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
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • 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

“Five Decades Later Writing to You from Old Town, Key West”-Dick Young

November 2, 2020 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Alex Berger @ Shutterstock.com

“Well, writing to you now, five decades later, from our outside kitchen/living space in the heart of Old Town, Key West, I can’t help but think how much water has gone under the bridge through the many decades,” wrote Dick Young to you in the June 2017 issue of Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. “But if you have been with me over the years, you are keenly aware that it is indeed the combination of dividends, compound interest, perspective and patience that frames the message I deliver to you month after month. I do not change course. You can count on it.”

Dick Continues:

My Decades with Wellington Management

Think of all I have learned and how much I know today that I did not know even a decade ago. In fact, my age today may be one of the greatest assets I offer you. After all, how many investment strategists can say they have 53 years of experience and go back to 1971 with Wellington Management (Wellesley, Wellington, GNMA) and Fidelity Investments? For decades, these have been my featured fund groups, and Fidelity is my management firm’s custodian.

Back to Monterey and Woodstock

I’ve been developing investment strategies for investors like you before The Association kicked off the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival with “Along Comes Mary” or Richie Havens opened Woodstock in August 1969. I started soon after John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas in November 1963, and even before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in April 1968. That’s a long time ago. The ‘60s was of course a seminal decade in American history. Key events, including the difficult investment environment of the ‘60s, seem like yesterday.

My 1964 Beginning

I’ve put together a display that tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average through the decades. When I entered the securities business in the summer of 1964 (with Ed Rosenberg, Clayton Securities), I had no way of knowing that during my complete career in the Boston investment community, which ended in 1981, the Dow would end lower than when I began. How would you have liked to have retired in 1964 and faced a 16-year Dow downer? Talk about retirement financial hell.

As my display indicates, the decade of the ‘60s provided a sad annual average return (ex-dividends) of only 1.65%. Moreover, the 1970s were set to be even worse. When the curtain came down on this miserable decade, investors had scored an average return of only 0.5% (before dividends). Thankfully for conservative investors today, as has been the case well before the ‘60s and ‘70s, dividends remain the name of the game.

Ben Graham’s Powerful Investment Advice

With my first reading of Security Analysis by Ben Graham in 1963, I climbed on the dividend bandwagon. Today, it’s still my most powerful investment influence. Ben was Mr. Dividends. I became attached to the concept before I landed at Clayton Securities at 147 Milk St. in Boston’s financial district. As early as 1964, I knew I would concentrate on dividends throughout my investment career.

Last week I told you that I received this message from a client:

EJ, it was great talking to you yesterday. While doing a little reading last night I came across a quote I thought you might like. The Old Testament book of Proverbs was compiled by King Solomon who many consider to be the wisest person ever. So I looked this up and I think Ben Graham and Warren Buffet and Dick Young are in good company, at least philosophically. The quote is from the book of Proverbs chapter 21 verse 5. “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty .“ Sounds like Solomon would have made a great financial adviser like the aforementioned men. Now I need a quote on how to handle a Pandemic and a contentious election and an anxious wife in a darkening Winter. I may not need Solomon just a little more Basil Hayden (bourbon). Take Care and Thanks.

In the September 2015 issue of Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report, Dick Young wrote:

The Prudent Man Rule is based on common law stemming from the 1830 Massachusetts court formulation Harvard College v. Amory. The Prudent Man Rule directs trustees “to observe how men of prudence, discretion and intelligence manage their own affairs, not in regard to speculation, but in regard to the permanent disposition of their funds, considering the probable income, as well as the probable safety of the capital invested.”

Since I started our family investment management firm in 1989, I have operated under the assumption that the Prudent Man Rule to this day carries as much weight as it did in 1830. Common sense and prudence just don’t go out of style—ever.

Action Line: For time eternal, successful investors plod to everlasting prosperity while speculators have been condemned to poverty. You know which way you want to go. Allow us to show you how.

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)

  • Be Dangerous: Biden’s Progressive Puppeteers’ E.O. Gun Grab - April 9, 2021
  • It’s as Simple as 4%? No, Not Anymore - April 9, 2021
  • One Word Explains the Worth of Your Neighbors’ House - April 8, 2021
  • Your Survival Guy Stock: Witness This Dividend Miracle - April 7, 2021
  • Why Your Life Before COVID Isn’t Coming Back - April 6, 2021

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

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

Related Posts

Trending

  • Biden Tax Hikes: I’m Here to Help, But Only if You’re Serious
  • Be Dangerous: Biden’s Progressive Puppeteers’ E.O. Gun Grab
  • One Word Explains the Worth of Your Neighbors’ House
  • Constitutional Carry: Another State Chooses Second Amendment Freedom
  • Biden Prepares First Wave of Assault on Second Amendment With Executive Orders
  • April RAGE Gauge: Are Your Bond Funds Dead or Alive?
  • You Need To Be Dangerous: Democrats Want You Harmless
  • You're Telling Me Friends Ask You This Question
  • Your Survival Guy Stock: Witness This Dividend Miracle
  • It’s as Simple as 4%? No, Not Anymore

YOUR SURVIVAL GUY MUST READS

  • A Tax Saving, Money Making, Idea for Your Grandchildren
  • Joe Biden: Forgetful Yes, Forgotten, Not So Much
  • Tucker Explains: Chinese Intel Op Targeted Democratic Politicians Including Eric Swalwell
  • ESG Funds: You Invest, They Win—Here’s Why
  • Buying Time When You Need to Flee
  • What if You Don’t Have to Cut the Cord to Pay Less?
  • Who Wants to Live the Island Life? You Do: Part II
  • One Simple Way to Help Your Finances in Times Like These
  • Robinhood’s Not Coming to Save You
  • Meet Russia’s Terrifying BMPT-72 “Terminator”
Only if You’re Serious
Second Amendment
See Who's Missing the Boat
Find Freedom in America
Great Reset
Financial Independence, Retire Early
Richard  Young Reports
Why Fidelity is Number One
The Best States for Survival
Pandemic Creates Virtual Panopticon
Emergency Water Storage
You Invest, They Win
Escape the City
How You Can Save Money for Your Grandchild
Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
Money 101
Island Life
Smith Family Robinson

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.