An interesting pub quiz question could be to ask how many times the Nasdaq Composite index has risen from its low point in 1974, which came soon after the index was launched. Has it risen five times, 10 times, 20 times, 50 times? The answer is none of those. It is up an incredible 219 times! Which makes you think about all the blood, sweat and tears that has gone into investment strategy and analysis since 1974. All the meetings of investment committees, analysts’ reports, agonised buying and selling; all the self-congratulation when things go right and the chest beating when they go wrong. Yet has anybody apart from Warren Buffett matched the appreciation achieved by the Nasdaq Composite index. Probably not is the most likely answer.
