If you’re questioning whether the recent financial market turmoil, particularly the sharp and accelerating capital outflows from the US, will ever return in relative fullness, the answer is no. It’s worth revisiting a note I released in February 2021, “The Personal View: Investment Themes for the Next Decade”, which provided a roadmap for understanding the deeper structural capital shifts and thematic reallocation throughout the 2020s and early 2030s.
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The Structural Shift Away from the US
Through that lens, recent US equity outflows aren’t just tariff-related panic selling but, in time, will be viewed as structural. In early March 2025, Warren published “The Personal View: How to Position Your Portfolio for the Market Turmoil Ahead, 2025–2028”.
That note warned of accelerating instability, and the recent meltdown is not just volatility but an inflection point. It marks a relative reallocation of capital away from traditional US-led paradigms toward a new, multipolar investment future, where capital and power are no longer centered on the US but rather across Asia, specifically China. The concept of a steady, though turbulent, decline in US global influence was first forecast in my January 2016 release, “The Personal View: The USA-Major Themes 2015–2033”, and frequently reiterated since.
Asia’s Rise and the New Investment Frontier
Warren emphasises that our collective investment future lies in Asia, especially China, where medical innovation, technology, and energy continue to scale rapidly. This is not a cyclical shift. It’s a structural transformation. An overhaul of the financial status quo signals an ongoing capital revolution.
Some of the core decade-long themes highlighted in 2021 include the following:
- Asian Dominance: China is on track to become the world’s leading political and economic force by 2031. Capital will increasingly follow growth in Asian-led science, medicine, and innovation.
- Low Earth Orbit Satellites: Rapid deployment of LEO satellites is set to transform global connectivity.
- Solar Power: Set to dominate energy markets by 2030 as falling costs drive exponential adoption.
- Medical Technology: Accelerated by the pandemic, global healthcare is being redefined.
- Electric Vehicles: EVs reshape the global auto market. Again, Asian EVs are likely to dominate.
- Space Exploration: Humans landing on Mars by 2030–31 and a space station by 2033 aren’t fantasy; they’re the reality for forward-focused capital.
- Climate Change: A defining long-term challenge and investment opportunity. Though solutions lie beyond many of our lifetimes, climate mitigation and adaptation will shape flows for decades.
Warren Hammond’s Personal View: McKinley vs. Trump
Capital pouring out of US equities is not all about risk aversion. It’s about the future of capital, a structural movement toward future-aligned, strategically advantaged themes and regions.
Rather than Trump’s “Golden Age of America” beginning, it remains on an unyielding path of decline.
What are your thoughts on this shifting investment landscape? Do you see Asia leading the way, or is the US decline overstated?
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