Frequently Asked Questions

What is your investment philosophy?

Certain fundamental beliefs (and prejudices) do inevitably accumulate over the years. Mine include the following:

1. Low cost passively managed funds are the initial benchmark against which investors of all kind need to measure their achievements. With the advent of ETFs, the available universe of passively managed funds has expanded dramatically.

2. There are a few exceptional fund managers whose talents are worth paying for (if you can find them - and I look a lot). The other 90% are not: invariably you can achieve as good results as a fraction of the cost.

3. However good, no professional can ever outperform in all years and all market conditions - strategic market timing and asset switching calls are ultimately the investor's own responsibility.

4. It is better to make a few good decisions each year than a lot of bad ones, as turnover kills performance.

5. You need to keep yourself well-informed and (even better) well-read in financial history and behaviourial theory to have a chance of outperforming the market.

6. While market timing is widely believed to be an unprofitable investment approach, in practice the smartest investors always have a view of some kind about where the markets are heading.