Mostly Positive Adjustments for Investors
In last week’s post I mentioned one of the slogans used in the US Marine Corps — “Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome.” As 10 November 2013 was the 238th birthday of The Corps, I was thinking of all the adjustments it has had to make to become the nation’s premier fighting force. Though The Corps can handle almost any mission assigned, much of the slogan has to do with overcoming the rigidities imposed within itself and the US Defense establishment. I wonder whether Pope Francis is using a similar approach as he tries to adjust the behavior of the Roman Catholic Church, which could have impacts on many other organized religions.
Less cosmically, while painful in some cases, we are seeing a number of current adjustments that are subtly or perhaps not-so-subtly adjusting investment thinking as outlined below.
Lessons from the Twitter IPO
Twitter, with the help of its lead underwriter Goldman Sachs*, recently had a successful launch of its IPO. While Twitter did raise the price of the offering several times, similar to Facebook, they did not adjust the number of shares being offered as Facebook did. The NYSE, the venue for the aftermarket, went through exacting trials under stressed conditions that NASDAQ* did not do with Facebook. President Obama could have learned a lot from the Twitter launch and adjusted his attempts to re-launch a somewhat more successful Obamacare.
A Possible Lesson To Be Feared
In a syndicated column by George F. Will, The Enigma of Janet Yellen as Fed Chair, the author was concerned that Ms. Yellen has been amenable to penalizing savers to benefit equity owners around the world. He fears that in the absence of fiscal policy leadership, monetary policy led by the Fed will, in effect, become the conscience of the government and lead to adjusting our social priorities through the use of various monetary devices. If Mr. Will’s concerns are realized, the rate of inflation will rise and the dollar may shrink.
Unwinding Of the 4% Rule
For many years, wealth managers within or outside of trust departments believed that a 4% withdrawal rate during retirement is possible without destroying the capital base. Today, based on the current low interest rates, some careful advisors are more comfortable with 3%, and T. Rowe Price* believes 2.8% is more prudent. If these lower numbers are to be believed, spending and saving efforts will need to be adjusted. A similar exercise is needed for a number of endowment and foundation boards to contemplate.
Liberal Arts Needs To Be Liberated
Currently a significant number of liberal arts colleges are facing declining enrollments, rising expenses, and less-than-spectacular returns on their too-small endowments. Part of their problem is that often these organizations are governed with a high level of rigidity. Even in the government, during periods of stress, high-priced workers can be laid off. Granting tenure in higher education is often a one-way street, in that after being granted, the tenured ones can stay employed as long as they want regardless of their productivity.
One of the fields of study that should be examined by the payers of college tuitions is macroeconomics. Robert Shiller, a 2013 Nobel laureate, wrote a blog published by the Guardian this week, Is Economics a Science? He properly questions whether it is a science like physics. He accurately says that the study of economics has to do with policy. I suspect that is how this course is taught, which could have some benefit to political science majors whose aim is the Presidency or slightly lower. On the other hand, microeconomics introduces some techniques that could be useful to both consumers and producers. In my particular case, the focus on price-setting with different degrees of inelastic supply and demand was useful in my business and investment career. What I am suggesting is that the rigidities found in much of the non-profit world need to go through serious adjustments and that will happen whether the occupants of the various ivory towers like it or not.
Investment Thinking Is Being Adjusted
All investment organizations are being caught in a pincer movement of lower investment returns in equity, debt, commodities, derivatives, and cash, concurrent with rising expenses for technology, compliance, marketing, and keeping their good people from going entrepreneurial — either directly or to such smaller shops as hedge funds. In this light, it is interesting that Goldman Sachs* will no longer produce research that is based on “growth at a reasonable price.” This is a policy that worked well in the mutual fund business for many years. In his leadership days at Fidelity Magellan, Peter Lynch was a major proponent of this strategy. In Peter’s search for good investments, he found a large number of companies that were growing (not with a high growth rate) but were selling at prices that did not presume a continuation of their growth rate.
How Are We Adjusting?
The first thing I do is look under the hood of various labeled classifications to see the spread of options that have been grouped under a simple label like growth or large cap. While it is useful to know how a manager performs relative to his peers under varying conditions, markets are not two dimensional (up vs. down); most of the time they are in some form of equilibrium. The more you study people, the more different they appear to be. This is why an All-Star team picking the best player for each position often does not do well against a team of good players who have played together before and benefit from natural leadership within the group.
I am looking to add a new fund to our portfolios. My key concern is whether the fund being examined, which is in a particular market phase, will add or subtract to the results of the existing portfolio.
One of the adjustments that I am making as I move away from labels is to look for good, understandable managers in broad categories. That is why I now group equity managers for my purposes under the banner of “equity exposure.” Because of the dynamic changes in the world’s intellectual leadership, I expect that the rate of adjustments will accelerate. I need to pay attention to these changes as they creep over the various time horizons that we must accommodate.
How do you expect to adjust to the future?
*Owned personally, by my private financial services fund, or both.
_______________________
If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to the Enterprising Investor.
All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.
Copyright © 2008–2013 A. Michael Lipper, CFA,
All Rights Reserved.
Contact author for limited redistribution permission.
