A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. -- Author Unknown
In the Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunity:
Most of the time common stocks are subject to irrational and excessive price fluctuations in both directions as the consequence of the ingrained tendency of most people to speculate or gamble... to give way to hope, fear and greed. -- Benjamin Graham
January 2012
Many of our clients have inquired about the lack of regular activity on this blog and the past posts that have been removed. For the uninitiated, we live in a world of regulation and laws which seem to compound ad nauseum with each new administration. New laws come onto the books and rarely do the old ones leave. The company with which we are currently affiliated handles our compliance, which is an interpretation of both the laws and industry regulations. Their guidelines for using this medium make it difficult for the dissemination of timely, relevant information and the archiving of the same. Many of the great and timely calls that we made regarding consumer savings and spending and their affect on the economy have now been deemed “outdated” because the events have already passed. I have also been informed that it would be a violation to mention individual equity issues by name and a host of other “challenges”.
In life, while complaining seems to have a somewhat cathartic effect, I believe it can also be cancerous in the long run. So, having offered a fully transparent explanation of the past, and exhaling… what of the future for this particular speck in cyberspace?
On a flight to Pensacola a few weeks ago, I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”. The book is a study in the outliers of success and the incremental differences that cause some to achieve more than others. One of Gladwell’s key findings is that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of ‘practice’ to achieve mastery in a given field. Having obtained well over 10,000 hours under my belt as an investor, I wanted to write a book for my children as they get older that will serve as a compendium of wisdom and observations that will hopefully prove useful should they decide to someday manage my firm. This will be the workspace for the draft copy.
For the reasons pointed out in the first paragraph, any charts posted for illustration online will have the ticker and company name removed and I’ll do my best not to discuss current events in such a way that the posts aren’t being removed at the end of every year as they have been in the past. Reader comments have been turned off, but if you call or email me directly, I’ll respond to all comments.
-Shane
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