At the 2020 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Warren Buffett remarked: “In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500 index fund”.

For many portfolios, a core passive allocation to a particular market, or segment of the market, is likely to be adequate if the investment horizon is sufficiently long. After all, the probability of a positive 10-year return for the S&P 500 is 94 per cent over the past 96 years, versus 73 per cent for a one-year investment horizon.