Ability to adapt the key to better returns within ever-changing markets

It has, on the whole, been a positive time for markets, and enthusiastic investors have been rewarded accordingly.

Much of the talk has been between bulls and bears, recoveries and bear-market rallies – is 4,000 or 6,000 the next staging post for the FTSE 100? Is risk good or bad? My own take is that things are getting ‘better, but not a lot’. The most pleasing aspect of all, in my view, is that volatility is down to pre-Lehman levels (the VIX closed July at 25.92 having reached 80.86 on 20 November 2008). This indicates that the world is normalising. Credit spreads have also come down from their extremes, leaving some value in corporate bonds (but not as much as there was) and the emerging mark...