Crispin Odey dismisses the idea that it has become harder to make money. While the private individuals expected to propel the market higher with inflows have not yet appeared, Odey, who described himself as a “mean-reversion person”, argues that the time is right to buy equities.

"Ten years ago everything was very expensive. Now things have got cheap," he said. Earnings from bonds currently stand at about 3%, equities around 12% and property under 5%, he told investors recently. Over the past 19 years he has had a net exposure to equity markets of around 40%. Today his net exposure is around 80%.