A history lesson in equities

Professional Adviser
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While equities have been best-performing asset class, outperformance is only negligible at best and ignores share performance of firms which have gone bust

Connoisseurs of financial history will find plenty to enjoy in 'Triumph of the Optimists,' a new book by three London Business School academics, Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, and Mike Staunton. For example, in 1900, Russia accounted for 11% of the global value of equities, the same as Germany and Japan combined. They will find a provocative lesson as well. Over the last century, equities have not produced anything like the returns investors have usually assumed. Nobody should expect great returns in the new century either. Shares as an investment have been consistently over-rated. The timin...

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