5 investment lessons from the pandemic era

AS an investor with more than three decades of experience, the past 16 months stand out in my career as both intensely painful and incredibly instructive. On or about March 23, 2020, the S&P 500 Composite Index and MSCI All Country World Index hit bottom, establishing the fastest bear market in history as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the globe.

In stark contrast, equity markets recently hit record highs, bringing us full circle from the depths of 2020 to the heights of 2021. Given these remarkable milestones, I thought this is an opportune moment to share some of my learnings from this most unusual time in history.

I'll start with a brief summary of my mindset as we entered 2020. In late 2019, I felt confident that markets were well positioned for a period of strong returns. Inflation and interest rates were low and looked likely to remain so. Banks were eager to lend; and companies seemed willing to invest in productive capacity again - as opposed to share buybacks and questionable acquisitions.