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CIO Letter Articles
Build An Ark, Don’t Predict The Rain
My son is named Noah, after the biblical prophet who built an ark out of faith. One of Warren Buffett’s lesser-known quotes is based on Noah’s story: “Predicting the rain doesn’t count; building arks does.” Buffett was giving advice about running businesses, but the...
Economic Results are bad and would probably get worse. Should I still invest?
The longest global expansion on record has officially ended this quarter. US GDP shrank 4.8% in Q1 while two of Europe’s largest powers, France and Spain also saw their economies contract 5.8% and 5.2% respectively. With most economies seeing their worst contraction...
What Is Different And What Is Not? Use Both History And Logic. | CIO Letter
Yesterday was the worst one-day in the US stock markets since 1987. To have an index almost 10% down in a single day is a very rare event. How do we think about rare events then, in relation to our investments? The first popular framework of thought is to look at...
Let Your Financial Plan And Adviser Anchor Your Confidence Even When Markets Are Fearful
The COVID-19 situation has riled people and businesses, and it seems that yesterday, global stock markets finally showed its fears, with the growing spread of the virus across countries, increased deaths and large clusters in Europe, and fears in the US. The US...
We have no 2020 outlook
A very happy new year! At this time of the year, fund managers like to do a review of markets in the past year and a forecast or outlook for the coming year. Occasionally, a few would compare – usually when they are right – the market in review versus their initial...
12th November CIO Letter
Dear Client, From CEO/CIO: Happiness on 28th October, SRS tax savings and other musings Does what happen in the stock market every day make you happy or sad? If so, every year, you should be happiest on the 28th of October. Because 28th October is historically the...
11th October CIO Letter
Dear Client, FROM CEO/CIO: WHERE CAN I FIND ALPHA? Where I went to university, my essay grades were given in letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha (α), beta (β) and gamma (γ) and combinations of them – including esoteric ones like beta-alpha-minus-question mark-minus...
11th September CIO Letter
Dear Client, From CEO/CIO’s Desk: Spoiler Alert! This year, there have been quite a number of grand finale episodes to blockbuster movies and TV series, as well as a few major football matches. Nothing beats the experience of watching Avengers: Endgame, the last...
26th August CIO Letter
Dear Client, From CEO/CIO’s Desk: Steady Does It Markets have gyrated violently in the intervening weeks between my last letter to you on 6 August and now. There have been two broad set of factors, both pertaining to concerns over economic growth. First, the bond...
