What would have happened if you'd slept through the past two years?

If you were a global investor, you would have missed out on a difficult 2018, when global equities ended the year down 9%. You would have also missed a resurgent 2019, over which the MSCI World Index returned 28%.

On waking up, you'd have discovered that, over the period, your portfolio had delivered an annualised return of 8% - not too bad considering the negative headlines in 2018. Not outstanding, either, given the boom reported in the following year.

As this piece by Orbis Investments notes, the approach of "sleeping through it" would have some "powerful behavioural advantages" inasmuch as you'd be less susceptible to short-term market noise. But it's only half the story, as sleeping through a different period in markets would yield a very different result.

If you read this Orbis Investments article, you will learn:

• what "sleeping through" markets would mean over different periods
• what drove equity returns through 2018 and 2019
• why it's helpful for clients to ignore market noise - but pay attention to valuations

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