He came to mind when I read yesterday’s Bloomberg quote by Leo Buscaglia
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy” – I like that!
Now I don’t know if Leo was a market guy, but when that advisor sees what his clients have missed out on this month, it’s sure to “sap that day of some joy”
And cause “sorrow” for his clients (if they ever find out)
Maybe his concerns are more valid with a broad passive index like the S&P500 – worry about the market… if YOU’RE BUYING THE MARKET!
But with an actively managed fund like ours, you’re buying a portfolio of companies, not the market
And we only hold those companies because we’re excited about their return potential
Not worried. If we’re worried, we sell
And re-deploy the cash into something we’re excited about – at a good price of course 😉
The real problem is what does he do now?
Because he’s allowed that old behavioural demon, “Anchoring”, to take hold of his emotions, sure to remind him that
“you didn’t buy then, so you surely can’t buy now….10% higher”
Meaning he’ll probably sit on the sidelines
And wait until the war is over
and inflation has gone
and there’s global peace
and nothing left to worry about
other that the inflationary destruction of his clients’ wealth – their worry not his
Because isn’t that exactly when you get great prices?
When the skies are clear?
NO. NO. NO.
That’s when you get TERRIBLE prices!
I really should keep quiet, because Value investors like me need people to worry – it’s what gives us great prices
On the 31st of August, the Economist wrote,
“Europe is heading for a recession. How bad will it be?”
A month later in September, the Bank of America’s Global Fund Manager Survey reported, “Fund managers are “super bearish” right now” and
“they’re the most underweight on European equities ever”
Bad enough that the advisors are worrying, now we have fund managers and the Economist worrying too!
Ok, so quick quiz?
With all that worrying about, good prices or bad prices?
Good prices – correct
And good prices = good or bad returns?
Hey, you’re on a roll!
No surprise then that MSCI Europe is up 30% in USD since 30th September…
And how are those recession worries playing out?
Well, this week, the head of Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich said a German recession is, ‘very UNLIKELY’ given brighter business sentiment,
and the German government said the other day, they expect to, “grow by 0.2% this year”
Grow??
So no recession?
Who knows, but at this point, it looks like all those “worries” were for nothing
Rather appropriate when “nothing” is the return you got for being worried..
So don’t let worrying, “sap today of its joy”,
Rather let us Active managers “worry” for you
That is why you pay us 😉