Investments and the Crunch

[powerdesal]

A general question for the financial whiz kids on the forum.

I have just been crunching a few numbers and have figured out that our investment valuation shows a 30% reduction in the last 12 months.

Are we very unlucky or has that sort of loss of value been experienced by anyone else. Obviously I expected a loss, given the financial tribulations of the past year but.......[:(]

[baypond]

I am not a financial whiz kid, but if your pension funds were invested in equities (rather than bonds), then that kind of number looks likely. One year ago(ish) the FTSE was in the region of 5500/6000 and dropped to between 3500/4500 over last 6 months. So it depends at what time your investments are valued, but in any case the FTSE is broadly trading where we were in 2004, having been as high as 6500 in 2006.

[PeterG]

Very well put Steve, "our investment valuation shows a 30% reduction in the last 12 months". Most people call it a loss, it is nothing more than a paper valuation at that moment in time. It only becomes a loss when someone encashes the investment at a lower price than they invested. As most investements are long term the valuations will rise again.

When stock markets are rising, everyone knows they are not going to do that forever. However, when they are falling they think there will be no stopping the fall.

By the way, my own pension fund has reduced in value by 30%, over the past year. As Margaret Tatcher once said, "nobody can buck the market".

[powerdesal]

Thanks for that Peter, I just hope the rise / recovery gets a move on, time is a-runnin and I would like to at least think that I may be able to retire at some time in the not too distant future. The problem is defining ''distant future''

[AnOther]

I was both pleased and surprised when I got my pension statement for 2008/09 to find that my 'pot' was worth approximately the same as it had been 12 months ago. Essentially what I have lost is 12 months worth of contributions, which for that year was 30% of my gross salary so not an inconsiderable amount, but as I was anticipating a 30% drop in value under the current circumstances I can't really say that I'm too unhappy.

I'm in exactly the same position as you Steve hence my signature [:'(]

[baypond]

Ernie

I guess depending on your proximity to retirement, a larger portion of your investments may well have been in bonds which have outperformed due to the 'flight to quality' during the financial crunch.