There’s nothing wrong with taking your time to get something right. For instance, no one who has gazed in wonder at Antoni Gaudí’s famous Sagrada Família in Barcelona would suggest that its construction should be rushed. Building started in 1882 and isn’t destined to be completed for at least another decade, but this extraordinary structure is surely an example of time well spent.
Unfortunately, the recent government decision on future London airport options demonstrates that long-running sagas don’t always indicate a lavishing of care and attention. They can just as easily be the result of endless prevarication and lack of nerve.
While you may be aware of Theresa May’s announcement favouring a third runway at Heathrow, and perhaps you know of the Airports Commission report which recommended this option – a report which was itself three years in the making – you possibly don’t know that this discussion is almost 50 years old. After all, the Roskill Commission was appointed to look at London’s airport needs way back in 1968. One year later, man walked on the moon, whereas 48 years later, we’re still talking about where to land planes in our capital city.
You might imagine that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Roskill Commission report, and that’s why the matter wasn’t settled there and then. However, this isn’t really the case. The problem was that the Commission’s thoughtful recommendation of a new airport at Cublington in Buckinghamshire wasn’t politically expedient. There was well organised local opposition, and the see-sawing fortunes of both Labour and Conservative governments resulted in constant reviews of each previous administration’s pet schemes.
History tells us that just because the government now favours Heathrow’s expansion, we aren’t necessarily any closer to seeing it happen.
This aversion to taking decisions isn’t confined to the whys and wherefores of air travel. From the uncertainty surrounding the Hinkley Point nuclear power station to the building of a high-speed rail network, long-term tinkering is often easier than selecting a strategy and then sticking to it.
That isn’t the way we do things at Callisto Wealth Management. When it comes to helping our clients find financial freedom, we know that long-term thinking is essential, but that chopping and changing strategy in response to market rumours or current fads is definitely not the way to go.
Although each of our clients comes to us with a different financial situation together with their own hopes and dreams for the future, only a careful, long-term approach can deliver reliable, steady growth. By listening to each client and establishing their future goals, we put together a plan designed to achieve the things they want from life. Then by sticking to a diverse, low cost, long-term investment strategy, we help make sure it all happens.
Everyone is different, but for many of our clients, jetting off to exotic climes is all part of their future plan, and we are proud to be able to help them see the world. However, thanks to the inability of successive governments to do some disciplined long-term thinking of their own, knowing where those future flights will take off from is anyone’s guess.
