FAREWELL 2021…
With the arrival of our office Christmas tree and the smell of mince pies in the kitchen, it’s becoming more apparent that we are nearing the end of another year, so, we wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a relaxing Christmas break.
We have had a busy year here at Carrington, for which we are very grateful. We are settling into being back in the office and we have all enjoyed seeing each other daily, being able to bounce ideas off one another and work collaboratively; whilst also having the opportunity to welcome clients into our ‘new’ office space.
Some of the things we will remember 2021 for:-
- Being able to once again meet our clients face to face. This is such an important part of what we do, and although Zoom has been fantastic in allowing us to continue to be engaged with everyone, we have missed meeting in person.
- Having had the opportunity to take part in the Hever Castle Festival of Endurance in July and smash our fundraising target, raising over £7,000 for Full Circle Fund Therapies. This was followed by a lovely meeting in our office to chat about what the charity has been up to and how important their work with the very sick and vulnerable, continues to be.
- To continue to participate in the shift towards sustainable investing, through our ESG portfolio. It’s exciting to see more significance being placed on the importance of this movement, and this belief being reflected by our client’s uptake.
- Being acknowledged for what we do with a Gold Standard Award for Independent Financial Advice and being named a New Model Adviser Top 100 Wealth Management Firm for 2021.
- Meeting, and telling the stories of some truly amazing and inspiring women, in our latest edition of the Club Magazine. If you missed it, click here to have a read.
CHRISTMAS OFFICE HOURS
The office will close at 17h00 on Thursday, 23rd December and re-open at 09h00 on Tuesday, 4th January 2022.
THE TEAM
You may have already had the pleasure of speaking to or dealing with Stacey, but if not, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome and introduce you to the newest member of the Carrington Team. Stacey-Lee Berry joins the Client Relationship Team, supporting the advisers in their day-to-day work, whilst ensuring that your needs are being taken care of. Coming from a financial services background has given Stacey an excellent grounding and understanding of what we do, allowing her to jump right in and get involved. In her spare time, Stacey loves nothing more than to go horse riding, whilst top of her bucket list is to take a road trip around the USA.
This year the team have continued to find time to expand their knowledge base and further their skill set. Tommy has recently passed RO5 (a Financial Protection module) and is about to sit his penultimate exam on his Financial Planning degree journey. Ali and Cecily have both enrolled in the next module of coursework on their path towards becoming chartered financial advisers and Mo has just registered to take a newly offered ESG Investing course. Good luck everyone!
QUICK MARKET WRAP UP
The markets have been volatile this year when looking at a variety of sectors. Our favoured long-term themes, whilst exhibiting low levels of volatility in 2020 following the emergence of the pandemic, were more volatile this year as inflationary pressures built up causing bond yields to rise. This ebb and flow between the longer-term themes and the more economically sensitive sectors was a key feature of the year and we expect this to continue into 2022.
We remain optimistic about the Healthcare sector in particular, which appears to be on the cusp of revolutionary change. Moderna is one of the larger holdings in our Healthcare exposure. They were one of the first to develop a Covid vaccine and have since become a household name. However, their superior technology is now being used for a variety of other illnesses and they currently have 34 products in their pipeline including vaccines against HIV, the Flu, and a personalised cancer vaccine. We believe they are going to be a company to watch, if not for investment performance, but also for the amazing advances in healthcare they are planning to achieve.
And then to keep on your radar for the new year…we will be hosting our next investment webinar – Market Insights – on Monday, 17th January, so please keep your eyes peeled for the invite. Mo will be joined by Tommy, and together they will be taking a look at the year ahead. As a reminder, if you can’t make the webinar, we will put the recording on our blog (on our website) so that you can watch it in your own time.
PLEASE KEEP SAFE
Personally, in the run-up to Christmas, we have seen a rise in highly sophisticated phishing messages via text and email. The criminals are getting smarter, and the malicious messages are getting more difficult to spot, so please be vigilant and if in any doubt as to the authenticity of the communication, check with the sender.
We put together some information on what to look out for and what you should do if you fall victim to a scam. Click here for more information.
And then lastly…
As we look forward to the new year, we want to remember all that we have to be grateful for and proud of this year, however, this could not have happened without clients such as you. So, thank you for everything and for being part of the journey.
