Money matters

Financial markets are full of fear and fluctuation at the moment. They have been shaken by successive events such as the Greek debt crisis, the US rating downgrade, civil unrest and uncertainty across North Africa and the Middle East, and escalating commodity prices.

All of these derive from beyond our shores and yet private investors in the UK have to decide how to protect their interests against this background. The challenge they face is to preserve their wealth while avoiding its erosion through adverse market movements, inflation, taxation and costs levied by financial services providers.

It is not easy to make the best choices on where to invest, yet to do nothing is to allow inflation to take its toll. This investment strategy supplement aims to offer readers ideas and principles that they can use to guide their thinking. There is no silver bullet, no one-shot solution that will overcome the forces at play. But at least some of the risks can be contained. And choices made now, while markets are in turmoil, may prove fruitful later when they are more stable.

22 August 2011