The Investor - Moneyweb's monthly investment magazine Issue 6 | Page 46

Figure 2 company earnings and asset class returns. Ultimately the environment is still one that encourages economic growth.” of these four scenarios. The below chart illustrates the historical annualised returns in different cycles: (See: Figure 2) If the Reserve Bank is also only increasing at 25 basis points at a time, it is also going to take a long time to get to that level.” The cycle in which we currently find ourselves – low, but rising rates has shown average annualised returns of 13%. If one factors in current inflation of 6%, that would be a real return of 7%, which is in line with average long term returns on the JSE. PSG Wealth conducted an historical analysis that looked at how equity markets have performed in each 46 ISSUE 6 – SEPTEMBER 2015 “The current interest phase is definitely not the worst phase for equities and investors should not start selling equities indiscriminately,” Pask argues. “The extent to which investors reduce exposure to equities should rather be in accordance with their risk profile and investment objectives.” ■