Recent monthly sales figures from the Investment Management Association (IMA) showed that balanced and money market funds had been the main beneficiaries of record retail outflows in November 2007. This is the biggest sign yet that investors and IFAs of a nervous disposition are hell-bent on fleeing the perceived risk of equities and property investment for the safety of more cautious options. It would seem that the run on a certain bank last year allied with the current market uncertainty has created something of a trend for mass withdrawal of client funds from potentially sticky situations. No longer the famed British ‘grin and bear it’ approach.   The theme that would seem to be missing from the ‘stick or twist’ debate is that most investments should be for the long-term. A glance at past performance charts for equity and property investments over the past century should serve as a timely reminder of the ability for markets to experience occasional reversals in fortune without having a long-term effect. Reference to past performance over the long-term would at least provide investors with a level of comfort in uncertain times. (more…)