All Is Not Lost: How To Start 2021

The fallout of Covid-19 may take many forms – from lacklustre local equity returns to the printing of money. Steering through these waters will require grit.

- Leon Kok

The past ten months have arguably been among the most problematic economically and financially since the Great Depression that followed the 1929 stock market crash. And if ever there has been a need to go back to basics, it’s now. But that said, it’s not always easy identifying the best strategies, funds and/or stocks to emerge from quagmires, such as the present one.

Conversely, there is much to be said for the superb advice from the likes of Warren Buffett, such as knowing what you’re investing in, identifying securities and products that will stand the test of time, and keeping a long-term mindset.

Perhaps the most predominant message emanating from portfolio managers and analysts this quarter is the need to maximise your offshore exposure. Not only are domestic earnings and prospects under enormous strain, but sadly our government is principally out of its depth in holding the fort.

Allan Gray’s Sandy McGregor, in an excellent opinion piece, points to our fiscal deficit having grown so large that it’s currently consuming our national savings in their entirety, and, even on the most optimistic projections, threatens to crowd the private sector out of domestic capital markets for years to come.