A few days ago, Temasek published details of its investment performance. Temasek reported that it delivered a 24.5% shareholder return in the past financial year. I saw some interesting comments in the forum. Some people say the Temasek manager is lousy, his average return is better; some say by just investing in S&P 500 ETF, he can outperform. It is understandable because most people have a vague understanding of the “investment return” and its implications. So I thought it would be useful to discuss this topic. Very often, people ask me, “What is your average return?” If you are serious about understanding an investment strategy, it is often the wrong conservation to start with. An investment performance number sounds like a very fair and objective measurement, but it is often misrepresented. People often say a “number doesn’t lie”, but they forgot another phrase “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”. Let’s zoom into these numbers....