The cost of getting it wrong

Taylor said at the end of 2018, share markets had been through a sharp downturn – the worst December for the S&P 500 on record.

His fund managers responded by moving funds very defensively to up to 60% cash.

But the downturn did not last as long as Pie Funds expected, which was to its detriment and Taylor said it was too slow to jump back in to the market. "It was the right call at that time … but we were too slow to bring our cash back down to appropriate levels.”

The S&P 500 and NZX rebounded to clock up a 30% return.