29 February 2024
Capital Markets and Strategy Team
While investing in volatile times can sometimes challenge your discipline and commitment, there are timeless principles to include in your investment strategy that can help ease your mind and keep you focused on the long term.
It’s rare for any investment to repeat as a top performer from one year to the next. Diversifying across various economies, businesses, countries, and popular investment classes can help spread risk, remain more consistent, and reduce the potential for underperforming assets to impact your portfolio.
Historical asset class rotation, 2013–2023
Calendar year total returns by class assets (%)
Source: Manulife Investment Management, Bloomberg, as of 31 December 2023. Total returns are shown in local currency or in USD for multimarket indexes.
In good times, investors are excited, they want to invest more and often “buy high.”
When markets turn negative, investors become fearful and decide to cut their losses and “sell low."
Stay disciplined and committed to your long-term investment plan to avoid riding the emotional roller coaster.
Watch a video on this topic (49s)
An investor’s emotional roller coaster
Source: John Hancock Investment, a company of Manulife Investment Management. This chart is an example and does not represent the performance of any actual investment. This is not meant as investment advice. For illustrative purposes only.
The difference between investment success and disappointment can boil down to a few days of being in or out of the markets.
By staying fully invested and not missing the best investment days in 2023, investors could have outperforming returns.
Watch a video on this topic (42s)
2023 S&P 500 Price Index
Fully invested vs. missing the best days
2023 The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index
Fully invested vs. missing the best days
2023 The Bloomberg US Aggregate Index
Fully invested vs. missing the best days
Source: Bloomberg, Capital Market and Strategy Team from Manulife Investment Management. As of 31 December 2023. The charts are examples and do not represent the performance of any actual investment. This is not meant as investment advice. For illustrative purposes only.
Accept the fact that markets will rise and fall but over time markets have always moved higher.
Taking a long‑term perspective can help you stay the course when markets move from crisis to opportunity and back again.
Despite setbacks, the MSCI World Index shows growth over the long term
Growth of USD$10,000
Source: Bloomberg, Manulife Investment Management, as of December 31, 2023. For illustrative purposes only. Red circles indicate periods of market decline. The index is unmanaged and cannot be purchased directly by investors. Past performance does not guarantee future performance.
By investing a fixed dollar amount in regular intervals dollar cost averaging can help you buy more units of an investment at lower prices and fewer at higher prices.
This helps take the worry out of making a single lump-sum investment at the wrong time.
12-month comparison
$12,000 single lump-sum investment vs. $1,000 monthly investment using dollar cost averaging
For illustrative purposes only.
Better income – Aim for higher, not the highest
If we focus too much on chasing the highest yield and upfront yield generation, we could suffer from early capital depletion and miss the total return opportunity towards the later stages of the investment journey.
Cash is king?
Amid volatile market conditions and higher interest rates, seeking security by burying your savings in a deposit account is tempting. As the saying goes, “cash is king”. Or is it?
Better Income
A “Better Income” approach seeks to understand an investor’s investment objective alongside the underlying risk of certain levels of income generation. “Better” income may not refer to the highest income level but the stability and consistency of reasonably higher yields generated throughout various market cycles.
How might the US election and China’s stimulus package impact Asian fixed income?
Asia Fixed Income Team analyses how the US election and other recent major events could impact the region’s fixed income markets.
Assessing China’s latest stimulus measures
Greater China Equities Team analyses the latest round of strategic stimulus and explains why it warrants more than short-term tactical attention. The team also highlights a case study of Chinese companies that are ‘going-global’ to showcase this interesting juncture in the country’s corporate development.
The Fed starts easing: Potential tailwinds for high-quality US credits
Our analysis shows that US IG credits and preferred securities have historically performed well following US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts. We maintain our favourable view of asset classes that offer unique investment opportunities for fixed-income investors looking for potentially attractive returns.