Into The New Year Without Brakes

Hitting the brakes on the trading floor at the wrong moment, only to pick up full speed again later, can result in losing the optimal timing for the rewarding ascent toward financial peaks. The closing weeks of 2023 were a prime example of such an acceleration curve on the stock market. Happy New Year!

So it's no wonder that I particularly enjoyed Eduard Strauss's* fast polka at the recent New Year’s Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic. Strauss composed “Ohne Bremse” (“Without Brakes”) for the Railway Ball in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein in 1885 - the very same hall where the Vienna Philharmonic rang in 2024 this January 1st under the baton of Christian Thielemann. 

Art and science

1.1 million people in Austria tuned in at home for the televised concert, which reaches over 90 countries worldwide each year. For over 180 years, the Vienna Philharmonic has managed to maintain and build on its outstanding position in music history. Praised by composers such as Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler, the orchestra blends the quality of its individual musicians into an extraordinary whole, with each instrument contributing to the rich overall texture. 

When we put together a portfolio at Gutmann, we also pay attention to the quality of each individual investment. Ultimately, a “gesamtkunstwerk” emerges that has its own inherent momentum. One could justifiably describe it as a “work of art”, because investing our clients' assets is more than just pure science. Investment is both art and science. 

Tuning out market noise

Chasing the latest trends plastered across headlines can throw a portfolio out of tune. This is because by the time a trend is perceived by the general public, share prices has already gone way up. This usually results in overpaying. This is why we at the Gutmann Chief Investment Office attach great importance to maintaining balance across our investment themes. On the stock market, hope, fantasy and ultimately greed know no bounds. Even if in some phases the impression arises that the price cannot be too high, the gravitational forces of a company's actual economic success are still at work. No share price can detach itself from this in the long term. 

The consequential best practice approach: we find outstanding companies across the globe through many years of analysis. However, they are only included in our Gutmann portfolios if the price is right. A degree of patience is required, but the next price correction is sure to come. Be it for the stock market as a whole or in the form of a setback merely affecting individual sectors. Sometimes a rainy quarter for a single company is enough to find attractive entry prices. Investors then only need the necessary courage to strike. And perhaps even despite short-term negative news. 

The Vienna Philharmonic differs from other large orchestras in its very own Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra sound, cultivated and passed on from generation to generation.  

Musical styles and Gutmann sound

Every portfolio also has its own sound. Some investors are satisfied with the harmonies of broadly diversified index funds. There, the sheer number of musicians is so substantial that an individual flat note is masked by the whole. Others rely on a hand-picked selection to create very individual soundscapes.

We have different styles of music on offer for you - one of them is sure to suit your taste. We invite you to get to know the Gutmann sound.

*Eduard Strauss (1835-1916) was the youngest of the three Strauss brothers, Johann Strauss (son) and Josef Strauss.