Quiz!
What are the outcomes of consistently adding to a portfolio during declines of 20% + 20% followed by a 2 year recovery (25% + 25%), instead of using a stable 10%-per-year investment for the new money?
- You throw good money after bad – you lose money while feeling lousy.
- You lose money, but at least you stay conservative by sticking with your plan. Once there are new peaks, your entire investment will enjoy future growth.
- Not only you make money by buying low – you magically outperform the consistent 10% portfolio.
- You make money by buying low, and with the new peak your entire investment will enjoy future growth.
Can You Make Money in a Down Market?
Imagine living through a long decline period. If you are retired and your entire life’s savings are invested in your portfolio according to your plan, you can relax knowing that your low withdrawal rate is likely to sustain your money for as long as you live.
If you are still in saving mode, or have money that was not put to work in your portfolio, you have choices. Let’s review two different options:
- You wait for the portfolio to recover to gain more comfort, and after it proved itself, you add more money to it. You don’t add money to a losing portfolio.
- You add all money available, whether it is savings from work, money invested elsewhere, equity in your home that you can borrow (subject to a risk assessment), or an inheritance.
Let’s continue with an example: Say you had 1M that declined for 2 years, and then recovered in 2 years. Also, say you had 100k to add per year. During the declining period, you choose between diverting to a portfolio that gained 10% per year and adding to the portfolio that simply declined and recovered with no new gains (as described in 1 & 2 above, respectively). Let’s see the financial impact of the 2 options:
| 1M Portfolio state | Value of
original 1M |
Value of new investments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Option #1: Invest at 10% | Option #2: Invest in portfolio | ||
| 20% decline + saved 100k | 800k | 100k | 100k |
| 20% decline + saved 100k | 640k | 100k + 10% + 100k = 210k | 100k – 20% + 100k = 180k |
| 25% gain + saved 100k | 800k | 210k + 10% + 100k = 331k | 180k + 25% + 100k = 325k |
| 25% gain to full recovery | 1M | 331k + 10% = 364k | 325k + 25% + 100k = 506k |
| Performance of deposits | 364k / 300k – 1 = 21% | 506k / 300k -1 = 69% | |
After 4 years, option #1 would result in 364k, while option #2 would result in 506k.
In option #1, your entire mental focus is on the wait for a recovery, to regain comfort with the portfolio. You have no good feelings about the portfolio until you fully regained the lost grounds. In the meantime, you feel good about growing your new savings at 10% per year, and are happy that you did at least one smart thing.
In option #2, you keep adding to the portfolio, ignoring its behavior. At first, you feel good buying low. As the decline continues, you are tempted to feel that you are throwing good money after bad, but you remind yourself that the portfolio is far more attractive the lower it gets, and the new money can enjoy this benefit. After one year of gains, you can already celebrate the impact on your recent deposit. So, instead of focusing on the remaining path to recovery, you can enjoy the hard dollars that you gained during the initial part of the recovery. By the full recovery, you enjoy far better results than 10% per year even though you added to a portfolio that had 0% returns from peak to the new peak.
Quiz Answer:
What are the outcomes of consistently adding to a portfolio during declines of 20% & 20% followed by a 2 year recovery, instead of using a stable 10%-per-year investment for the new money?
- You throw good money after bad – you lose money while feeling lousy.
- You lose money, but at least you stay conservative by sticking with your plan. Once there are new peaks, your entire investment will enjoy future growth.
- Not only you make money by buying low – you magically outperform the consistent 10% portfolio. [The Correct Answer]
- You make money by buying low, and with the new peak your entire investment will enjoy future growth.
The article above provides an explanation.
Disclosures Including Backtested Performance Data