The headlines are noisy. Your financial plan doesn’t have to be.
If you’ve looked at the financial news in 2026, you’ll probably have noticed a familiar pattern.
Markets are moving. Bond yields have risen sharply. Inflation is back in the conversation. Oil prices remain a concern and commentators are once again trying to work out what happens next. For investors, it can create an understandable question:
Should I be doing something about it? The short answer is: not necessarily.
So, what’s causing the recent uncertainty?
There isn’t one single reason. UK government borrowing costs have risen significantly, with 10-year gilt yields recently reaching their highest level in almost 20 years and longer-term yields reaching levels last seen in the late 1990s.
At the same time, concerns about inflation have returned, partly influenced by higher energy prices and geopolitical uncertainty. The Bank of England is therefore having to balance two competing pressures: supporting the economy while making sure inflation doesn’t become embedded.
Recent business surveys suggest some price pressures may be easing, but uncertainty remains and when investors aren’t sure what comes next, markets can become more volatile.
But here’s the important bit…
Volatility isn’t the same thing as something going wrong.
Markets don’t move in a straight line.
Periods of uncertainty, sharp rises and falls, and uncomfortable headlines are a normal part of investing.
The problem is that we’re often exposed to those movements without seeing the longer-term picture. A 24-hour news cycle can make a temporary market movement feel like a major financial event.
For someone investing for the next 20 years, however, what happens over the next few weeks may be considerably less important than whether their overall strategy remains appropriate.
Should investors do nothing?
Not quite.
The answer isn’t to ignore what’s happening. It’s to make sure your investment strategy is designed with uncertainty in mind. That means asking questions such as:
What am I investing for?
If your investments are ultimately there to fund retirement, provide an income or support your family, those objectives should remain at the centre of your decisions.
When will I need the money?
Someone investing for a goal 25 years away has a very different capacity for short-term volatility from someone who needs to withdraw a large amount next year.
Am I appropriately diversified?
Different assets behave differently in different economic environments. Diversification can help reduce reliance on any one particular investment or market.
Has anything changed in my circumstances?
Perhaps the most important question.
If your financial goals, income, retirement plans or attitude towards risk have changed, that could be a reason to review your strategy.
What about the temptation to “wait and see”?
This is where investing can become difficult.
When markets are rising, it’s tempting to invest because you don’t want to miss out.
When markets are falling, it’s tempting to wait until things feel safer.
The problem is that “safer” often only feels obvious with hindsight.
Nobody knows exactly when markets will reach their highest or lowest point.
That’s why long-term financial planning is less about predicting what happens next and more about building a strategy that can cope with what happens next.
Our view
Financial markets will always give us something to talk about. Sometimes the story will be positive. Sometimes it won’t. But your financial plan shouldn’t need to change every time the headlines do.
Good financial planning doesn’t try to predict every market movement. It prepares you for them.
If your circumstances and goals haven’t changed, a period of market uncertainty doesn’t automatically mean your investment strategy needs to change either.
And if you are unsure, that’s exactly what a financial review is for.
Your investments should serve your financial plan, not the other way around.
Investments can fall as well as rise in value, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
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