No Loss or A Jolly Good Profit.

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Douglas Chadwick

In the recent investment climate you have to be pretty damned shrewd to make a profit consistently. Equity markets yo-yo, bond yields fluctuate and credit ratings are trimmed, adjusted and slashed by the hair triggers of Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poors. The agencies are petrified of getting it badly wrong – as horrendously wrong as they did with regard to Icelandic Banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG back in 2008.

Many people may be sitting on losses last year of 15% just because they are invested in their providers’ Balanced Managed fund – you know, that low to medium risk one….

Others will have taken more of a punt and looked at European funds or Emerging Market funds and are sitting on an even heftier loss.

Those people who have played it safest of all, in cash, and are seeing their portfolios level over the last year may not feel particularly great about their investments but when they reflect and see that they have outperformed the average investor by 5, 10 or maybe 15% then they should feel well satisfied. A “no loss” position in the current climate should feel like a storming financial victory.

But what about those people following Saltydog Investor. If you had invested along the lines of the Saltydog portfolio then you could well be sitting on a profit of around 7% for the last year or so. If “no loss” in the current economic and investment climate feels good, imagine what it feels like to be that far above the zero line. 

Here’s hoping for an even more successful 2012.