Stocks and Shares ISA/China

[Z064life]

Hi

With all the stuff in China, I've noticed my Stocks and Shares ISA has lost a few hundred £.

Is this something to be worried about? Should I withdraw or do the issues correct itself and Stocks and Shares ISAs go up again?



Thanks

[SMB]

These are always longer term Investments, give it time it will recover, if you take it out now it loses its tax free status and you are unlikely to make back the losses for years Assuming you don't need it for something else now, leave it there.

[tuffer]

However, nothing to stop it tanking again in the future if the stock markets take another dive. Remember, the value of your investment may go up as well as down.

[blueg33]

Mine lost 5% of its value last week and came back the whole 5% this week

[megaphone]

You haven't lost anything unless you cash it in! It's just a paper loss, hold tight, it will eventually recover, it always does.....crossing fingers.


Long thread here about it http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[ChrisCanning_Argentex]

Yes, the situation in China caused stocks around the world to plummet.

Investors generally view stocks as 'high yielding : high risk'. As a result, when investors are confident and willing to increase their exposure to risk, they invest into stocks which pushes them higher (ie good for your ISA).

However, at times of economic insecurity (such as the situation in China), investors want to reduce their exposure to risk. They therefore sell their stocks (causing them to drop), and invest into 'low yield : low risk' assets such as the US Dollar and sometimes commodities like gold.

The drop in your ISA will continue for as long as investors want to reduce their risk. As soon as world economic conditions improve then stocks will pick up again and you should be fine..

[hornet]

No point withdrawing after the event and realising the loss unless you need the cash from something else. I have a shares ISA as a regular long term investment and have actually made a few additional top-ups over the last few weeks. Nothing spectacular, but I'm going to be investing in them anyway, so viewed it as a reasonable opportunity. Hard not to obsess about large moves on a day to day basis, but it's intended as a long term investment, so you really just have to tune them out. No point trying to be too clever or fretting about every single bad day.

[davepoth]

Yup, I bunged a bit into mine at what I hope was the bottom of the market. Time will tell I suppose.

[Ginge R]

I went to a China-centric seminar last year. With all the political unrest that was going on, it was obvious that it wasn't just the stage lights that had the fund managers sweating. The Chinese investor doesn't even know the concept of 'downside' - that was as much as anything, one of the factors behind the crash.

It'll recover, eventually, but it'll be chastened for a while. It has been a salutary lesson. Contagion governs and controls at least as much now, as state policy. The markets, truly, have been democratised - and it's not always an edifying sight!