Do you have it? It could be tested at some point this year as VIX spikes and the threat level economically and geopolitically increase.

Latest deck from BofA Global Fund Manager Survey.

I know a lot of you will be making resolutions and planning out 2025. I hope you all achieve what you set out to. Some of you may want to achieve more ‘balance’ either through work/life or trying to make more time for things you enjoy. If this is something you are contemplating then my only piece of advice is to ensure you don’t mistake ‘balance’ with 50:50. It is incredibly hard to get to 50:50 and quite frankly I fine it unproductive. I would rather take the advice of Vilfredo Pareto.

The Dow Jones closes at an all time high.

Did you know?

The index was created back in 1896 by Charles Dow and Edward Jones in order to track the performance of the industrial economy. Dow was a journalist and co-founder of the WSJ and Jones was a statistician.

VC exits have collapsed. Even ignoring 2021, it's still below trend for a number of reasons.

📈 Markets continue to make new all time highs.

Gold is up at over $2,500.

VIX is below 20.

For investors, it's all good signs for your portfolio.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The second best time is now.

The probability of positive returns increases the longer you hold your investment.

The chart below is from Macrobond and shows; MSCI World Equity Mid and MSCI Large Cap Total Return in GBP, 1 January 1972- July 2022

I did a post not so long ago trying to help shed some light on the terminology commonly used in the investment industry. The last post was about call options and the feedback I got was positive, especially from younger people starting their investment journey.

Over the last 5 years the interest in private markets has skyrocketed and therefore we need to ensure we are up to speed with how this market works, the terms used and how they play a part in portfolio management.

As we are in an Olympic year, I wanted to talk a bit about my favourite event. The one I could just about manage in school sports day, the 800m.

Over the last few weeks I have had a number of people connect with me and reach out to discuss their career and if I can help with next steps. Although it's quite flattering that people think my opinion is worthwhile (I will always respond and always be honest in my assessment), I thought it might be useful to give some basics of investment/portfolio management as useful content in the spirit of helping shed more light on our (investment community) terminology for aspiring investors.

"Yield" was a term originally used by the agricultural industry and would help farmers determine the productivity of their land. In 'olde' English, it meant "to return" or "to pay".

Markets change and although it may seem at the time that things will persist forever, they don't.

Implied Equity Risk Premium on S&P 500 is now as skinny as 4.23%, which is the lowest it's been since 2008.

Is the US market concentrated? Erm, yep.

Today the US dominates equity markets in terms of market cap and you have to take a view either way if you want to generate excess returns. However, it's not always been the case.