Mis-sold Investment Specialists - Call For a Free Expert Claims Assessment
0808 163 1659

Back to blog overview

Coronavirus – Many Losing Money from High Risk Investments

Published on:

Coronavirus is causing significant disruption across the globe – and not just with regards to health. The virus is also impacting on the world’s financial markets, which in turn, is adversely affecting personal investments.

The FTSE 100 has plummeted, and in mid-March, saw its largest tumble in a 24-hour period since the 1980s. Understandably, you might be concerned about your investments and financial future. There’s also a chance that you were mis-sold to, especially if the risks weren’t conveyed clearly.

The impact of coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted almost every kind of business, which has had a knock-on effect. One senior analyst comments: “This will have affected the vast majority of people who hold stock market investments via their pension or ISA.” (1)

Nobody knows how coronavirus will behave in the future, and this has created significant market volatility. This means it’s difficult to predict how investments will be impacted over the next few months, or even years.

For most long-term investors, this is simply a storm to be weathered. Eventually, the financial market is likely to recalibrate, and losses will be recouped. However, those with higher risk investments may not be so lucky.

Responding to the situation

While it may be tempting to sell your shares (before the situation gets worse), experts advise against this course of action. Although the situation looks bleak at present, the market will almost certainly recover over time.

It’s also important to remember that usually, pension funds are made up of not only shares, but also government bonds, corporate bonds, and property. Share prices may have fallen, but government bonds have typically risen, which reduces the losses somewhat.

Given that there’s no certainty at present, it’s wiser to stick with the shares you have, rather than try to guess what will happen in the future.

Higher risk investments

If you’ve got a high-risk portfolio, then your investment is more likely to be badly affected than others. Now’s the time to assess your investments, and to make sure that they aren’t higher risk than you thought they were. If this is the case, you may be eligible to seek compensation for mis-selling.

Signs of mis-selling

When you were sold the investments, did the advisor:

-    Thoroughly assess your attitude to risk?
-    Explain what level of risk you were, and why you were rated in this way?
-    Give some idea of what you would stand to lose in a worst-case scenario (as well as gain if things went well)?
-    Explain exactly what you would be investing in?

If not, this is a sign that you may have been mis-sold your investment product.

What to do if you think you’ve been mis-sold to?

If coronavirus has negatively impacted your investments, and you’ve discovered that you had a higher-risk product than you thought, it’s time to start seeking compensation.

The Goodwin Barrett team are experts in this area, and we’ll fight your case on your behalf. If you think you’ve been mis-sold to, get in touch with us today on 0808 163 1659 or email enquiries@goodwinbarrett.co.uk.

References

1)      https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/03/coronavirus-how-to-protect-your-investment-portfolio/

Request a call back

If you'd like us to call, please fill in your details

Why choose us?

  • Hassle-free process.
  • No lengthy paperwork to complete.
  • Your own dedicated claims expert.
  • Claims settled within 8 weeks on average.
More About Us

Speak to our friendly experts

If you feel you've been let down by your bank or financial adviser please call us.

Call today 0808 163 1659

Customer Stories

We've helped thousands of people win compensation as a result of unsuitable financial advice.

William Thornley I’m absolutely delighted with the service we got from Goodwin Barrett, I couldn’t believe how easy it was and i’ve nothing but praise for them
Alan Parton This was an excellent result which my wife and I never expected. My sincere thanks to you for such an excellent achievement, I cannot thank you enough
Stuart Snowden After sending a report to Santander, they agreed with our findings and awarded Mr Snowden an amount of £7,000 made up from a refund of the losses together with interest and compensation.
William Miller This was a fantastic result I never expected. My sincere thanks for such a prompt and efficient service.
Margaret Long I am so grateful to your company but especially to Steve Wise for getting me the money back
Janet Rynkiewicz We reported our findings to Halifax and within a matter of weeks had secured our client the sum of £26,700 in compensation.
Fred Hardman After we sent a detailed complaint to Halifax, Fred was delighted to receive £6,916 from the bank in a matter of weeks.
Stephen Montague Having investigated the complaint Lloyds TSB agreed that the advice was unsuitable and agreed to pay the clients £10,000.

Figures shown are before the deduction of our fee.