USA

About two weeks ago, the US Government passed a bill that increased the country's debt limit, and at the same time committed to significant spending cuts. While this was good news in that the US was definitely not going to default, investors realised that in the short term, spending cuts were likely to hurt economic growth.

While volatility in sharemarkets is not unusual, investors are only too aware that there has been a lot going on in the markets recently. Sharemarkets around the world continue to be very volatile.

The main principle of investing is that the more volatile or risky an investment is, the higher the long-term return may be.

It is interesting that we don't think about shares in the same way that we think about other things that we buy or use. While it may seem strange to compare shares to mangoes, let's take a stab at it anyway.

As an investor, your feelings of fear and anxiety, particularly during turbulent market cycles, are not unique. One of the most daunting feelings can be the pressure to 'do something' within your portfolio when you're scared even though your long-term strategy says otherwise.

Knowing whether your investment options are the most appropriate for you can be difficult, so we have designed an investor style quiz that can assist you in determining what type of investor you are and which investment options might best suit your needs and investment timeframe.

Because super is specifically intended for your retirement, the Government has restrictions on when you can access it - usually not until you've permanently retired or reached your preservation age.

While we know that markets move in cycles, no one can say what tomorrow will bring. But what we can do is look back through history and see that a down market has always been followed by periods of higher returns.

Every market cycle – bull or bear – provides opportunities for us to improve our investment process. The best thing to do is learn from what happened and apply those lessons to your future investment strategies and circumstances.