Managing Risk and Return within the Global Economic Environment

Oak Grove’s risk-managed global approach to investing will be increasingly important for successful investment management.

For example, between 2000 and 2010, US equity markets experienced five declines of 25% or more. Large market declines caused fear and panic. Fear and panic led to chronically bad investment decisions. Wall Street has described this period as a “lost decade” for US equity market returns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite index all were lower at the end of that ten year period.

Performance of US equity averages heavily and unduly influenced the returns of many US investors’ qualified (retirement) plans and other investment accounts over this “lost decade.”  Over the same period, basic materials, precious metals, various fixed income, and non-US equity markets offset negative US equity returns with significant gains.  A disciplined asset allocation strategy that was focused on managing risk would have captured superior results without requiring 20-20 foresight.  Such a disciplined, strategic (and tactical) asset allocation process is the core of Oak Grove’s risk-managed investment management approach.

In addition, since 2010, until recently, US equity markets have outperformed emerging markets, further emphasizing the need for a global approach to investment management and the importance of strategic and tactical asset allocation.

Please consider, below, our more specific statements on Oak Grove’s approach, process, and experience for a more complete picture of what we stand for and how we choose to differentiate ourselves in selecting and serving our client investors.