The last 3 months of 2023 brought some welcome relief for investors with strong gains across the board. Most ready-made portfolios clocked up at least half of their annual gains in these last months of the year.
The story of Q4 for investors can be distilled into two main drivers – seven tech stocks in the US (commonly referred to as the ‘Magnificent Seven’) and bonds. Such was the strength in global bond markets that 4 out of the 5 best-performing portfolios for the quarter were ‘low risk’ portfolios which hold significant %s of bonds.
It was precisely these portfolios which had such a torrid time at the tail end of 2022, and the beginning of 2023, but long-suffering holders of these portfolios will have had cause for modest celebration in the run-up to Christmas. This should be a reminder for all of us that it’s all about “Time in the market, not timing the market”. Just when we feel like throwing in the towel can often be the time when a given asset class bounces back, as we have seen with bonds.
Looking at 2023, the best-performing ready-made portfolio was Moneybox Adventurous which returned 14.4%, and the worst-performing portfolio was True Potential’s Defensive which returned a humble 4% for the year.
