Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Disclosure

  • Home
  • Your Survival
    • EMP Threat
    • Tucker Explains
    • Newport Gas Outage
    • Water
      • Emergency Water Storage
      • Let There Be Water
    • Get Your Gun and Your Training Now
    • Satellite Phones
    • Navy SEAL Survival Kit
  • Your Money
    • Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • Looking for a Better America
    • You Invest, They Win
    • Where to Keep Your Cash
    • Paris
    • How to Buy a Boat
    • Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing
    • Is Vanguard too Big?
    • Cryptocosm and Life After Google
    • The Last Intelligence Report
    • The Truth Behind the S&P 500
    • RAGE Gauge
    • How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?
    • Your Retirement Life
    • You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life
  • Weapons
    • Self Defense
    • Every Family Should Own at Least One Shotgun: Here Are Three
  • About Me
    • Preparing for Times Like These
    • My Videos/Pics
    • Music
      • RIP Neil Peart: You Will Always Be Remembered as a “Modern-Day Warrior”
  • You
    • Our Cabin on Kodiak, Alaska
    • If You Are in Pain, this May Help. It Helped Me.
    • How to Save for a Grandchild
    • FIRE! Financial Independence, Retire Early
    • Compound Interest
    • Arithmetic of Portfolio Losses
    • Maximum Portfolio Withdrawal Rate
    • An Efficient Frontier
    • Retirement Compounders
    • Counterbalanced Total Returns
  • Survive & Thrive
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • Welcome

Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part XV

March 19, 2020 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

You’ll recall it wasn’t too long ago that investing legends Warren Buffett, Jack Bogle, and my father in law Dick Young were calling for a prolonged period of reduced returns. Not only for the stock market but for bonds, as Dick Young’s North Star was scraping the bottom of the charts as if it had fallen out of the sky.

At the time, Dick Young wasn’t predicting a pandemic like the coronavirus, he was simply studying what was in front of him just like he does today, and concluding that it looked pretty darn ugly.

You see, when the risk-free rate of return costs you money (after inflation and taxes), it’s telling you something about the investment landscape: You had better be paying attention.

But after a ten-year bull market in stocks, investors lost sight of how hard investing actually is. Now they’re wringing their sanitized hands wondering how this could happen to them.

When Dick Young’s North Star is yielding zero, and investors are looking for the market to do something for them, bad stuff can happen. Whether it’s a virus or some other risk, investors shouldn’t rely on the theory that the market will save them.

When they do, and things turn south, it becomes a free-for-all as investors who should have never been in stocks, panic, and sell them.

And I’m not talking about the blue-chip dividend payers we cultivate for our clients.

No, that was too boring for the hand-wringers (I know because they told me). They were buying the “next big thing.”

And so here we are as they blame a virus for their portfolio shortcomings.

Hey, investing isn’t supposed to be easy.

Did I predict this virus? No, but I know investing is hard.

Are we near the bottom?

We’ll be at the bottom when the selling stops and investors wake up to the values staring back at them.

But understanding values is easy compared to understanding an investor’s psyche. That’s many times more difficult.

Because it’s the irrational investor who’s always a danger to the prudent one.

Before I was born, my dad was one of the most successful Fuller Brush salesmen in the area.

All of his valued customers knew his name, and he certainly knew theirs. They were buying his products by the carload every single week.

After his visits and talking about life and the problems of the day they would say, “Thanks for stopping by Randy, it was great to catch-up with you.” And before leaving, he would ask, “the usual order this week?” And his customer would always say, “Oh, I almost forgot, yes, thanks Randy, same as last week.”

He knew his customers like family.

And to me, that’s what investing is all about.

It’s understanding yourself, like you know your family, investing accordingly, and then getting on with your day.

It’s not about letting markets ruin your day, even if that’s all you can think about while you’re stuck inside.

The sun will come out again. Maybe not tomorrow. And you’ll be able to go about your life. Maybe in a different way than in the past, but isn’t that life? Of course, it is. Things change. Life goes on.

Read my entire series, Coronavirus Infects Stock Market here.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

  • A President Speaks: “Hard Work Never Killed Anybody” - January 20, 2021
  • I’ve Been in Richard Young’s Maximizers for Years - January 20, 2021
  • Smith Family Robinson in Live Free or Die, NH - January 19, 2021
  • Are $2,000 Checks Going to Rebuild NYC? - January 15, 2021
  • The Fed is Sacrificing Retirees to Save the Banks - January 15, 2021

If you enjoyed this post, email it to a friend:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp

Related Posts

Trending

  • H2O, Skiing, Hiding A$$ET$, Bitcoin, Ammo & More
  • There's Always a Way Forward for Americans Like YOU
  • America 2022: Time to Take Back What's Ours
  • What Living in Two Americas Looks Like Today
  • Why Buying Bonds Matters in Times Like These
  • Great Reset, Swiss Way, and Living YOUR WAY
  • How Are You Doing on a Local Level?
  • Stocks: Are You Sticking Your Neck Out Too Far?
  • February RAGE Gauge: Americans Focusing on What's In Front of Them
  • Tucker Explains: Who Is Biden Nominee Kristen Clarke?

YOUR SURVIVAL GUY MUST READS

  • LA Bureaucrats Told to Back Off Unscientific Shutdown of Outdoor Dining
  • Happy New Year from Your Survival Guy
  • It’s Never a Bad Time to Downsize Your Home
  • Navy SEAL Hell Week: “You Come SEE ME FIRST and We’ll ALL Get Through This TOGETHER”
  • People Under 20 Have Basically Zero Risk of Dying from COVID-19
  • How Low Rates Can Be a Killer
  • Biden Seeking to Turn 401(k)s Into a Wealth Redistribution Scheme
  • Friday Night Shoot with My Kids
  • Greetings from Newport on This Beautiful November Morning
  • One of My Favorite Quotes for You this Easter
Only if You’re Serious
Only if You’re Serious
Only if You’re Serious
Escape the City
Smith Family Robinson
Only if You’re Serious
Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
See Who's Missing the Boat
You Invest, They Win
Emergency Water Storage
Emergency Water Storage
Emergency Water Storage
Why Fidelity is Number One

Copyright © 2021 | Terms & Conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.