For starters, we don't sit an ivory tower churning out buy recommendations "without any hint of anxiety" (that bit was a direct quote). We are mindful that there may still be huge systemic risks lurking throughout the global economy, and the reality is that no one fully understands what the long term consequences of the great central bank experiment currently taking place will be. It is hard not to be anxious when, against this backdrop of uncertainty, the FTSE is racing towards its all time high of 6930 reached on 31 December 1999, when the dot com era was still in full swing.
That period, which coincided with my entry into the City, is now a watchword for blind investor optimism - as the market again approaches that level, it is not absurd to suggest that similarly wilful blindness to the dangers of cheap money is apparent once again. Certainly, the open recognition that it is largely QE and not fundamentals that is powering the great rally is troubling - because if that crutch is taken away, as it surely will be at some point, an almighty correction may follow.
I for one am neither comfortable chasing rallies, or dumping shares on the basis of disasters that might happen - both are decisions that are based on fear, and fear is what prompts panic buying or selling, situations in which investors are prone to buying too high or selling too low. Fear can also push us into safe havens that might not be that safe at all.
The view we take in our suggestions is that investors should be less emotional and stick with a few core investment principles: that they must take a long-term view, based on fundamentals, that they must reinvest their income, and follow the tried and tested principles of asset allocation. These are where the vast majority of investment returns come from, and every suggestion we make should be understood within the context of this wider investment philosophy. And fundamentally, there are many shares and funds that are still worth holding.
A look back over the twentieth century would support this belief - for example, $100 invested in the S&P in 1900 would have become $1.6m by the end of the century had all dividends been reinvested, despite a century of turmoil that included four secular bear markets, a great depression, several bouts of regional hyperinflation, two world wars and countless small ones. In short, the real damage would have come had investors sat on the sidelines and avoided investing altogether. So while it is a near certainty that more trouble lies ahead, in the long term markets have a habit of surviving. Stick with them.
