Debunking conventional wisdom

CONVENTIONAL wisdom says that you cannot make money by investing in line with the consensus. As with many successful (and damaging) fake news, there is an element of truth to it. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of investors, this sliver of truth is pretty much irrelevant at best and extremely detrimental to wealth accumulation at worst.

Recently, I met a high net worth individual who asked me whether we were in the "overweight equities, risk of a 7-10 per cent equity market correction and buy-the-dip" camp like most of his advisers. The answer is: Yes.

But alas, the fact that the client is hearing the same from everyone else immediately switched my "paranoia radar" on and nudged me to try to figure out what we are missing.