Over the long term (seven years or more) the Balanced Growth Portfolio has earned an investment return higher than inflation but has not reached the 5.5% target. The main reason for missing this target is because South African equities, which make up a significant part of the portfolio, have not performed well.

Shorter-term returns (up to five years) have delivered stronger returns. But do not pay too much attention to these outcomes – they could just as easily have been poor. Over short periods, markets are driven by current events, supply and demand, and the news flow or ‘noise’ in investment markets. These day-to-day events are unpredictable, as is their impact on market performance. We cannot rely on short-term events to make investment decisions since they do not show market performance over the longer term.