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CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL
April 16 - April 29 2020
dr dolots
Early lockdown and shrewd planning from local GP helps rural region stay free from coronavirus
Strictly locked down
HE can’t dance his way out of this one. Former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole has been locked down in his Mallorca holiday home since the Covid-19 outbreak began. The New Zealand ballroom dancer has been unable to leave the property he owns with wife Zoe and their children Aurelia, seven, and Dante, two. They have been making the most of their pool and BBQ, while Brendan, 43, has been cooking up a storm with a meat and potatoes dish. Zoe, a model and lifestyle blogger, also posted selfies of herself enjoying a glass of wine. “Today we’re happy as the sun came out for the first time in over a week!” she commented.
A REGION of eight towns and villages in northern Spain have stayed Coronavirus free by declaring a lockdown a week earlier than the rest of the country. The area of Cedrillas decided to begin social distancing and take drastic measures on March 7, a week before the country went into official lockdown. The boss of the local health centre and the local mayor agreed to close the 428km square region, in Teruel, which includes Castellar, el Pobo de la Sierra, Monteagudo del Castillo, Jorcas, Allepuz, Villarroya de
By Joshua Parfitt
los Pinares and Miravete de la Sierra. The result: not one person in the area has so far been confirmed as a victim of Covid-19.
Trust
Now, the region’s GP Eduardo Comas, coordinator of the Centro de Salud de Cedrillas has been singled out for praise in his quick-thinking measures. He puts his decision down to trust and says it was vital
as a large percentage of the region’s 1,221 residents are over 65 years old. In particular, the main town has an old people’s home, which has seen no cases, while in the town of Valderrobres, just outside the region over 80% of residents and half of the workers in one nursing home alone have caught the virus. “The advantage of rural towns is that residents trust in their doctor, and have contact with their doctor,” explained Comas. All consented to introduce social distancing measures,
650,000 people break lockdown SINCE the start of Spain’s coronavirus lockdown on March 14, police have issued 650,000 fines for breaking the emergency regulations. Spain’s Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, revealed the figures on Monday during an online press conference. Marlaska emphasised that the sole purpose of issuing fines was to ensure people obeyed the regulations, dismissing claims from some quarters that it was a money-making exercise. He added that public health was his department’s priority. He continued to say that the
vast majority of people were obeying the regulations. There had been a slight rise in the number of people being fined last week, but generally compliance was good. Marlaska said that money collected from fines will be handed over to the Treasury, which will decide on how it should be spent. During the conference he also announced that 4,500 Policia Nacional, Guardia Civil, Red Cross and Civil protection volunteers have started handing out 10 million free protective masks at train and bus stations. He pledged that the scheme will be rolled out to pharmacies in the coming days.
It’s times like these that the cracks begin to show Some of you may have seen my article from last week, it included the Chorus Balanced portfolio, which had lost around 10% since the market highs in February. The portfolio has already recovered by 3% over the last week and is still comfortably in profit over the last 12 months, despite global markets having fallen as much as 35%. Following the publication of that article a number of nonChorus clients contacted me as they were concerned that their portfolios had lost much more over the same period than ours.
I am certainly not one for picking faults in other advisers and the investments they choose for their client’s portfolio’s, and whilst I admit good advisers are limited here on the Costa Blanca, there are some good ones out there. I am also not one to brag or take any satisfaction from anyone making unnecessary losses in this unfortunate time.
What upsets me and angers me the most is that I continue to see portfolio’s that are filled with underperforming funds that have eye watering charges. These two things are a recipe for disaster and can often go undetected when the markets are performing well. One couple that contacted me this week said that they had been quite happy with their financial adviser over the years and although they hadn’t made huge gains, they hadn’t lost either. Having looked over their portfolios I was able to identify that many of the funds they held were incredibly poor quality and were adding charges of over 2.5% per year in addition to charges the clients were aware of. To make matters worse, these funds had not offered any protection in this recent market correction. In fact, these balanced risk clients had seen their portfolio drop by over
INGENIOUS: Dr Comas saved his town and region
and also included disinfecting all shops and public buildings and keeping old people indoors. “The nursing home was like a bunker,” continued Comas. “No one entered, and no one left. We cleaned the trucks bringing in supplies with bleach, because if the virus got in, there would be no way of stopping it.” The only person given a special permit to use the roads was ‘Ratoncito Perez’ – the Spanish version of the tooth fairy – whom mayor Jose Luis Lopez assured children would still visit their homes. While a beautiful area for rural tourism, Comas believes that Cedrillas’ lack of ‘tourism, concerts, big events and public transport’ has saved them from the coronavirus. Oh, and a bit of quick thinking from him.
Downhill now SOCIAL distancing measures have helped Spain reach its peak mortality rate for COVID-19. Dr. Christopher Murray – whose coronavirus prediction models are used in White House briefings – said that badly-hit European countries now have the ‘worst behind them’. “Social distancing can, when well implemented and maintained, control the epidemic, leading to declining death rates,” he said. Italy reached its peak mortality rate on March 27, followed by Spain on April 1 and France on April 3. The report added that Spain will see 19,209 deaths, while the UK is predicted to see 66,314. The US will have 81,766 deaths.
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By Tracy Storer, Senior Partner 20%, and I was not holding out much hope that they were going to recover these loses unless they made urgent changes. Luckily for this couple I was able to move them into funds which were far superior, had a proven track record at a fraction of the cost and I have every confidence that these changes will give them the best opportunity to benefit from the recovery.
why, it is because they are paid by those fund houses to make the recommendation. Something that is very much against your best interests as a client.
So why does it happen? Why do advisers choose funds that have a history of poor performance and charges that are nearly double the industry standard? I’ll tell you
If you are concerned about your existing investments, or considering a new proposal, email me on t.storer@chorusfinancial.es or call 693 107 044.
Investment contracts are intended as medium to long term investments, and all investments have some level of risk. Figures in our articles are examples of what can be achieved and cannot be guaranteed; the value of your investments can go down as well as up. Fees and charges can vary and will be fully explained to you before any advice can take place. This article should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular product.
The advisers trading as Chorus Financial are members of OpesFidelio and authorised to give financial advice subject to contract in parts of the EEA, including Spain, CNMV Nº Registro Oficial 3970. OpesFidelio is a trademarked network of the Aisa Group which includes Aisa Financial Planning Ltd and Aisa International s.r.o. Aisa Financial Planning is authorised and regulated in the UK as an independent financial adviser for UK retail clients by the Financial Conduct Authority, Reference number: 189652, and has permissions throughout the EEA under both directives IDD and MiFID. Aisa International s.r.o. is authorised and regulated in the Czech Republic as a financial adviser by the Czech National Bank and has permissions through selected EEA countries, including Spain.
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