FTSE 100 reaches new record high.

[Delboy]

FTSE 100 reaches new record high


The FTSE 100 share index has hit a new high, passing through the previous record set on 30 December 1999.

It closed at a new peak of 6,949.63. The previous record close was 6,930.2, set at the height of the dotcom boom.

Earlier, the index also set a new intra-day high of 6,958.89, surpassing the previous figure of 6,950.6, also set on 30 December 1999.

Shares rose after eurozone finance ministers approved reform proposals submitted by Greece.

Stock markets around the world have also been buoyed by economic stimulus programmes put in place by central banks after the global financial crisis that hit in 2008.

I remember the financial crises in 2008, just after I took out my investment bond, thankfully I did not panic and let it ride the storm, which has certainly paid dividends.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31611261

[Frank Manning]

I can't believe it will last Del. Anyway my Investec has just been de linked from the FTSE shows their confidence!

[Onelife]

Hi Delboy,

It takes a brave man to ride the storm whilst watching your investment lose money day after day like it did back in 2008. We chose to cut our loses having seen the profit on our investment dwindle faster than a bunny down a rabbit hole. Good job we did as it carried on falling another 150+ points before the FT index finally started to level off. Not too clued up on stock markets but by my reckoning, taking into account what we would have continued to lose had we rode the storm we would by now only be breaking even on our initial investment
.
I think i'll wait until the next crash before considering another speculation in the stock market. In the mean time' Eastlake' looks a sound investment come Cheltenham .

Regards

Keith

[Delboy]

Hi Delboy,

It takes a brave man to ride the storm whilst watching your investment lose money day after day like it did back in 2008. We chose to cut our loses having seen the profit on our investment dwindle faster than a bunny down a rabbit hole. Good job we did as it carried on falling another 150+ points before the FT index finally started to level off. Not too clued up on stock markets but by my reckoning, taking into account what we would have continued to lose had we rode the storm we would by now only be breaking even on our initial investment
.
I think i'll wait until the next crash before considering another speculation in the stock market. In the mean time' Eastlake' looks a sound investment come Cheltenham .

Regards

Keith

Hi Keith

Our investment was in an investment income bond managed by a well known insurance company.
It dropped by a approx a third of its original value in 2008, however as we only took it out in Jan 2008, it had a penalty clause for cancelling in the first 5 years, so to cancel would have cost us more money.
We left it in and daily monitored it, we also did not take an annual income payment in Jan 2009 to help in its recovery.
As of today's date our bond is now worth more than the original sum invested, not by a lot ( which we have access to at any time, in part or in whole) now without penalty.
In addition over the last 6 years we have received an annual income (which was the main reason for the investment) equivalent in total to 30% of the original sum invested. (Tax Free)
The bond has life cover, equivalent to the value of the bond at the time, paid out on the last death (it's in joint names).
Obviously we keep a daily eye on the FTSE and the daily value of the bond, I am sure it will drop again below the 6,900, but as our bond is classed as low risk, the daily fluctuations do not seem to affect the bonds value too much. If 2008 were to happen again, at first sign we would cancel hopefully quicker than that rabbit.
I will leave you to your horses, health wise I trust you are feeling a lot better.

Del.

[wolfie]

Hi Delboy,

It takes a brave man to ride the storm whilst watching your investment lose money day after day like it did back in 2008. We chose to cut our loses having seen the profit on our investment dwindle faster than a bunny down a rabbit hole. Good job we did as it carried on falling another 150+ points before the FT index finally started to level off. Not too clued up on stock markets but by my reckoning, taking into account what we would have continued to lose had we rode the storm we would by now only be breaking even on our initial investment
.
I think i'll wait until the next crash before considering another speculation in the stock market. In the mean time' Eastlake' looks a sound investment come Cheltenham .

Regards

Keith

We were in the same position years ago, watching the FTSE drop like a stone but we are now glad that we weathered the storm back then and did not panic. Stocks and shares are not for the faint hearted! Whilst some years ago we were in it for the long term with high risk and the possibility of high returns we are now in it for security and growth with minimum risk; it comes with age. Thankfully we do not have all our eggs in one basket.

No doubt after recent huge rises, we shall see it fall again, hopefully not as dramatically as in recent years.

[Dennis The Menace]

It's funny - a record high and yet confidence in it staying there is (rightly, I think) so low.

The last time we were at this point the dot com thing was happening and, although bemusing due to those large loss making companies shares doing so well at the time, I seem to recall confidence in the FTSE was a lot higher than now.

Of course, us wise old investors knew the internet was just a fad, I always said it wouldn't last and people would be back to using teletext before we knew it.

[Onelife]

Hi Delboy,

It takes a brave man to ride the storm whilst watching your investment lose money day after day like it did back in 2008. We chose to cut our loses having seen the profit on our investment dwindle faster than a bunny down a rabbit hole. Good job we did as it carried on falling another 150+ points before the FT index finally started to level off. Not too clued up on stock markets but by my reckoning, taking into account what we would have continued to lose had we rode the storm we would by now only be breaking even on our initial investment
.
I think i'll wait until the next crash before considering another speculation in the stock market. In the mean time' Eastlake' looks a sound investment come Cheltenham .

Regards

Keith

Hi Keith

Our investment was in an investment income bond managed by a well known insurance company.
It dropped by a approx a third of its original value in 2008, however as we only took it out in Jan 2008, it had a penalty clause for cancelling in the first 5 years, so to cancel would have cost us more money.
We left it in and daily monitored it, we also did not take an annual income payment in Jan 2009 to help in its recovery.
As of today's date our bond is now worth more than the original sum invested, not by a lot ( which we have access to at any time, in part or in whole) now without penalty.
In addition over the last 6 years we have received an annual income (which was the main reason for the investment) equivalent in total to 30% of the original sum invested. (Tax Free)
The bond has life cover, equivalent to the value of the bond at the time, paid out on the last death (it's in joint names).
Obviously we keep a daily eye on the FTSE and the daily value of the bond, I am sure it will drop again below the 6,900, but as our bond is classed as low risk, the daily fluctuations do not seem to affect the bonds value too much. If 2008 were to happen again, at first sign we would cancel hopefully quicker than that rabbit.
I will leave you to your horses, health wise I trust you are feeling a lot better.

Del.

Thank you Delboy....hoepfully I'll have a much clearer picture after Tuesday.

Must be reassuring that you now have access to your portfolio should things take a turn for the worse

Just something to bear in mind...we spread our investment over 5 funds, property being the biggest of the five. Having come to the decision to withdraw our money we put things into motion by sending off a letter detailing our intent. No sooner had we done this we received a letter informing us that the property fund had been froze, this I believe is something they can do in situations where there is a run of withdrawals on a particular fund. Thankfully our request was honoured due to it being applied for prior to the letter informing us of their decision. As you are probably aware property funds took a real hammering during the crash as would we have if we had waited a couple days longer.

Good advice is essential when investing and by all accounts you seem to have done your homework thoroughly...Good luck to you.

Regards

Keith