Below you will find the Columbus strategy highlights for this month.  For more insights and a detailed discussion, including to get the monthly portfolio allocations, please download the report.

Un-Bear-able Volatility

• December tested what volatility and risk means to the unprepared, and how the tug-of-war between fear and greed affects our emotions at the detriment of our portfolio.
• Since Columbus got out of stocks in October and shifted to a prudent allocation, we experienced very little volatility during December. This paid off handsomely.
• For 2018, Columbus outperformed every one of its benchmarks while experiencing less volatility, achieving a loss of only 3.7% while our world allocation benchmark (GMWAX) is down 7.6%. Columbus also compared favorably with our 60/40 balanced stocks/bonds benchmark fund (VSMGX) down 5.4% for the year and the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) also down 5.4% over the same period.
• As emphasized last month, this is the time to be prudent and not take undue risks.
• Please read Section 6 in the report to get the full story.
• For more insights on the behavior of market tops and how to proactively manage risks, please read our special report published on October 14, “Keep Calm and Follow the Data“.

On behalf of the Laplace Insights team, I would like to wish you happiness, health, and prosperity for the New Year.

To learn more about how Columbus navigates this market, please download the report and read the discussion in section 6.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.

Best regards,

Jean-Marc and the Laplace Insights team