Brexit

June was one of the most interesting months for British politics and its implications on the financial markets. Being a Brit and having a lot of GBP based assets i've been following very closely.

With the markets having priced in a remain vote, the initial shock to the financial markets on 24 June was significant, and beyond anything i've seen in one day.  These were the main immediate impacts to my finances:

With the value of GBP falling around 10% compared to USD (and HKD) the value of many of my assets fell but my HK based assets and income increased in value in GBP terms.  I translate my portfolio to GBP as a base currency so this has generally appeared as a positive, although obviously the opposite is true if i were to consider my net worth in USD terms.

My equity investments initially fell sharply in value but have rallied strongly over the past week. In addition, a number of my uk listed and GBP denominated ETFs have underlying investments in non GBP currencies and have appreciated sharply.

My pension funds initially fell in value following the referendum result, but have rallied back to similar levels. The non GBP portion has gained in value due to the fx movements.

Overall, when viewing my portfolio in GBP, Brexit has had a positive initial impact, with most of this driven by fx movements. It remains to be seen what the longer term implications will be.

Specific considerations for myself going forward include whether i intend to be based in the UK in the future, whether GBP should continue to be the base currency of my portfolio, and if any changes are needed to the broad diversification of my assets in terms of asset class, geography and currency.