Dubai – Mubasher: Investors in the UAE may be vulnerable to over-estimating the potential for investment growth in 2019 despite challenging markets, Old Mutual International said in a recent report.
The GCC nation’s investment return is expected to exceed 10% and just 7% expected returns to be under 2% or negative, the leading cross-border provider of wealth management solutions noted.
The report covered around 130 responses and they represented a cross-section of those living in the UAE including expats, non-resident Indians and GCC nationals, Old Mutual International, which is a unit of UK-based Quilter plc, added.
The report highlighted that US markets ended 2018 with a negative performance ignoring their gains in the first half of the year.
Almost 69% of the survey respondents blamed market volatility as the reason why their investment returns fell below expectations.
“Some people might see a sharp drop in the value of their investments and decide that they want to cut and run because their positive outlook has been shattered. However, if they have taken financial advice, their adviser should explain that staying locked in for the long-term can ultimately get better returns,” Paul Evans, head of Region for the Middle East and Africa at Old Mutual International, commented.
Asset classes suffered a challenging year on the back of a raft of worries over a global trade war between the US and China, global economic slowdown and fluctuating oil prices concerned investment markets.
“Investors still need to be prepared for the fact that over the course of their investment journey, there will be ups and downs. This research suggests that many investors hold optimistic expectations for investment returns in the near-term,” Danny Knight, investment director at Quilter Investors, said.
