Laurens Swinkels – Stay Liquid Even When Investing Long-Term

<p><strong>BIO: </strong>Laurens Swinkels is an Associate Professor of Finance at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and Executive Director and Head of Quant Strategy at Robeco’s Sustainable Multi-Asset Strategies team.</p><p><strong>STORY:</strong> Lauren bought a house in Rotterdam. Just five years later, he had to move to Norway. Laurens managed to sell the house in the Netherlands many years later at a loss.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> Liquidity is very important even when investing long-term. Remove emotions from your decision-making.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><blockquote class="ql-align-center"><strong>“Even though you’re a long-term investor and you think you’re really long-term, there may be things that cross your path that require liquidity.”</strong></blockquote><blockquote class="ql-align-center">Laurens Swinkels</blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Guest profile</h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurens-swinkels-6196981/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Laurens Swinkels</strong></a> is an Associate Professor of Finance at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and Executive Director and Head of Quant Strategy at <a href="https://www.robeco.com/en-int/?cmp=so_3_3975" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Robeco</a>’s Sustainable Multi-Asset Strategies team. His areas of expertise include allocation research and empirical asset pricing. He teaches Finance courses and has published his academic work in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics. Laurens holds a Ph.D. in Finance and a Master’s in Econometrics from Tilburg University in the Netherlands.</p><h2>Worst investment ever</h2><p>When Laurens started his masters in Tilburg, Netherlands, he decided to move out of his parent’s home. He was torn between buying an apartment and renting one because the real estate prices were quite favorable for buyers then. He decided to rent since he would only be in school for a few years.</p><p>After completing his master’s, Laurens decided to do a Ph.D. and stayed another five years