Richard Harvey – think positive and have fun!

by | Sep 15, 2016

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Think positive, says Richard Harvey, as he rebuffs the many gloomy, post-brexit economic forecasts. And have fun!

I’m a wary sort of chap. Always fretting about the potential negatives of any given situation (rather than anticipating the likely positives), and secretly worrying I might one day end up in the annexe for destitutes at my local council care home.

If I’d have been born a couple of generations earlier, I can imagine my response to the World War One platoon commander, ordering us over the top. “Er, tactically speaking sir, wouldn’t it be more prudent to stay put for a few hours to see if the enemy runs out of ammo?”

 
 

Unfortunately, there are millions of people out there mired in pessimism, convinced that Brexit means the nation is doomed to penury, begging for scraps from the groaning board of plenty from which members of the EU feast. And I just can’t sign up to that.

I keep saying to my fellow Remainers that unless they have a hotline to the Almighty, it is surely impossible to know how this will pan out for the economy in general, and our pensions and savings in particular.

It seems common sense that IFAs might be considering a more cautious investment approach, but then anyone looking for a return beyond, say, a couple of percentage points above inflation is surely being unrealistic, not to say greedy.

 
 

It would also be wise to switch off the telly, and avoid the more volcanic opinions of personal finance writers (who are, of course, conspicuously absent from IFA Magazine’s resident panel of Wise Folk).

Following the referendum, a headline in the Mail on Sunday screamed: “Brexit vote will plunge UK into a new recession”. Just the sort of totally unproveable forecast that quite put me off my breakfast kippers. And reminded me why I really must stop reading the tabloids.

Adding to the apocalyptic mood were the social media postings declaring: “Ashamed to be British”, which seemed to assume that those who voted Out were all racist knuckle draggers.

 
 

Many undoubtedly were – but these postings blithely ignored the millions who wanted to quit the EU ‘project’ for perfectly valid reasons (not least to divorce ourselves from the appalling Jean-Claude Juncker, my nominee for Arrogant Eurogit of the Year).

The defenestration of Boris was a mighty blow to those struggling to make the case that Brexit would benefit the country in the long term, even if they, like the rest of us, have no previous experience on which to base a reasoned judgement.

By the time you read this, you will probably have returned from summer hols, and be feeling relaxed and optimistic. Those sunlit uplands promised by Boris and Gove may not be in sight yet, but who knows? Think positive.

Talking of positivity and optimism, I recently attended a seminar by business psychologist Ash Lawrence, who believes that to be successful, you need to enjoy your work. He says, somewhat cryptically, “if you have fun at work, you will never work another day in your life”.

On the same day, I came across a quote from Richard Branson: “Fun is the most important and under-valued ingredient in any successful venture”.

So next time you have to deal with that pain-in-the-rear client, stay positive. And have fun.

 

 

 

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