The S&P 500 is close to all-time highs, but it’s looking wobbly.
After magnificent runs, gold and silver are both washed out and trending lower.
Bitcoin is all but dead and buried.
Rates are rising the world over so you can forget about government bonds - that particular bull market is over.
Oil and gas have turned down now Trump and Iran have their deal.
Remind me what uranium is again?
What to do? Sell? Buy? Take profits? Run? Hide? Risk on? Rotate? Hedge?
Everyone everywhere is telling you to do something. There is an entire financial industry dedicated to persuading you that inactivity is irresponsible.
Three years ago I proposed the opposite and launched the Dolce Far Niente portfolio - “the sweetness of doing nothing” portfolio.
It was based around a simple notion. Do nothing. The sweet FA portfolio. Most of us have busy lives to live with jobs, businesses and families. Some of us even have hobbies. We do not have the time, inclination or temperament to be constantly monitoring markets and worrying. I don’t know about you but I find the more decisions I make, the more bad decisions I make. The aim of the portfolio was to build a sensible allocation to the major themes of the coming decade, and then largely leave it alone.
No fiddling. No panicking because of some thing you read on X that morning. Nothing.
Different readers used different vehicles. When uranium went nuts, we reduced to 2.5%. I simplified the equity allocation, so the exact implementation evolved over time. What follows therefore is not an audited fund report, but an approximate check-in.
The broad conclusion, however, is clear.
If you live in a third world country such as the UK, I urge you to own gold or silver. The pound will be further devalued, as will the euro and dollar. The bullion dealer I use and recommend is The Pure Gold Company. They deliver to the UK, the US, Canada and Europe. More here.
Doing very little works surprisingly well.
Depending on exactly how you measure it, the portfolio is up around 65-70%.
Not bad for something specifically designed to reduce activity and thus stress.
If by the way, you are investor starting out, this is the portfolio I recommend, and I recommend it way ahead of racy, smallcap stock tips, such as you sometimes read on here.
So let’s take a look at the portfolio, and let’s see if any activity is required.
The first lesson is that asset allocation remains far more important than stock selection. This is one of the basic truths that, it seems, one keeps having to re-learn.
Doesn’t matter which gold miner you own if gold miners are trending lower. Being on the right track matters more than backing the right horse.
