The "Sell in May and go away, don't come back till St. Leger Day" investment adage is probably the oldest and most well-known. Its premise is to sell out of the stock market in May and stay in cash over the summer, before going back in at the start of September when the St Leger Stakes horse race is run. The theory is that by doing so you avoid the more volatile summer months which historically have also tended to underperform the rest of the year.
The reality is that the adage is unreliable and can hamper investment returns. However, ahead of last summer, I carried out a piece of research that showed that you could adapt the concept, by instead investing in defensive assets rather than going into cash over the summer, to boost long-term portfolio performance. This gave birth to the "summer portfolio".
So how did the portfolio fare in the real world during the summer of 2021? How is it holding up in 2022, one of the most difficult investing years on record? I answer these questions in my update here (remember you need to be logged in to view it).
Best Wishes
Damien Fahy
80-20 Investor & Money to the Masses founder
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