Eric Clark, Portfolio Manager

Key Points To track an important theme, you need a dedicated universe of market leaders. The 2021 Brands Index is our dedicated global consumption...

I don’t know about you but to me, 2020 feels like it’s about three years long. The market started off the year incredibly well only to fall off a cliff in late February. Since February, there’s been significantly higher uncertainty than any of us are used to.

I don’t know about you but to me, 2020 feels like it’s about three years long. The market started off the year incredibly well only to fall off a cliff in late February. Since February, there’s been significantly higher uncertainty than any of us are used to.

The media loves to create headlines designed for shock value. In general, we know the body of evidence suggests the vast majority of active equity funds regularly underperform their benchmark.

The media loves to create headlines designed for shock value. In general, we know the body of evidence suggests the vast majority of active equity funds regularly underperform their benchmark.

America is over-retailed with well over 1,100 malls across the country and thousands more strip-shopping centers. Many of these malls and centers are in physical decline and are filled with irrelevant brands that sell products and services that are no longer important. The retail cleansing had already begun before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the process has been accelerated dramatically.

The asset management industry is dominated by a buy-hold-hope mentality, which makes sense in most cases because, statistically, the equity markets go higher 80% of the time. We are taught that to achieve great long-term returns, we must be willing to ride through periods of high volatility and that corrections happen along the way. Considering that the long-term average peak-to-trough drawdown in the S&P 500 is 14%, I believe that most financial advisors and clients would agree that a smoother ride would be the preferred way. Strong returns with lower volatility along the way sounds a lot like having your cake and eating it too. What if this might be possible?

The asset management industry is dominated by a buy-hold-hope mentality, which makes sense in most cases because, statistically, the equity markets go higher 80% of the time. We are taught that to achieve great long-term returns, we must be willing to ride through periods of high volatility and that corrections happen along the way. Considering that the long-term average peak-to-trough drawdown in the S&P 500 is 14%, I believe that most financial advisors and clients would agree that a smoother ride would be the preferred way. Strong returns with lower volatility along the way sounds a lot like having your cake and eating it too. What if this might be possible?