Investors value transparency in more risk-conscious world

After two major equity bear markets in the last 10 years, the world of investing has become more about managing expectations, writes Brian O'Neill, manager of the Gartmore Global Trust.

A growing tendency in the world of investing is managing expectations. Investors scarred by two major equity bear markets in the last decade have grown more sceptical of promises of a "quick buck". Investing for the longer term has become a serious slogan as investors lack certainty that a five year period will deliver a positive return for risk assets. In many respects this is no bad thing. The long bull markets of the 1980s and 1990s and even the leverage-fuelled bull market of the mid-2000s had left many investors complacent. The trade off between risk and reward had been forgotten. ...