Investment Loss, Mistakes and Cycles

As stock markets are again recovering from its recent low, media reports are again full of advice and reports that advocate both tactical and buy and hold strategies. Many, taken from the writers’ angles, have valid points. However, many also make some incorrect claims, some of them are even outrageously false. 

We believe it is the time again to reiterate some of key points we have written several times. These should keep us under a balanced perspective. 

Investment loss vs. mistakes

As our Tactical Asset Allocation(TAA) strategy made a recent rebalance in one way while our Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) strategy kept its allocation in another way, it is bound to see these two strategies will produce different outcomes in the near term. Some people may find it frustrating as they are used to right or wrong in a binary black and white fashion. So let’s say if markets turn around and collapse, they will say SAA is incorrect while on the other hand, if markets continue its ascend from here on, they would claim TAA makes a mistake here. Regardless of the semantics, the key here is to understand the difference between investment loss and investment mistakes. In