Perspectives
How we manage the Brexit blues
December, 2018
Whilst the UK political environment remains uncertain, it is important to stay focused on investing and not to speculate. At Tacit our ‘Growth/Stabiliser’ approach to portfolio construction is specifically designed for testing times like these. We thought long and hard about our ‘Thought’ this week. Client communication is especially important through these difficult periods. Access […]
Market Cycles and Fraud
November, 2018
Jim Chanos is probably the best short seller in the world and has spent his career searching for frauds and companies with questionable business models including the likes of Enron, Tyco and more recently Valeant Pharmaceuticals. While we stay away from short selling (i.e. wagering that a company’s share price will fall) we listen intently […]
Uncertainty or Opportunity?
November, 2018
Over the last few days, uncertainty regarding Brexit has increased the perceived risks of investing in the UK market. As we have a large weighting towards large blue chip UK companies, we thought it may be useful at this time to explain the investment thesis behind one of our large holdings. The M&G Recovery fund […]
Will May end in November?
November, 2018
It was Helmut von Molte, known as the father of German military strategy who said that no plan survives contact with the enemy. It’s Theresa May’s bad luck to have spent most of the past two years developing a Brexit plan that’s succeeded only in uniting her enemies both of the Left and the Right. Following […]
Thinking about the Mid-terms
November, 2018
“It’s eight o’clock, good morning and here is the fake news!” Now that’s not something you’d expect to hear in any news broadcast. But with the results of the US midterm elections well documented, both sides unsurprisingly are claiming victory. Here are the factual headlines. The Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives. […]
Using Volatility to Our Advantage
November, 2018
Speak to anyone in the financial world right now and they’ll say the same thing. “It’s a jungle out there!” Well if they don’t quite use those words that’s what they mean. At Tacit we’ve been using the market volatility to tactically trade out of and in to certain holdings. Our headlines? These are they. […]
Easy Money
October, 2018
The recent decline of some high-flying stocks does not come as much of a surprise to us. We didn’t try to forecast exactly when it would happen, but high valuations, mediocre financials and tightening credit (i.e. interest rates going up) increase the odds of poor performance. You don’t need to know the precise date when […]
Buy and Hold
October, 2018
Investing is all about opportunity cost and unless you are re-investing your cash into growing a business, your alternatives are broadly limited to: Cash in the bank Cash under the mattress Bonds (corporate and government) Shares in companies Real assets (gold, property etc) Bitcoin, lion teeth, art and other esoteric assets In the long term […]
Remember Your Objective in Difficult Times
October, 2018
Investment returns are never generated in a straight line. If they were, life would be much simpler. Over the past week we have seen a significant fall in equity markets, with technology shares bearing the brunt of the selloff following many years of positive returns. At Tacit we have always explained that you cannot forecast […]
Uncommon Common Sense
October, 2018
Around the 6th century, Slavic people from modern day Czech, Slovakia, Poland, Russia and elsewhere in central Europe began to appear in great numbers all over the continent. The origin of the Slavic people puzzled historians for centuries. Anthropologists and linguists were also left scratching their heads for clues. It wasn’t until the 1800s when […]