Tag: LongtermInvesting
Volatile markets – why discipline beats emotion?
Periods of heightened volatility can make even experienced investors second-guess well-considered decisions. However, the most damaging outcomes often result from a handful of predictable behavioural mistakes. These include panic selling, focusing too heavily on macroeconomic forecasts instead of valuations, chasing recent winners and assuming the future will mirror the past. Understanding these behaviours is essential when investing in volatile markets.
Know the investor archetype – what drives long-term outcomes
With geopolitical conflict, elections, oil prices and inflation risks dominating headlines, it is easy to believe everything is beyond your control. However, that is not the case. The most important drivers of long-term investment success are often the factors you can control. They start with understanding how you behave when markets feel uncomfortable.
Stock picking – where beginners often get it wrong
If you're eager to get into the stock market because you've heard it's a fast track to wealth, think again. The reality is that most individual stocks result in losses over the long term. This finding emerged in a recent article by Hendrik Bessembinder, which analysed the investment outcomes of 29,754 common stocks listed on the US public markets from 1926 to 2025.
Elevated innovation – the brakes that accelerated wealth?
Nobody likes a know-it-all. In Shirley Valentine, the British cult classic, a headmistress asks her class, “What is man’s greatest invention?” Answers fly - Sputnik, the Hoover, the aeroplane, the internal combustion engine. Shirley knows the answer but is ignored in favour of the usual teacher’s pets. Only when no raised hands remain does the headmistress relent: “Oh, very well, Shirley. You might as well get it wrong along with everybody else.”
Investing lessons learned – my insights from a lifetime in markets
Over the course of my career - as a gold and bond trader, a portfolio manager running large global multi-asset and solutions portfolios - I’ve often been asked: What lessons have you learned?
Why should investors consider investing in offshore shares?
Many people tend to default to investing in the JSE because they are familiar with these listed companies. However, this limits the diversification benefits that come from investing in offshore shares. Diversification across economies, political jurisdictions and asset classes is achieved when a portion of total assets is invested offshore.
