The nice thing about big selloffs is that the lower the market goes today, the higher your future returns go for tomorrow. We have 4Q19 Fed Z.1 data now, which means I can try to roundabout ballpark S&P 500 returns for the next 10 years. As of 12/31/19 this estimate was 2.43%. After making some (very) rough adjustments for recent market moves, it has increased to 7.66% today.
With interest rates as low as they are, and the possibility of negative rates looming on the horizon, I think a 700+ bps equity risk premium probably merits some buying, somewhere. DON’T GO ALL-IN. It is very possible things get worse before they get better. My own strategy has been to focus on the shares of companies that seem inordinately dislocated based on poor liquidity conditions. This is particularly evident in small cap stocks. In the US, these stocks had drawn down approximately 50% prior to the last couple days’ bounce.
Pulling the trigger on these things is not a trivial thing to do. It is uncomfortable knowing that you could be catching falling knives. I am not arguing that people are stupid for being cautious here.
I am, however, arguing that if you have liquidity (also far from trivial), and are willing to be a provider of liquidity in a dislocated market, there are spots where you can be compensated quite well for doing so. In small cap land, there are stocks trading at double-digit discounts to announced, all-cash takeout offers. This makes very little economic sense. Is Google going to bail on its FitBit acquisition because of the coronavirus? Probably not.
Admittedly, my truest investing self is “bottom-feeding contrarian.”
Right now, I think it makes sense more than ever to put money to work in a concentrated, “lottery ticket” portfolio alongside a more conservative core.
“The nice thing about big selloffs is that the lower the market goes today, the higher your future returns go for tomorrow. ”
No, no, no, no, no, and no!
That is only true if you sold out early or otherwise have ‘new’ cash. If you rode it down you cannot call the rise back up ‘future returns’. You lost, you got it back (maybe) and that is NOT a ‘profit’.
This ‘ride it out’ B.S. gets peddled by almost every so-called advisor and while it is sometimes true it is, at other times, a disaster. You have to judge each situation.
Correct. Without liquidity you are just losing money. Which is why you should never run fully invested for an extended period.