortunately for those holding these investments, this was all done before Black Monday, reducing their exposure to the crash. As a result, while Infinity clients were not immune to the market collapse, they weathered it better than most. They were also kept informed of what was happening in the markets with an email update on Black Monday sent to them two days later.
The impact award-winning investment management can have on your savings is significant. If your investments didn’t fare so well, you might like to rethink your strategy. If you already have an offshore investment in place, in most cases we can switch you to TBI management without any transfer cost. Why not have a chat with me, so I can explain more and help you get the most out of your money.
Want to see how Tilney Bestinvest performed on Black Monday? Click here
