Warren Buffett has often said that the first two rules of investing are

• Rule 1: Don’t lose money
• Rule 2: See Rule 1

We agree: and we hope you do too.

Bottom line performance is important: but more important is the protection of capital. The Fund will never take any action that might improve the bottom line if it would risk your capital.

Stock markets fluctuate so it is inevitable that there will be periods when there are negative returns.

The Capital Allocation Team chooses companies that are least likely affected by such negative periods. It then verifies this.

Looking at rolling three-month periods starting each month, over the past 5 years the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index lost money 19 times. For 84% of those times, the fund members lost less money or actually made money.

Specifically, the average loss of the index for the 19 losing three-month periods was -3.39%. In contrast, over these same periods, the Fund only lost an average of -0.25%. The great majority of times, the fund Members profited.

Conclusion: The Conscious Investor Fund successfully protected members’ capital during losing markets.