We do tend to make greater returns on our investments over the winter months than we do over the summer months. However last year that didn’t happen. October to December was an appalling period to be an investor, but it did pick up early in the new year. Crucially, we are investors, not speculators. We are never all in the market or all out of the market, trying to time the ups and downs. We maintain a long term strategic asset allocation, tactically adjusting that balance up and down in line with market conditions and sentiment. We have learned to remain patient and understand that when the results have been coming along in spades, those times just don’t last. But also when things look bad, those times don’t last either.
So here we are in October already, by halloween we could be “crashing out”, “on the cliff edge”, “surrendered” or “defeated”. Whatever evocative language the press and the politicians choose to use, that’s where we will be within the month. The “October effect.”is starting to look like a bit of investment legend which could be proved true once again. October tends to be a bad month for the markets.