Paul’s verdict: You could bank some profits and pay off your home

It has been a truly strange year, Hayley. For some four decades, I and pretty much any other commentator on money has pointed out that over some 7000 years of human history, markets of all types have gone up and down.

At times we see extreme booms, at other times extreme busts. Some of these can be quite terrifying, but the common theme, of course, is the recovery.

What causes these huge downturns is easy to see with hindsight, but wars, plague and pestilence are up there.