“Our industry seems to be hell-bent on focussing on the very, very short term, yet clients, when they invest in the stock market, should not be undertaking that investment on anything but a long term, ten, fifteen, twenty-year, basis.
“If you stay the course, despite all those historic crises, we come through it and we make money. We’ve got to keep telling our clients that. We cannot start pandering to their short term, newspaper-fuelled worries. I’m afraid this industry is letting itself down and not sending the right messages to clients.”
Richard Champion, deputy chief investment officer at Canacord Genuity said while he is likely to make a few tactical moves on the basis of the vote, on a strategic basis the firm remains focused on ensuring clients are well exposed to equities because, on a risk-adjusted basis, that is where the returns will be found.
“The danger always is, particularly in the private client world, that the clients get whipsawed at the worst possible moment and get taken up by the news headlines, which may be apocalyptic: for example, FTSE falls £8bn! What does it mean? Absolutely nothing.”
The Brexit debate has been a masterclass in short-term thinking, not only has the level of debate from both sides been poor, but many of the major talking points, while they will have long term implications, are being spoken of with a very short term view of their impact. And, while traders are likely salivating at the volume of deals likely to come down the pipe on Friday, if one is trying to ‘position’ a long term portfolio now, it is most probably too late.
