A sense of bewilderment

Dear Editor, People planning for retirement can be excused for feeling bewildered following the recent unprecedented events in the stock market and wider economy. Interest rates are at their lowest since 1953 following the historic 1.5% rate cut in November on top of the 0.5% reduction in October and we expect more rate cuts to come. Meanwhile the FTSE-100 may have recovered from the lows of October when it hit 3,852 but it is still down around 37% when compared with the 6,721.6 it closed at on 31 October 2007. Inevitably the combination of stock market falls and interest rate cuts ...