Economy boosted after hosting Olympics

Weathering the losses of your investments can set you on the right track to much better profits.

04:11 23 July 2013

It looks like the UK economy saw a boost from hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hopefully the increase portends better things for the UK’s financial status.

When we look at investments, we hope to see improvement. It doesn’t always work the way we expect and often there’s a downturn before we are able to see a return on our investment. Here are a few suggestions to help get you through the ups and downs of your investments:

• Patience—this is the most important part of weathering all the changes, the profits and losses, of your various investments. If you have a long-term mindset about your finances you won’t stress over unexpected losses, because you will have planned for enough time to recoup them.

 

• Education—learning more about your portfolio might open up the possibility of making some of your own choices regarding your investments, such as making changes or suggesting a particular company to your portfolio manager. With a little financial education, you’ll also be able to interpret the portfolio statements with more certainty.

 

• Resources—even if you have someone else manage your investments, there are tools available to you to double check and help you make sure you’re using funds in the best possible way. You can even find tools to help you set ideal financial goals to reach and track how close you are to achieving them. Many of these resources are in the form of free online calculators.

 

• Risks—the reality with investments is that you are going to lose money at some point. If you are careful to ensure that your portfolio has a good balance between high and low-risk investments, the overall trend will be beneficial, but you may have to weather a few losses before you notice a slight trending increase. Don’t invest money you can’t afford to lose.