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Acuity

Acuity is our regular newsletter covering a wide range of investing topics.
All issues can be downloaded here as pdf files.

INSIGHT: A risk-focused approach to investingINSIGHT: A risk-focused approach to investingThis week, we discuss the four choices investors face as risk managers (as opposed to performance managers), providing one of the many examples that would fit into each of the four categories. We hope you enjoy.
Investing is simple, but not easyInvesting is simple, but not easyIn this issue we explain the notion that investing can be simple in concept, but accepting that it is not easy to do well. It requires a diligent investment process and a good financial adviser to ensure clients can enjoy the returns capital markets have to offer, and the knowledge that it will not
In investing, time is your friendIn investing, time is your friendDuring times of market volatility - as we have seen over the past month or so - it is important for investors to remind themselves that they are playing a long term game, and to tune out the short term market noise being reported by the financial media where possible.
INSIGHT: Avoiding the emotional cost of investingINSIGHT: Avoiding the emotional cost of investingOften overlooked is the cost of behavioural biases and irrationality that the vast majority of investors suffer from through time. Investing is not an easy game and we can all be sorely tempted to act on our biases, even though the overwhelming evidence suggests otherwise. A nice example from the 20
INSIGHT: Capturing the rewards of capitalismINSIGHT: Capturing the rewards of capitalismThis issue lays out the basics of investing and the two simple ways - being a lender or an owner - to participate in capitalism and to harvest the rewards that are on offer. In four simple charts we move from the concept, to the volatility of outcomes, to annualised returns, and finally to the growt
INSIGHT: Politics and portfoliosINSIGHT: Politics and portfoliosWith around 50% of the global population living in countries with elections this year, the market has a lot of noise and expectation to price in over 2024 and beyond. Ultimately, whether it is the conservatives or labour that are at the wheel (which has been the case for the last century or so), cap
INSIGHT: Inflation is a tax on your wealthINSIGHT: Inflation is a tax on your wealthThis issue is a short piece on the insidious erosion of wealth by inflation. We illustrate that cash is a poor store of real value, while equities provide the opportunity to deliver inflation-plus returns. Our final chart shows that those holding equities in the portfolio require staying power to ca
INSIGHT: The Investment Committee - paddling hard beneath the surfaceINSIGHT: The Investment Committee - paddling hard beneath the surfaceThis issue is a short piece on how an Investment Committee works hard behind the scenes to make sure that client portfolios continue to remain robustly structured and likely to provide clients with the greatest chance of a successful investment journey. Often - after much analysis and discussion - t
INSIGHT: How much is enough of a good thing?INSIGHT: How much is enough of a good thing?Most of us can think back to our childhoods and remember a time when we ate too much ice-cream, the moment from feeling wonderful to feeling sick, so is there a point at which you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to index investing? In this issue we look into why to keep spooning in t
INSIGHT: Tempering FOMO and regret through diversificationINSIGHT: Tempering FOMO and regret through diversificationIn this issue we look at why diversification matters because investors own portfolios today for the future and given that markets do a pretty good job of incorporating information into prices, we have no forward-looking insight into which company’s shares are going to outperform. We can avoid both
INSIGHT: Make your investment bed and lie in it!INSIGHT: Make your investment bed and lie in it!The reality is that markets work pretty well at incorporating information into prices and trying to beat the market – through either market timing or stock picking - is a tough game, with very few winners. Simply making your investment bed out of a diversified market exposure and lying in it over
INSIGHT: Risk means different things to different peopleINSIGHT: Risk means different things to different peopleThis issue looks at the challenge of understanding what risk means to an investor. We contrast short-term volatility with longer-term goal risk and use the long run (1926 -2023) US data for cash and equities to make the point. It may surprise some to know that cash suffered a 50% fall in purchasing
INSIGHT: Looking for the NVIDIA needle in the S&P 500 haystackINSIGHT: Looking for the NVIDIA needle in the S&P 500 haystackThis issue looks at the astonishing rise of NVIDIA and points out that those invested in highly diversified systematic funds actually owned NVIDIA 10 years ago when it represented less than 0.1% of the S&P500 and its stock price was less than $5. Today it represents 4.6%, a 65-fold increase and its
INSIGHT: Cash and the non-existent market timing bellINSIGHT: Cash and the non-existent market timing bellThis issue demonstrates the potentially wealth-destroying consequences of avoiding investing in capital markets and instead holding one's assets in cash, as tempting as it may seem to do so on the back of the yield rises that were seen in 2022. Investors are also better off avoiding market timing, w
INSIGHT: Cryptocurrency - too big to ignore?INSIGHT: Cryptocurrency - too big to ignore?The recent approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of bitcoin spot ETFs has reignited discussions around cryptocurrency. Although a significant development for bitcoin, it has, rather unsurprisingly, not changed our views on the subject. Cryptocurrency is still not a suitable on
INSIGHT: The FTSE 100 turns 40 - two cheers!INSIGHT: The FTSE 100 turns 40 - two cheers!Since its launch in 1984, the relative value and structure of the largest 100 firms in the UK has changed materially. UK investors have done slightly worse than broad developed equity investors over that time, although a lot of that has been driven by the recent returns of the Magnificent 7 US Tech
INSIGHT: 2024 - Looking backwards and forwardsINSIGHT: 2024 - Looking backwards and forwardsThis issue is our now regular piece 'Looking backwards and forwards' which provides an overview of how major asset classes have performed in 2023, and trying to place 2024 in perspective. We compare 2023 to 2022 as well as providing 3-year cumulative asset class returns which are strongly positive i
INSIGHT: Beware of the recent past!INSIGHT: Beware of the recent past!The last issue of the year is about recency bias and how it can tempt investors into bad choices.
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