Looking back at my end of year message to clients a year ago, we were still to face the most testing period of the pandemic and the UK was just days away from leaving the European Union.

Despite these substantial challenges, 2021 has been a year when the markets have shown remarkable resilience and investments have held up.

Almost across the board, client portfolios have largely weathered some of the most turbulent economic times we can remember.

Of course, we are by no means out of the woods yet, especially with the latest Covid variant, Omicron, bringing some renewed restrictions as we approach the second anniversary of the outbreak of the global pandemic.

Overall though, there is unquestionably a more positive outlook than perhaps we could have hoped for this time last year.

There are even murmurings that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak would like to introduce some tax cuts at some point in the near future, although it is hard to see how this can be achieved just yet when so much work remains to be done re-balancing the books after the cost of navigating our way through the economic storms of the pandemic.

As we prepare to enter the New Year, the team at Phillip Bates & Co Financial Services will be continuing to monitor financial markets and trends, ensuring that we are able to advise of any measures that need to be taken to ensure our clients’ portfolios are fully protected and in the best possible position in both the short and longer term.

In recent newsletters, I have commented on concerns regarding rising inflation and the potential increase in interest rates. Thursday saw the Bank of England increase the rate to 0.25%, taking the view that action was now needed to combat inflationary pressures. We will continue to track the implications of this and further changes closely.

Despite the recent rise of Omicron, we have taken the decision to continue to work from the office. We know from our packed diaries that being able to meet with us again in person at our Neston office is something that many of you have appreciated. We will, of course, notify you should this position change over the coming weeks.

Finally, it remains for me, on behalf of all of our team, to wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

We look forward to meeting up again in 2022.

Our office will be closed between 24^th December and 4^th January.