Everyone wants to make quick money, but the idiosyncrasies of economic cycles and market conditions often make this a daunting task. There’s a lot of noise, but one thing in particular is rattling investors right now: interest rates. They are nervous about the persistently high inflation data and are unsure whether the Fed will opt for a small rate hike or a pause at next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting in the wake of the Silicon Valley bank collapse. But veteran investor Bob Desmond said he “hasn’t really thought about it at all”. “We never take a short-term view on the market. We prefer to look at the estimated value of our current portfolio. At current prices, we believe there is a reasonable possibility of achieving our target annual return of 8% to 12% over the next few years The next five years,” he wrote in a note to CNBC on Tuesday. Desmond is principal and portfolio manager of Claremont Global, which has over $1 billion under management. “I know it sounds boring, but we’re really trying to look at where we think we’re going to be three to five years out. So we’re not adjusting the discount rate on a daily basis based on how the 10-year bond is doing,” he added. The discount rate is the rate of return used to discount future cash flows back to their present value. This is a metric commonly used in discounted cash flow analysis to inform investment decisions. Desmond said the firm uses an 8% discount rate across its portfolio, which remains constant throughout the financial cycle. “We’re trying to get a minimum return above inflation for our clients. I think if you’re adjusting the discount rate on a daily basis, you get very, very sensitive valuations, and it really blows your mind. .So, we try to see like loops,” he said. Sticking to the “steady Eddie” Desmond described the firm’s approach to investing as “a little bland.” “We’ve been sticking to Steady Eddies and the durability of the big tech companies. We only have a portfolio of 10 to 15 stocks, so we have to make sure that what we buy is really durable, and we have a really good idea of what it’s going to look like in five years’ time ,”He said. Crucial to Desmond’s investment decisions are the valuations of his target companies. “Anything that’s attractive is on our shopping list,” he said. One of his go-to technologies is Alphabet, which he says is “a fringe story” for the next five years. Desmond said the company has a dominant position in search and YouTube and has a growing cloud business. He thinks the stock is “very attractive” given its current valuation. The company also owns stakes in Microsoft and Adobe. “Adobe is something we’ve had our eye on for five years. It used to trade at 50 or 60 times earnings. It was never far from our strike zone. We got an opportunity last year. So that’s how we roll. We’ll see Watch things and wait until the valuation gets into the right territory.” So, we have Alphabet, Microsoft and Adobe. From our point of view, we feel very comfortable. They’ve got fat profits and a good earnings profile with a strong balance sheet. I think the opportunities set for them have improved a lot over the past 18 months,” Desmond said. He also likes Nike, calling it a “good profit-enhancing story,” and medical-device maker Steris’ relief. Supply chain issues and record backlogs.