More than half (55%) of equity funds out there failed to survive and more than 82% failed to deliver returns above their benchmark for investors across a 20-year period.

Bear markets can have negative per annum returns while having positive average annualised rolling returns. The individual investor experience is better expressed through the latter.

Financial institutions being accused of mis-selling products for profit is a tale as old as time, and as long as their revenue models do not change, then it is unlikely to be the last as well.

If you knew that you will be going through some of the worst market declines in history within the next 10 years, would you go ahead to invest? Or would you wait out the crisis and invest later?

The recent pullback came back as expected, with many economics calling for it to be just the beginning of a larger correction. But when considering several points of data, market signals, and financial evidence, we believe this presents an opportunity get into the market and supercharge those long-term returns.

The S&P 500 is known as a broad base allocation to U.S. stocks. Accessing these companies through an index fund or ETF, you’d think that you’d be investing into the five hundred largest companies in the U.S. And you’d be wrong.

Assets managed by passive investment strategies in the U.S. ($13.29T) have exceeded the those under active management, amounting to 13.28 Trillion dollars. However, this means that more investors are exposed to an inherent problem with passive investing.

Policy makers have many reasons to weaken or strengthen the local currency. Arguably the most prominent consideration would be Singapore’s import/export sector. But how much does the shifting value of our currency affect your global investments?

Inflation and FFR forecasters have had to reverse their positions dramatically this year — relying on forecasts to make investment decisions has historically been ineffective and costly.

At the beginning of the year, many advocated for the holding of bonds over equities due to interest rate predictions. During this short period, stocks have opened up a +10% gap from bonds.

The Japanese stock market has been a hot topic as its returns have so far outpaced a globally diversified stock market index at 10% vs. 8.9% this year. While it’s easy to be caught up what’s happening currently, don’t let our inherent recency bias prevent us from assessing the bigger picture.

This financial signal has historically predicted every recession since 1976. But two years since, markets have had large gains, with no recession in sight.

When the market is up for most, it’s easy to feel smart, but the truth is, historical evidence shows that investors lose out by large margins when they trade frequently or try to pick the winning asset or stock.

If you had known that markets would go through two bear markets over the next four years, would you invest? The first (Jan-Mar 2020) resulted in a decline of -21.37% . The second bear (most of 2022) saw global stocks decline -25.63%. And yet, the cumulative returns over the past four years is +44.22%.

2024 & 2020 is starting to look pretty similar — all-time market highs, Federal Reserve looking to cut interest rates, and yet another Biden vs Trump election contest. Yet, investors who stayed the course during this period would’ve been rewarded with around +40% (global markets) from then to now.

Interest rates are almost inherently impossible to predict with any practical level of accuracy, and thus making financial decisions based on their forecast is a fool’s errand.

Let’s examine dividend paying stocks, REITs, and the total-return portfolio approach when it comes to generating an income in your later years.

With current interest rates, many investors are unwilling to leave the safety of cash with more than US$6 trillion sitting in money market funds now. However, sitting in cash and earning 5% per year has actually been costly for investors.