Sound and fury
“Most of the noisy information flow coming from your TV, radio, web browser, and social media is ephemeral, emotional issues that are wholly outside of your control. These include the war between Hamas and Israel (which has since escalated to a hot conflict between Israel and Iran), the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ‘No Kings’ protests, when the Fed cuts next, the tariff trade, etc. You have no insight into any of these issues, nor should you.”
– Money manager Barry Ritholtz, in a post on his blog, The Big Picture, on June 17. He considers most headline-grabbing news stories to be “noise” and of no consequence for long-term investors. Read more at bit.ly/45Oyn5N.
It’s always something
“We’re always in the process of change. We’ll always find...things to criticize in the country.… If you don’t think the United States has changed since I was born in 1930…we’ve gone through all kinds of things. We’ve gone through great recessions. We’ve gone through world wars. We’ve gone through the development of the atomic bomb that we never dreamt of when I was born. So I would not get discouraged about the fact that it doesn’t look like we’ve solved every problem that’s come along.”
– Warren Buffett, quoted in a May 18 post by TKer blogger Sam Ro. Read more at bit.ly/4n9Uycw.
It only requires… perfection
“[G]etting out of stocks before a crash is only a fraction of what you need to do as a successful market timer. You have to be right about your economic forecast — when it will begin to take hold and when it will end. You also have to be correct about when and how the stock market, interest rates and other variables will respond. ‘You have at least four opportunities to get it wrong,’ says [money manager John] Montgomery, and ‘if you’re off by only a couple of months, that can destroy any chances of making money.’’’
– The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig, in a May 30 column about the difficulty of market timing. Read more at bit.ly/4kPhFYD.
It’s time for the talk
“Just like it was awkward for them to tell you about the birds and the bees, it’s going to be awkward for you to talk to them about finances. The sooner you do it, the better it is likely to go. You’ll have more time to correct a bad trajectory or at least to make changes in your own financial life that will allow you to help them when that bad trajectory results in its eventual outcome.”
– Dr. Jim Dahle, in a June 20 post on his blog The White Coat Investor, about the importance of talking with your aging parents about how they plan to navigate their financial future. Read more at bit.ly/445nn15.
