For everyone, 2008 was a difficult investment year. We had predicted single-digit growth in equities, which of course proved to be wrong with equity markets producing huge losses, and with bonds and property not faring much better. I am pleased to note, of course, that our clients have made much lower losses than the markets through sensible fund selection and asset allocation.

The media, however, have performed much worse. At the beginning of 2008, a number of journalists were asked for their investment selections for the coming year. As you can see, the results speak for themselves:

Jenny Davey                 -35.5%
James Ashton              -41.1%
Grant Ringshaw            -42.0%
Louise Armitstead         -46.0%
Ben Laurence               -83.4%
Dominic O'Connell        -90.0%

Two journalists did well, with John Waples producing a positive return of 5.4% and Matthew Goodman's "pick" producing 0.3%. Having said that, John Waples' stock pick produced positive returns only because of a redistribution of surplus capital.

This is against the FTSE 100 producing a loss of 30.8%. All figures are to 31st December, but do not include any charges that would have been included in the purchase of the investments.