For a long time in my late 20’s, I carried around a number of quotes on a little sheet of paper in my wallet. There was one from my dad about the fact that if I ever got arrested for drugs, he’s never bail me out of jail. That one always made me laugh. There was one from my mom that she’s drilled into my head since I was old enough to read.
“Never do anything you wouldn’t want your mom to read about in the morning papers.”
This one seemed to work in tandem with my dad’s quote because if I got arrested in a big drug deal gone bad that made the morning paper, not only would my mom be extremely disappointed in my behavior but I’d have a long time to think about where it all went wrong because my dad would let me rot in jail.
There were a few other quotes on that page. Something from Maya Angelou. A John Lennon. Malcolm X was in there somewhere. And this from teh grandmaster of investing himself.
“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” — Warren Buffet
Right now, I’m pretty sure everyone is fearful. I know I am. Every time I look up, the stock market is losing money. My money! And your money. Tech. Financials. Pharma. Energy. Even military defense stocks are losing money and the war is one of the reasons why we’re in this mess in the first place. And yet somewhere deep down in my soul I know that now is also a great time to be investing.
I have no idea where the bottom of this market will be. No one does. All I can do is stick to my basic rules:
- Don’t sell anything. I hate taking losses, even if those losses grow daily. Now is the worst time to sell anything. Just hold on for dear life.
- Try to invest the same amount of disposable income every month into an Index Fund. It’s boring. It’s annoying. And I’m not saying I always do it. But I’m trying. I swear I am.
- Find a few good companies that have been beaten down and invest in em. SHOP, TWLO, TEAM, INTU are but a few of the great businesses that have been beaten down in this market. Now seems like a great time to double down on the names you love the most.
Last week I bought more shares of Shopify at $527 and I’ve already lost nearly 20%. If I loved the stock at $527, shouldn’t I love it more at $426? I’m trying to be greedy when others (and me) are fearful. It’s just really, really hard.
