Newsletter: December 2023
2023 has been another interesting year in the world of finance, and has also seen changes within Symphony. I, therefore, thought it would be both useful and of interest to you, to summarise our thoughts surrounding the last year and the year to come.
This month marks 12-months since we moved from our old office in Brighouse, to Brindley House in Lowfields Business Park, Elland. We have been happy to welcome many of you to these premises, and would be delighted to welcome those of you who have not yet visited. We viewed this move as crucial to the Symphony family to meet the needs of both our expanding team and yourselves, ensuring that our office represents the professional service we offer you. Our modern, open plan office is beneficial to team morale and having three meeting rooms plus a large board room is extremely valuable for private meetings. Parking is not only much better but safer as well! We have very much enjoyed settling into our new home.
We are also delighted to announce, once again, the progression of some of our team who are always aiming to expand their knowledge and skills. Trainee Adviser, Tom Mann, whom several of you have met, has recently started leading his own meetings, and we look forward to seeing him develop as he continues to help his clients with all their financial needs. We are also pleased to report that two of our paraplanners, Georgia Mann and Katie Collins, have passed exams in the last year, continuing their development in aiding our Advisers. Their development and expansion of knowledge and skills helps us with the huge amount of work that is done behind the scenes analysing, comparing and challenging all the different providers. This is called “Due Diligence”.
Having worked elsewhere within financial services before joining Symphony, Lou Guy, has also passed 10 years working in the industry and has progressed into the role of Client Servicing Team Leader. Continuing the thread of experience throughout our team, my Co-Director, Chris Walmsley, has reached the milestone of working 35 years in financial services having joined the industry in 1988. I know that his experience is greatly valued by his clients and members of our team, particularly those starting out their careers.
It is this experience which has become extremely useful throughout the last few years, which as you know, have been a very interesting and turbulent time. Through COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Truss / Kwarteng Budget, soaring inflation, cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates, Israel’s conflict with Hamas, and not to forget, having three Prime Ministers and three Chancellors since July 2022, we have all had to adapt to changing circumstances. The economic environment has been tough and I think we are all ready for some good news.
This is something which I believe was in the minds of the Chancellor and Prime Minister in their recent Autumn Statement. Of course, when politics are involved, we must always take a step back to try to understand the reasons behind decision making, however, Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak have implemented measures which they hope will kick-start the economy before the next General Election. This is all technical stuff, to say the least, but fund managers have had to work with these difficulties to ensure that investment portfolios are carefully managed and in the right place for when markets improve. Thankfully it now seems that all fund managers agree that the future is looking brighter.
Over the course of 2023, we have seen high inflation, meaning the price of the every-day things we buy has continued to increase at a swift rate. On top of this, earlier this year, the Bank of England followed the US Federal Reserve in increasing interest rates. This has particularly continued to affect those whose mortgages have come to the end of their fixed term, and I am sure some of you have been landed with the question ‘to fix or not to fix?’, or whether or how, to help other family members.
Nonetheless, there has been positive news surrounding inflation. From 6.7% in September, the UK’s inflation rate fell sharply down to 4.6% in October and this has led to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting inflation to fall further, to 2.8% by the end of 2024. Although this is still above the Bank of England’s target of 2%, it is certainly welcome news. This may persuade the Bank of England to start reducing interest rates over the course of the 2024, however, these are unlikely to decrease at the same speed as inflation. Reducing interest rates allows businesses to cope better when borrowing and gives them the ability to expand.
Although 2023 has been up and down, and caution is still advised in 2024, confidence has certainly grown and this has been reflected in strong performance in November 2023. Of course, we hope that falling inflation and interest rates will drive this to continue in December and into the new year. Of course, we will continue to keep a close eye on the Fund Managers we recommend, to ensure they are taking the necessary steps to provide positive performance and balance the risks of an ever-changing world economy.
Turning overseas for a moment, the next 12 months promises to be fascinating where foreign elections are concerned too. Both Argentina and the Netherlands have seen sudden changes in government in recent weeks, and 2024 is guaranteed to see the Democrat vs Republican voting circus return in the US again. Questions still remain over who each party’s candidate will be, including the potential return of Mr Trump, or as President Obama calls him “The Donald”. I will make no further comment!
Returning to the UK, in particular the Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt has continued with a raft of changes which he and Mr Sunak started to implement in April 2023. I appreciate that not all of these changes will be relevant to you. Should you need help in understanding how the changes affect you, please contact your adviser.