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Founded in 1992 operating from Harpenden and having acquired an office in Hitchin in 2015, the firm has supported the local community for many years.

So, read on for Lyndhurst's expert development director Geoff Newman as he discusses ways top prevent inflation eroding your wealth.

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'Lies, damn lies and statistics' is a phrase often attributed to Mark Twain although a trawl through Wikipedia shows that it uncertain who was the first person to coin the phrase.

What is certain is that it appears as appropriate today as ever if you read the headlines.

Also in the headlines is that nasty beast "Inflation".

Inflation

I'm sure you will have read in recent news reports that UK inflation reached 5.4% in December, its highest rate in 30 years.

The large annual rise reflects widespread increases in the costs of most goods and services and has exceeded economists' forecasts (see a previous article on my thoughts of economic forecasting!).

Clearly, it is a more expensive time we are living in with the likelihood of rising prices set for the foreseeable future.

With that I mind I was considering the work we do on our investment committee, of which we are rightly proud, to develop inflation beating investment portfolios and asked our Head of Investments, Scott Draycon, for his thoughts on inflation.

Scott began: "Whilst the cost of living is set to increase, there may be further misery for individuals with cash on deposits as any rises in interest rates to stave off inflation are not likely to be replicated by increases in deposited interest on savings accounts.

"During the last year, we have experienced increased enquiries from clients seeking to lessen capital on deposit, benefit from transferring cash ISAs into invested ISAs and reviewing the real value of National Savings and Investments Premium Bonds over the longer term.

"With 2022 heralding a prosperous year for investors, many of these clients benefitted from taking early action".

Scott continued: "As an economic concept, the rate of inflation is important as it represents the rate at which an investment is eroded and the loss of its purchasing power over time."

The main question that comes to mind is - with some banks offering savings accounts with interest rates of just 0.01% and even fixed interest rates at levels considerably below 2%, is it time to consider an alternative to a traditional savings account?

It is more important than ever to ensure that your money is not only keeping pace with the increases in prices we are seeing in most goods and services but attempting to produce a real return, which is the concept of investment performance above and beyond the rate of inflation.

At Lyndhurst, we firmly believe that the best way to achieve a real return and combat escalating rates, is to invest capital in our highly regarded investment portfolios that have a long term objective of producing real returns on capital rather than seeing inflation erode our wealth.

We have developed a number of portfolios and investment strategies to tackle the current inflation crisis.

If this situation resonates with you then please call our team on 01461 441100 and they can discuss how we might help.

Geoff Newman