Taking Stock (Hyndman)

Taking Stock

by Jamie Hyndman, Mawer Investment Management

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been watching Niall Ferguson’s documentary called Civilization, which is based on his bestselling novel of the same name. In it, Ferguson sets out to explain how it is that the western world came to be so prosperous. And as we put another solid year of stock market performance in the books, I have to say that this documentary has me feeling very fortunate because our world wasn’t always this good.

Six hundred years ago, the petty kingdoms of Western Europe were miserable little backwaters. They were often unfairly ruled by ruthless monarchies, and were ravaged by incessant war and pestilence. However, shortly thereafter, a variety of powerful new ideologies began to take hold and transform society for the better.

Democracy, capitalism, the rule of law, property rights, science, modern medicine and many other important developments have all come together in the last few centuries to make modern society the cornucopia-of-plenty that it is today.

So while the work is never done and numerous challenges lay ahead in 2013, it’s that time of the year to step back and take a broader perspective on our station in life. And I think Mr. Ferguson has reminded us that relative to historic time periods, and relative to much of the rest of the world, we should all be very thankful to be living in what is truly one of the brightest eras in the history of mankind.

With that thought in mind, on behalf of Mawer Investment Management I would like to wish you all happy holidays and all the best for the New Year.

Jamie Hyndman