Say Anything Blog

My sense here on the street (wall st, that is) is that people aren’t terribly worried about anything but the short term.  The market fundamentals are basically sound, and equities are still modestly valued by historical measures.  Stronger, the problems lie with the back office (the reinsurers, eg) rather than the securities themselves, which opens a space for the volatility to be profitably exploited.

I turned on the radio this afternoon, and everybody was going crazy about the 400+ drop, and only mentioned as a footnote that it had recovered too what was then an 88 point drop.

Markets tend to fluctuate; who knew?
Make the tax cuts permanent; markets hate uncertainty.

Let’s see my 401K is worth a good deal less than it was this time last year, despite the fact that I’ve still been paying into it all year long…

The options they gave me 3 years ago are now worth less than a buck apeice…

And the bonus we’ve all come to know and love has just been cancelled.

Yeah, if I were my boss I’d fire me and hire an Indian.

[Feet make good soup!]

Marty:

A) Your 401k is a retirement account.  Unless you’re planning to withdraw your money soon, you don’t have much to worry about.  If you are planning on withdrawing soon, perhaps you should have moved your funds to less volatile investments.

B) My retirement plan returned 8.5% over the last year.  Perhaps you need to re-think your investment strategy.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT CAUSED RECESSION AND INFLATION

The tyrannical Neo-Con and Neo-Lib dominated government must start paying for the un-constitutional Iraq War, and the subprime mortgage lending and stock trading scam, by printing billions of dollars; thereby subjecting the government betrayed American People to systematic ruinous recession and inflation.

Rob, send me the list of funds you’re in.  Mine clearly suck!

[Feet make good soup!]

I hope you are correct.  I am well diversified and have lost 10 points in the last six weeks...corrections do occur.  Time will tell.

I am not sure which economy is doing so well, certainly not mine.  hmmmm I can turn on fox news and have them tell what a good job this admin. is doind...or I can turn on CNN and hear how the country is going to hell in a handbasket...CBC and listen to the Canadians laugh...or CSPAN and listen to the house of commons tout their economy and low inflation as compared to the US…

You know, you could walk up to a guy with a great house, great job and a great life and ask him how the economy is going and he’d probably say “Oh, things are awful!”

Bitching about the economy is a national pastime.  There are some people who just won’t admit that, historically speaking, we’re in a golden era.

Rob, send me the list of funds you’re in.  Mine clearly suck!

My investment secrets are my own, thank you very much, but here’s a hint: Booze, tobacco, oil and pharmaceuticals.  No matter what happens, Americans will always love to drink, smoke and drive around in their big-ass cars.

Plus, we all get sick now and then.

I’m recession proof.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

I’m recession proof.

LOL!

Marty before you take any of Rob’s free advice (you get what you pay for) I would like to point a few things.

1. Rob thinks a home is an investment
2. Buying Mutual Funds and Stocks is “Saving”
3. Rob couldn’t even name the Seven Asset Classes
4. Rob is like 26 or 27 and has never lived in a Bear Market so he doen’t know what one looks like
5. I could go on..

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

Rob thinks a home is an investment

Troy...thinks it isn’t?  My home has certainly gone up in value, and real estate is an investment a lot of people make.

By the way Troy, which 7 businesses did you say you own again?  Or are you ready to go ahead and admit that you’re a liar?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

3. Rob couldn’t even name the Seven Asset Classes

When was I asked again?  In your imaginary world where you own seven businesses and don’t really live in your mom’s basement?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

When was I asked again?

I am asking now. What are they Rob?

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

My home has certainly gone up in value,

As measured by what? Dollars?  Investors look to increase their purchasing power; not solely the nominal value of the underlying asset.

B) My retirement plan returned 8.5% over the last year.  Perhaps you need to re-think your investment strategy.

More ignorance displayed here.  I am willing to bet the 8.5% “return” you quote is stock appreciation vs. an actural dividend.  Lack of investing fundamentals is what you are displaying.

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

I reinvested my 8.5% return, but certainly I could have taken the profits.

But whatever.  I don’t need to convince retards on the internet of the soundness of my investments.  I’ll go on profiting, you’ll go on being stupid.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

So you don’t know the seven asset classes.  It’s page one of investing 101.

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

Troy,

I’m curious.  Why would do you think that knowing some academic’s arbitrary designation of asset “classes” would make someone, anyone, a more savvy and more successful investor?

I’ve read quite a few books on Warren Buffett, for example, and his Berkshire Hathaway.  Even wrote a pretty lengthy paper on him many years ago, back when I too lived in Omaha.  And I don’t recall anything about Mr. Buffett’s use of seven specific “classes” of assets, nor do I recall any suggestion that the oversight has in any way diminished his success as an investor.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Mr. Buffett’s use of seven specific “classes” of assets, nor do I recall any suggestion that the oversight has in any way diminished his success as an investor.

I agree, but if Warren was asked he could still answer the question.  Basically this an open book quiz and Rob won’t answer.  The paradigm in modern investing is that people spew the broker selling points as financial pearls of wisdom.

1.  The stock market always goes up.
2.  A HOME is an investment. How many homes does Buffet have?
3.  Investing in the stock market is the same as savings. Stocks and Saving are both investments but different asset classes.  They represent a different portfolio.
4.  A 401(k)/IRA are nifty retirement tools.  Do you think Buffet has one? 

One of the reasons Warren is so successful as an investor is because of misconceptions like these in the marketplace, and even within his own industry.

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

I agree, but if Warren was asked he could still answer the question.

Troy,

This is mere conjecture… and you know it.  Mr. Buffett’s success is based on the simple idea of understanding the businesses in which he invests, and not on an arbitrary designation of asset “classes” ... the importance of which you’ve still not detailed.

I mention this because there are plenty of people who do very handsomely while ignoring all the academic shiboleths and financial planning folderal, and instead restrict their investments to exactly those areas where they are knowledgeable, be that stocks, real estate, commodities, options, whatever.

Being able to recite those 7 categories you mention is nice, I guess.  But no more so than being able to sign your name with either hand, juggle 4 tennis balls at once, or swear in Swahili.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”