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March 30, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Long-term thinking and investing is one of the hallmarks of some of the great investors — Warren Buffett may be the most famous example. But, investing for the long term is increasingly hard to do, just at the time when it may be needed most.
A new report from the World Economic Forum with Oliver Wyman, “The Future of Long-Term Investing,” discusses why it is harder to invest long term than before. The “fundamental question,” said Max von Bismarck, director and head of Investors Industries at the World Economic Forum (WEF), is, “have short-term objectives increasingly outweighed a focus on long-term value creation and long-term growth?” Von Bismark spoke on a video outlining the reasons why they conducted the report.
“In the 1980s,” von Bismark adds, “the average holding period for a NYSE stock was five years. Now, it’s five months.” He cites “ever-dropping CEO tenures and a disproportionate focus on quarterly earnings versus long-term objectives,” as further evidence of short-term thinking.
“Many institutions have material short-term financial obligations that must be funded with short-term investments. Furthermore, investors must overcome organizational conservatism and principal-agency considerations to make long-term decisions. These additional internal constraints make funding difficult to find for projects with short-term losses but potentially significant long-term gains,” the announcement, Tuesday, stated.
“The world is looking to long-term investors to help fund projects such as infrastructure that have historically been funded by governments. However, these investors are increasingly unable to meet these needs,” von Bismarck added in the release.
There are many factors that contribute to this; the need for liquidity can prohibit tying assets up long term. The investor needs to believe that the longer-term investment will provide “superior returns,” they need to have a risk tolerance or “appetite” that will “accept potentially sizeable losses;” and the decision makers must be willing and able to “execute a long-term investment strategy” according to the report.
