Civil unrest an impending investment headwind: deVere

deVere Group chief executive Nigel Green has warned investors to protect their investments ahead of impending mass social unrest driven by rising global cost of living, food shortages and soaring energy prices.

Green’s comments come as investors move to review and adapt their portfolios to reflect the market conditions for the rest of the year and into 2023.

“There are many headwinds ahead for the rest of this year that could impact investor returns. One of the biggest – and most overlooked – is the rising risk of large-scale social unrest,” he said.

“The global cost of living crisis is the major contributing factor. Soaring food and energy prices triggered, by unprecedented shipping backlogs or shortages of materials and labour, Covid lockdowns in China, and the war in Ukraine, known as ‘the world’s breadbasket’ as it’s one of the world’s leading exporters of corn, wheat, barley and sunflower oil, amongst other staples.

“When people can’t feed their families, get to work or take their kids to school due to high fuel prices, or heat their homes, it’s an almost inevitable recipe for large-scale civil unrest.”

Green said investors should remain alert as a “perfect storm scenario” could be on the horizon, after a downturn in the property market, an economic growth slowdown, less business investment, more redundancies and less cash available for governments.

“Whenever there is high uncertainty, there is opportunity – all the world’s most successful investors know this. And history teaches us that downturns are the best time to invest,” Green said.

“Stepping off the sidelines to enhance your investment portfolios in these times is to be championed, but you must also ensure that those bolsters to your investment help to create resilience and dynamism.”

The chief executive affirmed the importance of diversification in volatile time like the present, encouraging investors to “seize the opportunities when presented to grow their wealth for the long-term”.