Another week in quarantine. By Chorus Financial

As I write this article, we now understand that Spain’s confinement rules are likely to extend by several more weeks. I suspect by now we have all resigned to the fact that if our sanity is to survive, it’s time to get productive!

As nice as it may feel to lounge around on the sofa, or have endless cups of tea, I’m sure you’ll all agree that life is too short, and there’s only so much Netflix we can absorb before a need to do something a little more constructive.

There’s a lot of great options from reading more to home exercises like Pilates and yoga, perhaps meditation to keep our minds fresh and positive. My personal favourite is to finally master Spanish!  As I’m sure you can all imagine, my time has been very much spent on a combination of communicating with my clients (I think communication is essential at a time like this) and studying the markets.

At the time of writing, the US, UK and European markets are down around 35% from their highs of just 4 weeks ago. This is the quickest sell-off we have seen in history. One thing I am thankful for is that our Chorus portfolios are not seeing anywhere near the level of those losses. In fact, the Chorus Balanced portfolio that I have published for many years in this paper has lost 11% this quarter and is down just 3% over the last year. Although we never want to see the value of a client’s portfolio lose, to buffer our clients from the worst markets in living memory to this extent still feels like a real achievement.

It may be difficult to imagine at this moment, as in all honesty, it feels like we’re in a pretty dark place right now, but it is my job to see this situation as an opportunity. I have been managing investments for a long time and I also know the history of the markets well, have studied data going back 100 years. Although I absolutely understand that this is an awfully stressful time, the investment manager in me has to consider what happens next, and that moments like this have proven time and time again to be the best opportunities investors are ever presented with.

At some point, these markets will turnaround. As a client you will want to ensure you are in a proven portfolio because a portfolio that has handled a big market fall well will also be the portfolio that excels, as and when markets recover.

After the 2007/8 crash, investors benefitted from the most prolific bull run in history. When I look at these markets, I basically see a discount sale. Now, this isn’t to say that I know how low they will go, or indeed how long the recovery will take, but common sense and history tells me not only will these markets recover, but well-managed portfolios would be expected to outperform that recovery by a comfortable margin.

If you’re an existing investor looking for a superior investment manager, or someone considering a new investment, now is the time to explore your options. If you want to work with a company who has a track record of outperforming our industry year after year, then please contact me on s.kelly@chorusfinancial.es or call me +34 664 398 702.