Continuous-time mean-variance efficiency: the 80% rule

This paper studies a continuous-time market where an agent, having specified an investment horizon and a targeted terminal mean return, seeks to minimize the variance of the return. The optimal portfolio of such a problem is called mean-variance efficient \`{a} la Markowitz. It is shown that, when the market coefficients are deterministic functions of time, a mean-variance efficient portfolio realizes the (discounted) targeted return on or before the terminal date with a probability greater than 0.8072. This number is universal irrespective of the market parameters, the targeted return and the length of the investment horizon.