Market Thoughts and Words of Wisdom Part 2

I’m going to make a few quick comments on the markets then I’m going to finish up with part two of Words of Wisdom.

The stock market just hit alltime highs…40000 on the Dow. And yet there is concern about the economy.

You might think with the Dow index at this level, that the economy is doing great. But like anything else the answer depends on who you ask.

If you talk with someone whose house is paid off, no mortgage, money in the bank, income higher than expenses they will probably tell you the economy is just fine. But ask someone with a high mortgage payment, who is struggling with food cost inflation while filling up their gas tank and worried about getting layed off, they might have a different opinion of how well the economy is doing.

The truth is that the stock market and the economy are two different things. You don’t want to mix ‘em up.

When you read the financial news it seems like the only thing that matters is when the Fed is going to cut interest rates.

Business can adjust to the current interest rate market and the economy isn’t going to crater with 5% rates. I’d be fine with the Fed just leaving rates where they are now. On the other hand, I wouldn’t like to see them raise rates. I think we’re good.

Inflation is a big concern…war is inflationary so while all these conflicts rage it’s unlikely that peace is going to break out any time soon so don’t think inflation is going away anytime soon.

And during inflationary times, you want to own things. That means don’t be scared into selling the quality assets you own because of volatility that is already inherent in the financial markets. That’s not going away either. If I’ve said this once I’ve said it 50 times…the way to reduce volatility in the markets is to not look so often. Believe it, that plan of action is effective.

The ride it is long…so let’s all buckle up.

OK, words of wisdom, part II.

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s game. —Babe Ruth

The best way to predict the future is to create it. —Abraham Lincoln

Be yourself, everyone else is already taken. —Oscar Wilde

There’s a crack in everything, that how the light gets in. —Leonard Cohen

This is for a child: You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes you can steer yourself in any way that you choose. —Dr. Seuss

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life…it goes on. —Robert Frost

What gets us in trouble is not what we don’t know, what gets us in trouble is what we know for sure that just ain’t so. —Mark Twain

Every man is a fool at least 5 minutes every day…wisdom consists of not exceeding that limit. —Elbert Hubbard

Most arguments are not really about the argument so most arguments can’t be won by arguing. —Kevin Kelly

Holding on to your anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die…I don’t know who said that but it is pretty heavy.

My favorite of all time:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt