The South West of England appears to be the place to live if you want a long, healthy and safe retirement, according to a new league table of pensioner well-being developed by Prudential. The league table, which uses a combination of census data and results from the insurer’s own retirement research, ranks the top 20 counties in England and Wales according to several measures of the wellbeing of their pensioner populations.
According to the league table, six of the top 20 counties for pensioner well-being are in the South West of England, with Devon coming out on top of the rankings, Dorset in second place, Gloucestershire seventh, Wiltshire 12th, Somerset 13th and Cornwall 19th . In another boost for pensioners in the region, Prudential’s own retirement research also recently found that the South West saw one of the largest year-on-year jumps in expected retirement incomes among this year’s retirees – with new pensioners expecting to live on 19 per cent a year more than those who retired in 2014.
The pensioner well-being league table rates each county against a number of indicators including the ratio of healthcare workers per head of population, the length of time a pensioner can expect to live once they’ve retired, and the annual incidences of crime per thousand members of the county’s population. Outside of the West Country, Norfolk and Powys also rank highly in the league table. Six counties in the South East of England make the top 20, which overall is made up of 17 English counties and three Welsh.
Topping the pensioner well-being league table, Devon’s largely rural make-up results in a relatively low 50.1 crimes annually per thousand people – well below the national average of 56.7. The county’s pensioner life expectancy is in the national top 10 for both men and women – the average 65 year old Devonian man can expect to live for another 19 years while a woman can expect to live for another 22 years. Devon also has an above average number of healthcare workers per thousand people at 65.6 compared with the 60.9 national average. The Prudential also states that according to their research, of those retiring in 2015 more than a third (36%) of those in the South West of England say they will be able to afford to leave an inheritance to their families – well above the UK average of 29% .
Should you be worried during significant market falls?
Wednesday, September 30th, 2015A recent Standard Life article suggests that in simple terms, you probably shouldn’t be worried about recent market falls. Most of us are investing over the long term, and significant market falls happen periodically. Generally, the wrong thing to do when markets fall by a reasonable margin is to panic and sell out of the market – this just locks in a loss. The right thing to do is remember why you’re invested in the first place and make sure that rationale hasn’t changed.
Although the FTSE fell below 6,000 on 22 September, the falls need to be looked at in context of the overall picture, however. For instance, the FTSE 100 Index had broken its all-time high earlier this year. Professional investors aren’t filled with panic at the moment, regardless of the situation the media is portraying. Most of them are viewing this as a ‘market correction’ – just bringing things that have got a little inflated back down to earth.
Recently the Chinese government has attempted to stimulate the economy by devaluing its currency and suspending trading on many stocks. All this has done is to spook markets, both in China and globally, with significant falls in global stock markets, including the S&P in the US and the FTSE. How negatively? Well, on 24 August, the day many in the media are calling ‘Black Monday’, the Chinese market was down by 8%, UK markets fell by over 4.5% and the US by over 3.5%*.
Standard Life Investment’s Head of Global Equities, Mikael Zhavrev, has also called this, “a buying opportunity, not a market inflection.” In other words, this reduction in the value of some investments is an opportunity to pick up a bargain and benefit when the value rises again.
So what should you do?
According to the Standard Life article, that depends on your investments. If you’ve picked a ‘hands off’ investment where someone is making all the decisions for you, then you should be fine. Just make sure they can invest in lots of different types of investments across different countries, ensuring that you are well-diversified.
If, however, you’ve selected your own funds or investments, you’ll probably want to make sure your choices still meet your needs. Again, revisit your original investment rationale. Why did you pick the various countries or asset classes in the first place? Are you invested in a diversified portfolio, or did you deliberately take a riskier single asset class or geographical approach? You might want to get some commentary from fund managers who are significant in the markets you invest in, and balance those against the outlooks of fund managers who manage significant multi-asset funds.
If you do decide to make changes to your investments, make sure they’re for the right reasons. Don’t react out of panic. And, if possible, take a long-term view! Always consider consulting an independent financial adviser when making any sort of decision regarding your future and the financial investments that are there to prepare you for it.
The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The value of tax reliefs depends on your individual circumstances. Tax laws can change.
Posted in Commentary, Investments | Comments Off on Should you be worried during significant market falls?