Eric with Howard Lindzon on Panic with Friends – March 2020
Eric, CIO of Standpoint, joins Howard Lindzon to discuss the world amidst the start of quarantine in 2020 and the Coronavirus stock market crash. They catch up on memories of working together 20 years ago and how they’ve seen the asset management world evolve.
Key Takeways
- It’s not surprising that equities declined by 30% and it’s not surprising that a pandemic occurred, the real problem is that investors knew that those outcomes are possible, yet most investors are unprepared for events like we’ve experienced in 2020.
- Solid communication, consistent advice, and authenticity are vital to trust, and trust is essential in the asset management business.
- The pain and panic of 2008 and 2020 have been manageable because of bonds offsetting the decline in equities. In decades of the past, stocks and bonds have gone down together and most people are unprepared for that and usually unaware it’s even possible.
If I didn’t believe in it, I wouldn’t do it; and I can’t believe in it if I can’t understand why it works.
What we’ve been through has been painful. But it’s a broken finger relative to a broken femur if you go back to the 1970s.