Financial Planners are holding firm in their advice to clients as a result of the global market crash but do not rule out making changes to client plans in the near future, they have told Financial Planning Today.

The FTSE 100 fell a further 5% in early trade today, as pessimism around US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs continued to hit the outlook for world trade.

Indices in Asia have nursed some of the most painful losses with China’s Hang Seng down 13% and Japan’s Nikkei falling around 8%.

Fund managers and DFMs have been unsurprisingly quick to comment on the tariffs, urging investors to stick by their long-term strategies in the face of short-term volatility.

Financial Planners have also been advising caution and at the moment have yet to make many changes to the advice they are providing clients.

Keith Churchouse, Chartered Financial Planner at Chapters Financial, said the firm has yet to hear any concerns about the Trump-induced market crash from clients.

He said he expect some may be harbouring concerns but quietly watching to see where the markets settle.

Ian Else, founder and Financial Planner at 4 Financial Planning, said he has yet to be clients contact him about the market crash but he believes that is because they are well prepared to volatility and “know its just a case of being brave”.

He has also not seen any clients look to make changes to their plans.

Mr Else said: “Every single client has enough headroom in their plans to cope with the fall so far, so no changes yet. It’s also much too early to start making those decisions. The vast majority of them are still broadly at the same level they were 12 months ago. No knee jerk reactions, that’s not what we do. 

“The market crash has not changed the advice we are giving and why would it? Yes we could be in the midst of a huge economic reset. Equally the man calling the shots is the most unpredictable individual ever to hold office and everything could change in 5 minutes.”

Mr Churchouse is also not currently changing the advice he is giving to clients as most Financial Planning is based on the medium to longer term, but expects there may possibly be some impact on retirement plans.

He said: “We may see some retirement plans change or adjust because of the market falls and we will be on hand to help those affected. It will be interesting to see how/ if annuity rates change in the near term.”

Sarah Ruggins, head of investment specialists at St James’s Place, believes the volatility caused by the tariffs will be short term.

She said: “Our base case of a soft landing remains unchanged at this point in time, and our asset allocation views also remain unchanged. However, we are staying alert to the risks and opportunities that such periods of stress can create, particularly in situations where there is an extreme disconnect between valuations and fundamentals.

“By staying diversified and disciplined, we are positioning ourselves robustly to weather volatility and will be assessing the longer-term impacts of trade policy as the situation develops.”

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