In most industrial settings, health-and-safety rules demand that appropriate protective gear be worn, including the donning of ear defenders in high decibel environments. Yet, when it comes to our investing health and safety, we have little by the way of regulatory guidance except the obligatory phrase ‘Past performance is no guide to future performance’ to protect ourselves from the noise of market outcomes, particularly when investing without the guidance of an advisor.

Investing in markets is a very noisy business and some form of ear defenders are required. Given that markets do a pretty good job incorporating information into prices, they tend to move randomly on the release of new information. Many investors are probably wondering today what returns will be like from equities in the final months of 2020 and perhaps next year too. Nobody knows (and do not believe anyone who claims to know). The chart below illustrates the monthly returns every year, from January 1970 to August 2020. As you can see, there is a lot of noise in the data.

Figure 1: Monthly returns of global developed market equities are very noisy

Data source: Morningstar Direct © All rights reserved (see endnote). MSCI World Index (gross) in GBP terms.

The only ear defenders that we have are behavioural. We must keep our true investment horizons – 20 to 30 years or more, in many cases - at the forefront of our minds, accept that investing is a two steps forward and one step back process and not look at our investment portfolios too frequently. The chart below shows that even on a yearly basis, returns from equities are noisy. The blue dots represent the calendar year returns and the red triangles represent the annualised return for the decade. Even the returns of decades are a bit noisy. Patience and fortitude are prerequisites for success.

Figure 2: Annual returns of global developed market equities are noisy too

Data source: Morningstar Direct © All rights reserved (see endnote). MSCI World Index (gross) in GBB terms.

Yet, over this period, global developed equity markets have delivered a return of 10.9% on an annualised basis before inflation and 6.5% after inflation (but before costs). Put another way, investors who stayed the course doubled their purchasing power every 12 years. With those sorts of longer-term returns, try not to let the noise of the markets keep you awake.

Risk warnings

This article is distributed for educational purposes and should not be considered investment advice or an offer of any security for sale. This article contains the opinions of the author but not necessarily the Firm and does not represent a recommendation of any particular security, strategy, or investment product.  Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed. 

Past performance is not indicative of future results and no representation is made that the stated results will be replicated.

Good things come to those who wait. This was the strapline once used by Guinness to refer to the 119.5 seconds it takes to pour a ‘perfect’ pint of their iconic stout. In investing, the time periods we are concerned about are measured in years, rather than seconds. Looking at your investment portfolio too often only increases the chance that you will be disappointed. This of course can be challenging at times, particularly during tumultuous markets.

We can see from the figure below that monitoring markets on a monthly basis looks rather stressful, as they yoyo through time. Green areas represent times during which the market is growing its purchasing power (i.e. beating inflation) and red areas when it is contracting.

Figure 1: Monthly real growth/contraction of global equities, Jan-88 to Jun-20

Data source: MorningstDar Direct © All rights reserved. MSCI World (net div.) net of UK CPI, before charges. Dividends reinvested.

The evident month-on-month noise captured by the figure above is a consequence of new information being factored into prices on an ongoing basis. Investors around the world digest this information, decide whether it will cause a change in a company’s cashflows (or the risks to them occurring), and hold or trade the stock accordingly. These are the concerns of active investors casting judgements on individual stocks’ prospects.

Over longer holding periods, the day-to-day worries of more actively managed portfolios are erased, as equity markets generate wealth over the longer term. The figure below illustrates that monthly rolling 20-year holding periods has never resulted in a destruction of purchasing power. A longer-term view to investing enables individuals to spend more time focusing on what matters most to them and to avoid the anxiety of watching one’s portfolio movements.

Figure 2: Monthly rolling 20-year real growth/contraction of global equities, Jan-88 to Jun-20

Data source: Morningstar Direct © All rights reserved. MSCI World (net div.) net of UK CPI, before charges. Dividends reinvested.

This is not to say that investing is a set-and-forget process, however. The Investment Committee meets regularly on your behalf to kick the tyres of the portfolio, after reviewing any new evidence. Over time there may be incremental changes to your investments (there may not!) as a result, but the Committee shares the outlook illustrated in the figure above – we have structured your portfolio for the long term, and it is built to weather all storms.

Delving deeper

The figure below provides longer term market data in the US back to 1927. The result is the same. The cherry-picked 20-year example provided towards the bottom of the figure shows a time fresh in many investors’ minds: the bottom of the Credit Crisis. In this (extreme) 20-year period, to Feb-09, equity markets had barely recovered from the crash of technology stocks in the early 00s, before falling over 50% in 2008/9, in real terms. These were scary times.

Despite the headwinds, investors had been rewarded substantially for participating in the growth of capital markets over the longer term. An equity investor viewing their portfolio for the first time in 20 years would have seen their wealth more than double, whilst at the same time the media was reporting headlines such as ‘Worst Crisis Since ‘30s, with No End Yet in Sight’(1)

Have faith in wealth-creation through capitalism and try not to look at your portfolio too often. As the adage goes: ‘look at your cash daily if you need to, your bonds once per year, and stocks every ten’.

(1) Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2008

Figure 3: Long term US stock market growth in purchasing power

Data source: Morningstar Direct © IA SBBI US Large Stock Infl Adj TR Ext in USD. Market events: https://eu.usatoday.com/

There is plenty of evidence to show that mindfulness has a range of health benefits. But can it also help us to become better investors?

Someone who thinks so is the financial writer George Kinder, who has practised mindfulness for more than 50 years. In this video, he explains to Robin Powell how focussing on the present moment and being in touch with our feelings can help investors make more rational decisions.

You will find plenty of helpful videos like this one in our Video Gallery. Why not have a browse?

Video transcript:

The last few years have seen a big increase in the popularity of mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a state of mind created by focusing on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting our feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.

George Kinder is a financial writer, and trains financial advisers. He has practised mindfulness for more than 50 years.

He says: “So it’s a training in paying attention. And you’re paying attention in here. You’re paying attention, in a way, to who you are. You’re paying attention to these moments where you feel wonderful, these moments where you feel frustrated, these moments where you feel fearful or anxious or guilty or shameful, which we all have as human beings.

“The primary practice that is taught in mindfulness is to really focus on the present moment, which as you know is impossible to do because it keeps disappearing on you. But what that does is that it makes you much quicker in the moment, much clearer in the moment, much more capable at a moment’s notice to focus and be present, so you’re really much more alert.”

One of the mistakes investors commonly make is they allow their emotions to get the better of them.

By making you more aware of your emotions, mindfulness can help you control them.

George Kinder says: “The most common pattern in investing is not to buy low and sell high, which is the smartest thing to do. The most common pattern in investing is that we all buy high, when everybody’s enthusiastic about something, and then we sell low when everybody’s pessimistic about something. So what happens, that’s driven by greed and fear. What mindfulness does is it creates more patience, more equanimity, more quietness, less reactivity. So you’re more able to be here, be present.

“My main recommendation would be to, if you aren’t doing mindfulness, get a practice going. And if you are, I would double your practice time. And I think the third thing is find an advisor who’s trustworthy, because they will help settle you down. They have listening skills inside of them and they’ll help settle you down so you don’t make foolish mistakes.”

Mindfulness isn’t for everyone. And although it looks easy, it actually isn’t. It requires plenty of practice.

But if you invest the time required to learn it, George Kinder says you won’t regret it.

Picture: Dingzeyu Li (via Unsplash)