Category: Blog
We entered 2024 on the back of a strong last quarter of performance. Inflation all around the world was on a downward trajectory and we felt that the ‘peak’ of interest rates had been reached. Despite the anticipation at the start of 2023 that the global economy would be fighting…
DB Wood Team
5th April, 2024
Heading into this budget, there was an expectation that there would be tax breaks to drum up support ahead of the looming general election. A follow on from the Autumn statement then, which saw National Insurance cut and new initiatives introduced to get more people back into the workforce. Despite…
Harry Edwards
15th March, 2024
2023 closed with bond and equity markets moving notably higher on the back of falling inflation data and the prospect of interest rate cuts. This was something we had anticipated would happen earlier in 2023, though our thoughts played out, and the returns we expected all came in somewhat of…
Alex Chappell
1st March, 2024
This year will be the single largest election year in history. Across six continents more than 2.5 billion people will be able to put pen to ballot paper and vote for the future of their country’s policy. It’s a chance for 30% of the world’s population to share their views…
Alex Chappell
16th February, 2024
The psychology of markets is not especially consistent. Investors get overly pessimistic when they are worried, and overly excited when newsflow is good. This creates periods where too much of the bad news is reflected in market prices and vice versa. After 18 months of bad inflation and interest rate…
Alex Chappell
2nd February, 2024
As regular readers will know, last year was hard fought. A weighted average of our portfolio returns (after costs) produced circa 8% in the calendar year, that was achieved despite 8 of the 12 calendar months yielding negative numbers. In fact, it took until December to get ahead of our…
Ashley Brooks
19th January, 2024
2022 was one of the most challenging years for investment returns in recent history. As so often when asset valuations fall significantly, there are some excellent opportunities created, and we spent much of the latter part of 2022 in particular, reshaping our portfolios for 2023. As a result, we felt…
The Planning Team
5th January, 2024
A lot happens in a twelve-month period. We live in a world full of subjective opinion, and often sensationalism, resulting in a greater risk of thinking short term and reacting in the moment. We’ve all heard the saying ‘patience is a virtue’ and it’s been absolutely required this year with…
Ashley Brooks
21st December, 2023
“How did you go bankrupt? Bill asked. “Two ways” Mike said, “gradually then suddenly”. That famous quote from Ernest Hemingway’s novel feels very applicable to the question “how is your investment forecast playing out?” We’ve been talking since the spring about a more positive investment environment for our portfolios. Our…
Alex Chappell
1st December, 2023
Everything you need to know about the 2023 Autumn Statement
On Wednesday chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered the Autumn Statement, setting the scene by saying the UK economy had performed better than previously expected, giving them room to cut taxes and raise benefits in search of delivering growth. Ahead of his speech, Hunt faced pressure to reduce the tax burden on…
DB Wood Team
24th November, 2023