Wisdom for Money

How can the stock market do a great embarrassment to people? How does that happen? It can happen in a number of ways.

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• First of all, nobody knows how all the current events will work out. We don't know how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play out, and no one knows how the Iran war is ultimately going to play out. Our long-held investment policy has been that you cannot make a rational investment policy out of current events.

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• So, we aren't running your portfolio off of current events. More pointedly, we never react to them either. Unless your goals change, we don't alter the plan.

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• One of the reasons we don't alter the plan is because we never want to jeopardize participating in all of the management the companies are carrying out. The companies we own are now actively seeking to capitalize on every single development that's happening with everything from AI and even to issues pertaining to war. There will be winners and losers, but what we know over time is that there are more of the companies who win by their management of the various difficulties that occur over time. This is exactly why we stay so broadly diversified - and patient. Diversification and patience are two of the cardinal virtues of successful investing.

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• Clients following a long term plan are always encouraged to view market declines as an extraordinary opportunity to acquire shares of the great companies at bargain prices.

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• We also believe that, regardless of all the various things going on right now, that the capital markets are going to continue to price earnings and dividends like they have over the long term. It's through that pricing that it has provided investors a rate of return more than twice what fixed income holders receive.

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• This approach has been successful. How successful? No one who's followed the advice has failed. Zero. Nada. None. We've never had anybody who followed the advice fail to reach their destination with income and assets still intact. That's an extraordinary record. And because of our experience over the past 35 years, we anticipate that when this current chaotic time passes, there will be a future blessing to come as a result of this disciplined process.*

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We hope that our continued guidance through Wisdom for the Weekend is encouraging to you at times of such uncertainty like we face today. All of history, the key is to always tune out the noise and stand by your plan, period. All of history and logic confirm that in the long run, this has turned out to be the best advice.

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Thanks for reading,

Tim O'Connor