Market Outlook 2025 – The Perils of Prediction and the Principles of Investing

Loading player...
This week, we explore the challenges of market prediction and investment strategies in its latest episode of the new underlying series called the Long Game with Adrian Saville – economist, investor, and academic. The discussion highlights why financial markets resist simple forecasts due to their dynamic and interconnected nature. In this instance, two works are considered by Saville.

The first piece of work comes from Bloomberg’s John Authers. At the end of each year, he writes an article for his imagined investment firm, Hindsight Capital, which makes fantastically astute decisions because they know – with the benefit of hindsight – what to buy and what to avoid. The fantasy shows just how hard it is to imagine what each year delivers. The second piece of work comes from Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management, who, in a recent article leaps forward a decade, imagining the errors that will become evident in hindsight by 2035.

Drawing on these two works, the episode tackles the futility of prediction and the importance of building resilient investment portfolios from the get-go.
The conversation also delves into current market trends, including risks in the US equity rally, debt challenges with US Treasuries, and China’s economic slowdown and potential parallels with Japan..

Emphasising discipline and preparation, the podcast offers actionable insights to help investors align portfolios with their long-term goals.
22 Jan 2025 English South Africa Investing

Other recent episodes

FSCA’s Astrid Ludin on two-pot, Cofi and the next era for regulation

In this special edition of the Regulatory Rulebook series, Citywire South Africa sits down with Astrid Ludin, outgoing deputy commissioner at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and president of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors, for a rare exit interview. From the successful rollout of the two-pot retirement system to…
30 Apr 34 min

DFM value has moved beyond portfolios

Investment Solutions by Alexforbes has reached its two-year track record, giving advisers a clearer view of where the discretionary fund manager (DFM) is adding value and where the model still faces friction. In this episode, Alexforbes DFM specialist and portfolio manager Nadir Thokan discusses performance, manager selection, platform constraints, private…
30 Apr 36 min

Where insurers are still failing customers

From complex products no one fully understands to pricing that quietly erodes value, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority lifts the lid on the biggest conduct risks still lurking in South Africa’s insurance sector in the latest segment of the Regulatory Rulebook. In this episode of Money, Markets, and Masterminds, Brenda…
27 Mar 22 min

Advisers should not get distracted by the wrong things - DFM CEO

In this episode of Money, Markets, and Masterminds, Cogence CEO and CIO Jonel Matthee-Ferreira explains advisers risk making poor decisions if they react to short-term volatility instead of staying focused on long-term outcomes. She further unpacks the firm’s move into private markets for retail investors, arguing that access to unlisted…
23 Mar 24 min

Why markets are trading the wrong war

Markets are reacting to missiles and oil spikes, but what if that is exactly where investors go wrong? In the first 2026 episode of the Long Game series, Adrian Saville, investment strategist and professor of economics and finance at GIBS, unpacks why the real drivers of returns sit far beyond…
20 Mar 30 min