The weekly digest — 20.11.24

A Winning Machine

What is more powerful than a 101-year-old winning machine? Since 1923, the S&P500 index has generated an annualised return of ~10.5%. For more than a century, it has:

• Beaten 99.9% of professional investors, who typically underperform the index annually by ~2-3%, with the gap widening dismally over time.

• Proven its stellar compounding potential; $1 invested in the index in 1923 would be worth more than $13,000 today.

• Comprised of the bluest of the world’s blue-chip stocks, self-regulating and re-weighting these in line with their individual performances — eliminating user selection error.

• Always regained its previous highs, surviving the Great Depression, one World War and the Covid pandemic.

Weekly Digest

On a look-through basis, we will become entitled to our next dividend from BD shortly. With roots extending more than 125 years, BD, widely known as Becton Dickinson, is a leading healthcare player. Its first order of business? BD’s original patent for all-glass syringes, followed by the opening of the first factory in the US for the manufacture of syringes and needles. Since then, the company has pioneered many inventions under its aegis: the modern stethoscope; the first insulin injection device; the first penicillin injection kit; and the first sterilisation technology for medical devices. Today, BD is universally recognised as a world leader in monitoring and infusion platforms in hospitals and measurement systems in medical research laboratories. Plus, armed with a library of patents and a workforce of more than 70,000 employees, BD has generated in excess of $20 billion in annual sales, solidifying its rank in the upper half of the Fortune 500 on a sales revenue basis. This positioning has contributed towards the company’s formidable 53-year record of sequential dividend increases — including its 9.3 per cent increase just announced.

To Have and To Hold

The greatest threat to our investment success? Us. So, how do we get ourselves from outset to outcome? Over four years, we’ve collected more than four million data points that demonstrate how a particular methodological communication keeps investors on track. This email is part of a powerful anticipatory feedback loop that works as a bad-decision buffer. With our handholding, evidence shows investors are far more likely to hold onto their investments — long enough to enjoy their wins.