Morphing Market

Market Ethos.
November 21, 2022

What if you could hop in a time machine for your portfolio and go back to the start of the last bull cycle in 2009? What would you do differently? The answer is simple: buy equities – ideally U.S. equities in the form of the S&P 500. Then turn off your monitor or access to updates/quotes and set it and forget it for a decade or so. Or if you really wanted to trade, BUY THE DIP. Anytime the market weakened, buy some more. We now know that asset allocation took a back seat, as did some fancy investment strategies. Simply put, embracing the full volatility of the market was rewarded.

Unfortunately, time machines don’t exist, but you can build a portfolio based on 20/20 hindsight anytime. And this looking-back investment approach arguably does the most damage to investor portfolios. Without the benefit of hindsight, what led to this nice upward and relatively smooth ride starting at the end of 2009?

Related articles

Market Ethos

Opportunity knocks

February 18, 2025. Market Ethos. Will tariffs, or the threat of tariffs, trigger more inflation or cause markets to fall?

2 minute read

Market Ethos

Not all that glitters is gold

February 10, 2025. Market Ethos. With commodities having limited inflation protection, gold appears better off, but for how long?

2 minute read

Market Ethos

Deal-making on the rise

January 27, 2025. Market Ethos. Merger and acquisition activity has been low over the past few years, but there are signs of improvement as headwinds…

2 minute read