Keep calm and Brexit.

The nation has voted and just over half the votes were cast in favour of Brexit. The decision to leave the European Union seems to have come as a shock to the vast majority of expert commentators, news outlets and betting companies – although not 52% of the electorate. Both UK and World markets were initially shocked by the Brexit result – reflected in large falls across major stock markets during early trading following the vote. The Pound has also suffered significant falls against other major currencies as the news of the UK’s Brexit broke. Although since then both markets and the Pound have recovered.

In light of the inevitable political and economic uncertainty that will ensue over the coming weeks, months and years it is entirely understandable to be concerned about not only your investments but also your financial future.

It is therefore worth remembering that we have seen significant volatility in the markets before. We have suffered market crashes, uncertainty and doom and gloom before and each time markets have recovered. It’s important to remain invested. We wrote about why it’s important in Time in the Markets in April 2016.

Discipline is important now. It is essential that you do not make emotional decisions about your investments. This is always the correct thing to do. Remember our portfolios are based on the findings of financial science. We wrote about Investing Using Science in April 2016.

If you’re thinking ‘this time is different’ (and it definitely is) it is worth remembering that we are simply seeing the results of uncertainty in the market.  Other “this time it’s different” events (Black Wednesday, Dot Com bubble, Credit crunch, etc.) created similar uncertainty.   It is uncertainty that causes these reactions on the markets. Once the initial uncertainty has been clarified things will stabilise and we are likely to see a more settled investment landscape.

Our advice remains unchanged: Stay in your seat (written in Feb 2016). It’s the right thing to do. Short term volatility is to be expected but over the longer term markets provide growth.