The long and short of it

The following presentation was delivered at PortfolioConstruction Forum Conference 2016, the theme of which was "The long and short of it (Is the concept of long-term investing increasingly irrelevant?)".

Synopsis

Investing is supposed to be about the incremental replacement of human capital with financial capital over the long term - that's the theory. But the reality is that today's environment and our behavioural biases conspire against such a pure case. Fuelled by the 24/7 news cycle and constant churn of social media, the world operates on ever shorter cycles. Politicians promise what will see them re-elected, instead of doing what's best for multi-decade economic and social benefit. Companies focus on looking their best for the next reporting season, often at the expense of future growth. Public outrage flares, dissipates and moves on to the next issue within hours with social media fanning the flames. In short - short-termism seems rife! We see the effect in the ever increasing emphasis on fees and reporting of short-term returns for markets, securities, funds and portfolios. Is the concept of long-term investing increasingly irrelevant?

Presenter

Graham Rich, Managing Partner & Dean, PortfolioConstruction Forum (Sydney)

Papers

Some thoughts on Shortsightedness and Intergenerational Equity
30 years - reflections on 10 attributes of great investors
The end of history illusion vs goals-based investing

Presentation - Recorded 24 August 2016 (11 min)

Slides     Podcast

More info

Contact PortfolioConstruction Forum

CE quiz (0.25 CE)

Competency areas: Reflective Practice (FPA) | Generic Knowledge (ASIC, AFA, Forum)

Instructions: First, watch the presentation above and read the accompanying paper (if applicable). Then, complete each question in the quiz. At the end, click the Submit button and scroll back to the top of the quiz. If you see "Thanks for completing the quiz", you've completed the quiz successfully and your CE accreditation will be available in MyCE. If you don't see that message, look for red X marks by questions - these show incorrect answers, so try again and reclick Submit, scroll back to the top to check you've completed the quiz successfully. If you leave the page without completing the quiz successfully, you won't receive CE points. Quizzes can't be "saved" to return to later.

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