Note: Fisher Investments UK’s political commentary is intentionally nonpartisan. We favour no political party nor any politician and assess political developments solely for their potential economic and market impact. Whenever an election approaches, no matter the country, Fisher Investments UK sees an abundance of commentary arguing the results will be make-or-break for markets. Most of
In Fisher Investments UK’s experience, selecting the best-performing shares doesn’t necessarily determine long-term investing success. Investor behaviour—including staying disciplined through emotional challenges—very often plays a bigger role. A key to maintaining discipline? Realising you could always be wrong. Fisher Investments UK has several basic tips investors can use to put this mindset into practice. One
Which companies will profit most from positive COVID vaccine news? What firms should investors target to benefit from Europe’s Green New Deal? Which shares will benefit most from Joe Biden’s election as America’s new president? Many news commentators Fisher Investments UK follows have speculated about the answers to those questions and others like them in
When reviewing your portfolio, do you take pride in shares that are up substantially? Do you fixate on the biggest laggards, weighing how much better your portfolio would be without them? In Fisher Investments UK’s experience, many investors do. But fixating on the very best or worst performers can obscure what our research shows matters
Diversification. For generations, many investment professionals have stressed its importance as a means to manage risk whilst capturing the long-term growth many equity investors seek. But what does this actually mean? How can you assess whether you are adequately diversified? In this primer, Fisher Investments UK will share some basics on how we view diversification—and
Fisher Investments UK thinks a critical component of successful long-term equity investing is participating in bull markets—prolonged periods of generally rising equity markets. This may sound obvious, but it can be challenging to see when a bull market is underway. Whilst seemingly counterintuitive, our research indicates bull markets usually start when economic data are awful.
There are many ways to classify shares, including by sector and country or region. We think another useful way is to distinguish between two main types of investing styles: value and growth. From a global, top-down perspective (meaning, considering broad categories before choosing individual shares), knowing how sectors, countries and regions overlap with value and
There are myriad theories explaining what drives equity markets. Trying to wade through them all could prove bewildering. Yet, in our view, it is important for investors to identify which factors do—and typically don’t—drive markets meaningfully. Here we cut through the clutter to help you understand why we think markets move as they do. In
Since European nations and the US began locking down their national economies in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 in March, financial commentators we follow have fixated on economic data that measure the impact. Most of the numbers were huge, including enormous dips and historically large rebounds. Many analysts warn Q2 gross domestic product
With countries gradually reopening from COVID-19 lockdowns, governments’ focus seems to be shifting from what measures they should take to curtail the virus’s spread to how to respond to the economic impact of said measures. In the eurozone, some have proposed a long-debated measure as a potential solution: pooled sovereign debt (also known as collectivising
Investors face a real challenge in managing their investments through what is hopefully a long, happy and comfortable retirement. Today, many can expect a retirement of 30 years or more—that means needing your money to work for you for at least that long. If you’re hoping to leave money to a spouse, heir or charitable
When fallout from COVID-19’s global spread walloped equities in February and March, financial news coverage showed sentiment—investor and otherwise—plunged. Headlines keyed first on contagion stats and death rates, then on the massive economic impact of worldwide business shutdowns. Fear appeared pervasive—and, in our view, it will likely remain so for some time. The good news:
When equity markets get extremely rocky—as they have no doubt been since mid-February—many investors often seek what they perceive to be safe assets. In our experience, many equate this with fixed-interest securities. In the short term, fixed-interest securities typically see less price volatility than equities—a potentially attractive quality when shares are gyrating. Whilst the ability
It’s no secret many investors struggle with market volatility. But volatility can actually be your best friend. When many people think about volatility, they imagine stock market corrections and steep market declines. In reality, volatility is a two-way street. Volatility to the upside is just as significant and helps drive stocks’ long-term rise. You probably
With 2020 upon us, many investors may be reviewing their portfolio’s 2019 path and mulling over possible adjustments for this year. If you are one of them, here are some factors we think are worth considering. 1. Review your asset allocation—the mix of equities, fixed interest securities, cash or other securities in your portfolio. If
When Fisher Investments UK looks back through history, we note many Ponzi schemes and investing scams have this in common: They promise steady, positive returns that are close to the 10% historic average annual return of equities—as measured by the S&P 500 Index.[i] The siren song of smooth, positive returns with limited volatility can be
For the better part of the past year, Ken Fisher (founder of Fisher Investments Worldwide) has preached a simple message to readers of his global market commentary: The sooner Brexit happens, the better off the UK’s economy and equity markets will be. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the recent run of dreary economic data helps explain why. As
In the world of investing, fixed interest is often associated with being a “safe” investment option. After all, the name fixed interest implies the income you receive is a “fixed” amount. This school of thought often leads investors who have long-term growth needs to forgo potentially better growth opportunities for what they consider to be
Age is just a number. Whilst it’s certainly not a meaningless number, when it comes to your investment asset allocation decisions, it shouldn’t be the only factor you consider. Asset allocation is the mix of equities, fixed interest securities, cash and other securities that makes up your investment portfolio. Selecting the appropriate asset allocation mix
Editors’ note: Following the publication of this article, H2O Asset Management contacted us to challenge the financial media’s characterization of this saga, including some of the sources we used, and stressed that they did not gate the funds in question. We have amended our text to clarify that the firm introduced its policy of swing
