Assets move from uptrends to downtrends, sentiment changes from bullish to bearish & vice versa.
Unless you're dollar-cost averaging, the start point of valuations is VERY important.
Gold has done very well over the last 20 years, but very poorly over the last 10!
$GLD $GDX
On the other hand, US stocks did poorly during the 2000-2010 period, while they've done great over the last 10 years.
Furthermore, the US stocks returned 5.9% inc dividends from the year 2000 until Feb 2020 (before the Covid crash).
Even bonds outperformed them. $SPY $QQQ
Whether it's private or public equity, core real estate or developments — valuations matter.
You make your money on the BUY.
"Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down." — Warren Buffett
Today, the US stock market is extremely expensive. By some measures, it is the MOST expensive in history. By others, it is in 95th to 99th percentile of extreme valuation.
When you average all the valuation inputs, our model suggests this decade into 2030 will produce a -4% p.a.
This happens across asset classes.
In 2007, Emerging Markets reached a book value of 3X. The subsequent 13 years resulted in dead money.
Now, just as everyone gives on on fast-growing EM economies, they are entering a new bull market.
Could they outperform in the 2020s? $EEM
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Doing RE underwriting at high valuations after a 11-year bull run tells you exactly what you need to hear.
RISK is here!
Whether your focus on the unleveraged yield on total cost or development feasibility studies — it's getting ridiculously hard to find anything attractive.
One London deal from earlier today.
Loss-making propositions start popping up everywhere as the market becomes overpriced.
As my mentor used to say: "Tiho, are you going to work for free?"
It wasn't like this 5 years ago, while almost every deal worked 8-9 years ago!
A deal from Prague, also from today (in Czech Krona).
Agents are in la-la land & this owner believes money grows on trees.
Yes, it is an amazing property in a great location — but you buy it, do the hard work & exit at realistic market comps with a €1.5 million loss.
"What makes a country wealthier is not the valuation of the companies going higher, but companies producing a greater quantity or potentially more valuable products, which is generally reflected in rising profits or sales."
2/ "This is why we tend to associate the rising value of stocks with a greater net worth as a stock market generally grows in line with increased profits. The same is true for an entire economy."
3/ "It is the economy’s ability to generate more value that makes it richer, not its abstract measure of money. If the government intervenes to ensure a buoyant stock market or fewer bond defaults, it is not creating wealth: it is simply removing accurate price discovery."
The medium-term technical picture shows the bull market (uptrend) — which started in the 2008/11 period — has come to an end with a recent break down of an important trend line support.
The trend is now clearly down.
2/ Why is this important?
Since President Nixon took off the Gold standard, floating the $USD in 1971, it has gone through 3 secular bull & bear markets.
History shows that currencies enter multi-year trends & the probability is high $USD is entering a multi-year downtrend now.
3/ What does this mean for global investors?
• exit $USD denominated assets
• increase stock exposure Asia Pacific & EM countries
• focus on small & value, not large & growth
• become a real estate LP in EU & UK deals
• hold cash reserves in Singapore Dollar & Swiss Franc