Investing during turbulent times
The impact of coronavirus
As you’ll have seen on the news, one effect of the coronavirus (COVID – 19) outbreak has been falling stock markets. This means your Royal Bank investment may have fallen in value too.
Your first thought may be to take money out and stop it going down further. But unless you now need access to the money for immediate costs and expenses, that may not be the right thing to do.
Seeing beyond the ups and downs
Generally, investing should be for the long term – that’s 5 years or more. This is because the value of investments goes up and down, but over a longer period of time there’s potential to see growth above inflation.
So making a decision to withdraw your investment based on short-term falls could mean you lose out if the value goes back up
Three ways to think long term
- Think back to your original reason for investing. Is that still what you’re aiming for?
- Don’t check the value of your investment too often.
- Don’t try and time the market by moving your money out and then in again. There may not be a clear signal when it has reached the bottom.
Investing monthly?
For monthly investors, a falling market isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Although you’re putting in the same amount, when the market goes down your money buys more, and that could give you an advantage if the market rises again.
Our investment team continues to work on your behalf, but please be aware our telephony support team is dealing with less capacity than normal and this is having an impact on call waiting times.
Help managing your investment
Royal Bank Invest log in
You can track the progress of your investment as and when you want with your online investment account.
We're here to support you
If you’re worried about not being able to make it into a branch because of coronavirus, we’re here to help you. You can use our banking app or Digital Banking to do most of the things you’d do in branch, so you’ll always have access to your money. You can even chat ‘face to face’ from home with one of our video bankers. And you can find answers to key coronavirus banking-related questions you have here.
App and Digital Banking criteria apply. Video banking available 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, and 9am-3pm Saturdays. Video Banking may be recorded.