What Terry Smith IS SAYING
Money Observer - Fundsmith’s Terry Smith: forecasters are like Michael Fish
Tumult, turbulence and turmoil are just the words beginning with the letter T used by commentators to describe the behaviour of stock markets in October. I think it’s always good to look at the definition of the words we are being asked to accept. For example: turmoil, noun: a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty . synonyms: confusion, upheaval(s), turbulence, tumult, disorder.
Financial Times - Busting the myths of investment: who needs income?
There seems to be something so alluring about dividend income that it often seems to lead investors to abandon common sense or be encouraged to do so by the investment industry. For example, how many times have you heard it said that the majority of returns from investment in equities comes from reinvestment of the dividends?
Financial Times - Busting the myths of investment
Adding small-caps to a global equity portfolio adds value without heightening the risk.
If you are an investor you may have encountered these two adages. First, that in order to earn a higher return you must take greater risk. Second, asset allocation is the most important contributor to performance.
Financial Times – ESG? SRI? Is your green portfolio really green?
You decide to buy a car. You tell the dealer you want to be environmentally responsible and trust him to supply something appropriate. You had an electric car in mind but he supplies a hybrid. Not too bad, but when it arrives you find that the internal-combustion part of the power plant is a diesel supplied by a German maker caught lying about emissions.
Financial Times – AstraZeneca is beginning to look like Tesco
It might be tempting to view last week’s fall in the AstraZeneca share price in isolation, related to the results of the “Mystic” lung cancer drug trial. However, I suspect that AstraZeneca’s problems go much deeper than a setback for a single drug.
Financial Times – The unique advantage of equity investment
Investment in stocks and shares – equities – has a unique advantage over other asset classes which in my experience is rarely understood and almost never discussed. Equities can compound in value in a way that investments in other asset classes, such as bonds and real estate, cannot. The reason for this is quite simple: companies retain a portion of the profits they generate to reinvest in the business.
What did you invest in before the war, great grandpa?
In this centenary year of what contemporaries called the Great War and we now call the first world war – because it became necessary to number them – what can we learn from the changes in the constituents of the stock market over the intervening century?