Being a ‘glass half full’ investor
Written by:
James Baker
Director
Albion
Good news happens too!Scroll through your feed, flick on the news, or open your phone and it feels like the world is on fire. Bad news sells. We all carry a supercomputer in our pockets, powered by algorithms designed to keep our attention – and they know that fear works. But sometimes it pays to take a step back. When we look at the long arc of history, human ingenuity powered by capitalism has been an incredibly powerful machine. Far from perfect, far from fair – but relentless in its ability to solve problems, improve lives, and create opportunities. When markets have risen strongly, and the negative noise is loud, it is easy to begin to feel that markets may well fall. Likewise, when markets have fallen, the news and outlook often feel grim. Putting more money into the markets feels like the wrong thing to do. The temptation is to get rid of this negative emotional pressure and take money out of the markets. That is rarely, if ever, a good solution. 📊 The chart below shows the growth of wealth in global equity markets since 1926. But instead of marking wars, crashes and crises, it highlights the breakthroughs, discoveries and milestones that have shaped society – and the ones that might still lie ahead. Television. DNA. The Moon landing. The Berlin Wall. Vaccines. The Web. Renewable energy. Fusion power? Mars colonies? The journey is never smooth, but it’s not all bad news. Far from it. |
Adopting a glass-half-full attitude to markets is not just motivational; it’s grounded in economic history. Capitalism is a dynamic engine of value creation that rewards those who provide capital in exchange for a share of ownership in a business (owning equities) or lending them money (via owning bonds) allowing companies to build, scale, and solve real-world problems. In aggregate, they do a good job as the chart illustrates. That’s not luck, it is the result of thousands of companies competing, innovating, and growing under a capitalist framework and overcoming the shorter-term doom and gloom that the world has always and will always continue to suffer. Raise your (half-full) investment glass to hope, optimism and the power of capitalism. Cheers! If you would like to find out more about the range of investor-facing communications included in the service we provide, don’t hesitate to reach out. |