Rear view mirror: Equities took pole position as offshore exposure turbo-charged 2024 investor returns
While it’s been a bumpy start to 2025, global markets experienced a heady ride in 2024, shaped by a mix of cautious economic recovery, geopolitical tensions, technological progress and changing monetary policies. Investors of nearly all persuasions came out winners, especially those with international allocations. Equity market investors celebrated double-digit gains, while in most cases conservative investors still managed to outpace inflation.
Taking a longer-term perspective, Mercer's ‘Periodic Table’ of investment returns displays the myriad outcomes generated by markets over time. Produced each year, the Table colour-codes 16 major asset classes and ranks their performance on an annual basis over the last 10 years.
The scattered colours of the Table reveal few reliable themes, with the exception of the old adage that, eventually, greater risk tends to be rewarded by greater return. The 10-year average performance numbers generally show a ranking of more volatile to less volatile asset classes (with the notable exception of Commodities). However, the Table indicates that the path along the way is anything but predictable.
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