New Year Health Check: Does your portfolio need gold?

Financial New Year Health Check

A New Year health check is top of most people’s priorities in January. It’s the time of year where we take a look at our waistlines and consider dusting off the treadmill and the dumbbells! Most of us are adept at making personal health resolutions (though, perhaps not so good at keeping them) when, perhaps we should also be reviewing our financial health….

The momentum of a new year should be harnessed to re-appraise your finances, and assess your investment and savings plans for the future. Maybe you could do with saving a little more, or perhaps this is the year to rebalance your pension? If you assess your financial situation, you’ll establish where you can make small changes to optimise your assets.

Annual reviews are common in financial services, as twelve months may have seen drastic changes to your income, and your investments may have gone up or down. An annual check helps you reassess your own personal plans and take appropriate action.

If you don’t currently own any gold or silver, the new year is a good time to make enquiries into purchasing some and protecting your other assets. Gold and silver prices are currently at a 6 year low, so if your portfolio could benefit from some balance, now is a great time to make that change.

Ongoing market turbulence

A slowdown in the Chinese economy and ongoing terror alerts, are threats which could increase the volatility of equity and property-heavy portfolios in 2016. Protecting against these threats, with gold or silver, is considered by experts as a sound investment strategy, as they provide balance to a mixed portfolio of assets.

If you already hold precious metals as part of your portfolio, it may be wise to review your holding, relative to your other assets. You may wish to increase your percentage of gold or silver, to protect your other assets from sharp market falls.

The optimum ratio of gold or silver to hold in your portfolio of investments, will vary according to the individual and the market conditions. Frequently reviewing this is key to success. Reviewing and rebalancing on a regular basis ensures your ratio is optimised, and is good investment practice, as the value of all investments will rise and fall over time.

If you’re considering getting into shape this new year, I’m afraid we can’t offer treadmills or dumbbells, but we can help with the financial shape of your New Year health and offer assistance with gold and silver. We provide tax-efficient ways of adding these to your portfolio, whether it’s your pension, nest-egg or regular savings.

You can contact us via any of the methods listed here, or if you would like to know a little more about investing in gold and silver, you can download our guide here.