Applewood Independent Ltd FAQs - Part 3

This is the final part of our three blog series titled ‘Applewood Independent Ltd FAQs’.

Applewood Independent Ltd FAQs - Part 3

If you missed the last two posts don't worry, you can catch up by heading back to our blog page here.

Now, let's crack on with part three.

It's no secret that resources like oil and gas won't be around forever. From an investing perspective, what will be the main alternative likely to replace these finite resources?

Today, there are still many countries whose economies are solely based on finite resources like oil and gas.

I'm no expert on the financial institutions of places like the Middle East and Russia, but one thing I do know is that economies like theirs are mostly funded by oil. As I've mentioned in my previous blogs, this isn't sustainable. At some point, the oil will be gone, which may well be a big threat to the countries who heavily depend on it.

To survive, countries like Russia and the Middle East are going to have to look to alternative energy sources and other means of fuelling their economy.

I saw an interesting talk recently from a population specialist who came up with some incredible forecasts for the future. He talked about Russia running out of electricity, and solar power becoming the main provider of the world's energy. 

Although it may be some years off, I can see this as being a real possibility. Once mass production begins, producing solar panels will become extremely cheap, and most are likely to be sent to other countries with the sunlight and space to harvest this power. 

This means emerging markets in third-world countries could grow rapidly once they start selling this power around the world. Just like the oil pipelines, we will have electricity pipelines with solar energy running through them!

It was a fascinating talk, and something I believe is likely to happen because as technology advances, electricity demand will only increase. For example, it won't be long before all of our cars are electric, and we will need to find a way to supply this demand sustainably – solar energy looks like it's one of our best bets.

Moving to the topic of Brexit, what are some of the main questions being asked by your clients?

I think the viewpoint of clients, peers or fund managers is the same as everybody else – we just want to get on with our lives now. There's been so much drama around whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, but I want to put political views aside. My job is to produce a return from investment markets, so for me, it doesn't matter which way Brexit goes. 

As long as it removes some uncertainty, and pushes the markets up, I'm happy. We've already seen what certainty can do to the markets in the form of the COVID-19 vaccine. Once the news was announced on the successful Pfizer trials, the market jumped up over 5% in a single day! 

So, it doesn't matter what deals are worked out for Brexit or what the results of those deals are, once Brexit happens we will know what’s going on and this should give us more certainty which, in turn, will have a positive effect on the market.  

I hope this has been useful and if you have anything else to add I’d love to hear from you. To find out more feel free to get in touch by emailing alex@applewoodindependent.co.uk



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