“IF… you can keep your head while all around are losing theirs”

2016 has started in spectacularly poor fashion, eerily reminiscent of 2008 – a story that didn’t end well.

 

In the furore of doom-and-gloom headlines, we prefer to ask a slightly more unorthodox question: How does it make you feel?

 

If all this uncertainty* makes you feel anxious then you should try to go back to basics and follow these three rules:

 

1. Understand your risk tolerance: research from FinaMetrica shows that our inherent attitude towards risk remains surprisingly stable through all market conditions. Only our perception of risk will change.

 

2. Stick to your guns: so long as you have created a portfolio that is in line with your risk profile (and you can demonstrate as such), the best advice is to stick with it. Have faith in the principles, theories and research that underpin your portfolio.

 

3. Stay diversified.

 

* Markets are always uncertain. Get used to it.