It's an anxious time for everyone at the moment.
Put aside investing for a second.
Just as everyday consumers, we are dealing with 12 interest rate hikes in just over a year, inflation and job insecurity.
No wonder we're all a bit skittish.
A couple of months ago, the EY Global Wealth survey found that 58% of investors are now prioritising protection against capital loss and inflation.
Forget making money, they just want to preserve what they have.
"Continued market stress is amplifying their defensive stance… as well as their appetite for both switching and adding to their portfolio," EY Oceania wealth and asset management leader Rita Da Silva said at the time.
So are there any S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares that you can just buy now and lock away for years, so you can switch off all the doom and gloom?
Image source: Getty Images
If you can stay loyal, this stock could reward you
One stock you could put away into the bottom drawer, in my opinion, is Xero Limited (ASX: XRO).
Remembering that past performance is no indicator of the future, the accounting software maker has ably demonstrated its resilience over the past two years.
Caught up in the market sentiment turning against growth and technology stocks, the Xero share price dropped more than 55% from November 2021 to November 2022.
But the New Zealand business, under a new chief executive, has since started reforming its strategy to reduce cash burn and focus more on earnings and profits.
Already it has borne fruit, with the ASX 200 share rocketing almost 80% year to date.
That leaves its five-year returns at an impressive 172%, even through the 2020 COVID-19 crash and the 2022 tech correction.
What that demonstrates is that Xero has the ability to adapt and grow, and provides reliable returns to investors who are willing to stick out short-term volatility.
Superior pricing power
What about inflation though?
The past year has shown that the demographics of Xero's clientele gives it superior pricing power, compared to ASX companies that serve end consumers.
Accounting software, once adopted by a business, is time-consuming and expensive to change. If they're happy with the product, then it will be too much hassle for a client to change to a rival.
This "stickiness" has allowed Xero to push through price rises in recent times without copping too much damage.
"Xero retains strong pricing power, given the structural tailwinds driving cloud accounting adoption globally, that can continue to mitigate any impact from weaker subscriber growth," said Fairmont Equities managing director Michael Gable back in April.
The Motley Fool's Tristan Harrison pointed out Xero's pricing power in May.
"In the company's FY23 half-year result, its average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 13% to $35.30," he said.
"The business reported a 30% increase in operating revenue, while free cash flow jumped 145%."
