With so much bad news around, you may ask why anyone would invest in shares right now. Well, in simple terms, stock markets have already valued shares in the expectation that things are actually as bad as they seem - hence the sharp drop in share prices in 2008 and early 2009.

Investors taking a longer term view on investing (5-10 years minimum) are likely to be well rewarded by investing when shares are lowly valued as they are now. At the end of the day, profits are made by buying at a low level an selling selling high. Perhaps fear of short term loss prevents taking such action, but the value of shares usually increases before economies and sentiment improve.

A broadly based portfolio of share linked investments should continue to be one of the best long term investments that you can make. We view the current  share prices as a buying opportunity, taking a a 3-5 year view.

We always caution our clients against chasing last years performance tables and “flavour of the month” investment funds. It is invariably totally the wrong thing to do.

It is our belief that good investment returns are on the cards for investments made this year, but that choosing the right fund managers will be the key to success.  There are some excellent managers looking to invest your money for you. Our job is to identify them and monitor their activity. Many successful managers are offered benefits to move employer and it is important that you know when this happens.

Here's to 2010!