The weak pound has often been a disadvantage to investors, reducing the international value of the UK-oriented investments that tend to dominate British retail portfolios.
But every cloud has a silver lining, not least sterling’s steep drop. A depreciating currency can be a boon, especially for investors with extensive overseas equity holdings.
If someone in the UK had bought American stocks in 1980 they would have benefited from the US’s strong equity performance of 11.1 per cent per year but currency devaluation would have boosted their return to 13.1 per cent when they converted their US stocks back into sterling this year. A pound invested in US stocks in 1980 would be worth £179 in 2022 but a dollar invested in 1980 would be worth “just” $83 today.