The rather dry title of this month’s STA webinar presented by Andrew Pancholi who promised us a ‘’40 minute whistle-stop tour of 30 years of work’’. He lived up to his threat and I urge all and sundry to watch this fascinating presentation – regardless if one’s interested in technical analysis, cycles, or financial history.

Author of The Market Timing Report, hedge fund advisor, and co-author with Harry Dent of the book ‘Zero Hour’ published by Penguin Random House in 2017, he specialises in forecasting booms and busts and believes that we’re currently living through the most critical time in a generation – perhaps in a century.

Clear visuals and a polished but friendly tone, he walks us through a series of cycles including those of stock markets, economies, revolutions, like the Protestant Reformation in 1517 and, especially apt today, virus cycles starting with smallpox in 1618. Each works to a different timescale, from as long as 144 years, 50 years, to half-cycles and an 18-year one. What comes across loud and clear is his breadth of vision.

He mentions that he’s a board member of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles’, a not-for-profit incorporated in 1941 by Edward Dewey – www.cycles.org – who are hosting a free online conference between the 22nd and 26th June 2020.

Not content with predicting a serious melt-down this year and next, he has advice for our grandchildren who should prepare for something similar in 2073 and 2152. Talk about thinking ahead!