I think there are some important investment lessons to be learned from 2021. It has been another eventful year.
COVID-19 continues to make headlines and cause impacts on various industries. The ASX travel share industry isn’t the only sector that is seeing effects.
With that in mind, these are three takeaways from the year:
Economic impacts can last longer than expected
COVID-19 first hit global markets almost two years ago. Yet here we are, two years later, still feeling the impacts. Indeed, companies like Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) are saying that recent months have had the strongest impacts with supply chains being affected and employees needing to self-isolate.
Ultimately, I believe that wider economic influences should largely be ignored when it comes to investing in businesses. It’s almost impossible to predict when things will happen – how often are economists right? – and what the true impacts will be.
No-one could have predicted in 2019 that a global pandemic was just around the corner. Plenty of economists also didn’t make the right predictions about how long inflation and supply chains were going to be impacted.
But, inflation is a pretty important one because of how it may impact interest rates in the next couple of years.
Green and ethical trends are here to stay
Large numbers of businesses are now talking about making greener choices – lower their impact on the world, announcing a path to net zero emissions and being more sustainable.
You can also see this level of interest with an investment business like Australian Ethical Investment Limited (ASX: AEF). Not only has the Australian Ethical share price soared 159% this year, but the amount of money getting invested with the manger is also growing rapidly too.
Businesses like Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) are shifting their operations to green products and greener resources (like potash).
I think the next couple of decades are a huge opportunity for businesses that are involved in the decarbonisation of the world.
Unprofitable / growth businesses are under the microscope
Companies like Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P), Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) and Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT) have all seen major share price declines during the year.
Plenty of others have seen significant declines, despite ongoing business progress, such as Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH).
Strong investor support for unprofitable businesses with big dreams doesn’t necessarily last forever, so it’s worthwhile being patient or just ignoring the hype entirely.
I’m very interested to see what happens in 2022 with markets like cryptocurrency as well, though that’s a different investment bucket to the stock market.
Fast-growth businesses are worthwhile looking at, but I think the investment lesson is to pay attention to whether the current valuation makes sense for the long-term.
