The coronavirus crisis is first and foremost a human crisis and my thoughts are particularly with those on the front line of this battle. But, of course, its impacting many aspects of life at present, including investment markets. Successful investing can be really difficult in times like the present when markets have collapsed into a bear market with falls globally of around 30% from their highs amidst immense uncertainty about the economic hit from coronavirus and how much policy stimulus and central bank support can head off collateral damage and boost an eventual recovery.
Trying to work this out is driving huge volatility in investment markets making it very easy for short term traders to get whipsawed. I will be the first to admit that my crystal ball is even hazier than normal right now. As the US economist, JK Galbraith once said “there are two types of economists – those that don’t know and those that don’t know they don’t know.” And this is certainly an environment where much is unknown.
But while history does not repeat in that each cycle is different it does rhyme in that each has many common characteristics. So, while we haven’t seen a pandemic driven bear market before the basic principles of investing have not changed.
This note revisits five charts that we find particularly useful in times of financial stress & volatility. To access the charts please click here.
Key points
- Successful investing can be really difficult in times like the present with immense uncertainty around the impact of coronavirus on the outlook.
- This makes it all the more important to stay focused on the basic principles of successful investing.
- These five charts focus on critical aspects of investing that are insightful in times of market stress: the power of compound interest; don’t get blown off by cyclical swings; the roller coaster of investor emotion; the wall of worry; & market timing is hard.
