Art Of Boring

In this episode, balanced portfolio manager, Steven Visscher, covers 2024 performance, asset allocation decisions, trade uncertainty, potential tariffs, and AI-driven productivity growth. Above all, he emphasizes long-term discipline, diversification, and avoiding emotional investment decisions in an unpredictable market environment. Key Takeaways: The balanced portfolio saw strong absolute returns in 2024, with all asset classes performing well. Despite early economic concerns, inflation eased without a recession. Relative performance lagged benchmarks, causing some disappointment. The portfolio maintained a neutral 60% equity target in 2024, trimming gains to manage risk. A key structural shift was introducing a 3% allocation to U.S. mid-caps, enhancing diversification and improving valuation metrics by targeting medium-sized companies with long-term growth potential. Tariffs and policy shifts are monitored but not pre-positioned for in asset allocation due to their unpredictability. Instead, adjustments