If it wasn’t Brexit it would have been something else so why not let the tide go out and see what the industry has been doing with itself since the credit crunch?
Scott Thorpe is a director within the London Money group of companies and Access 4 Finance
Regardless of which side of the referendum fence you sit on D-day is fast approaching.
The narrative has changed from both sides and while fewer are now talking about sunlit uplands should we, as business people, be looking at the glass half full rather than half empty?
There will be inevitable industry down sides so let’s take a look at them.
House prices will fall
About time too! We can’t keep pumping the balloon and the bigger they get the harder they fall so some natural drag on overly priced houses, particularly in the South, is something we should embrace rather than avoid. And besides, this will level out nicely as the northern powerhouse begins to get traction and close the gap on our friends past the Watford Gap.
Uncertainty
There will always be uncertainty in life which is what gives it its edge. Unless you have pioneered time travel or you had a crystal ball there would be uncertainty today whether we had Brexit or not. People might not move but they might want to extend and or refurbish and in doing so will likely need to acquire debt.
Lenders tighten criteria
Well they have already done this after the last credit crunch. We have had rafts of new regulation; some thought some of that regulation would kill is off but guess what? We’re still here.
Investors will look beyond London
They certainly will if they have any sense! Up North we have known for a while that the South was overpriced and that northern bricks and mortar were a great investment. It looks like people are now starting to see what we knew all along – it really is all about location, location, location.
Clients will tighten their belts
Well, like with house prices, maybe this is good news? For a long time now people have been living the high life well beyond their means. Perhaps now they will rein in their spending habits, cut down their credit cards and begin to live a more simplistic and less material life. Who knows we may even become happier?
So when it comes to financial services are we at the forefront of the storm? Yes, but if it wasn’t Brexit it would have been something else so why not let the tide go out and see what the industry has been doing with itself since the credit crunch?
I am sure the good brokers will have de-risked, trimmed overheads and boosted balance sheets and built their business out in many directions to ensure they survive. Tell me that’s true? Tell me you haven’t just carried on doing what you were doing 10 years ago?
Good forward-thinking brokers will get a crack at a second innings and come out the other side of any downturn better, stronger and richer.
We’ve survived wars, famines, asteroids and reality TV. Natural selection is defined as the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. So will you survive and thrive or wilt and die? No one will escape a savage downturn regardless of what caused it. They say fortune favours the brave and whatever and beyond March 2019 we at the Money Group are ready, willing and more than able to hold our own.
The question is, are you?
