Messages

Some of the most valuable things one learns in middle school are learned on the playground, in the lunchroom, or in my case, on the bus. I rode bus #4 to school and one morning, we made a new stop. Enter a new kid in town.

She was about my age with bright red hair, freckles, and beaming smile. The bus grew quiet, and all the boys sat straighter in their seats as she made her way down the aisle. Maybe it was luck but for reasons still unknown, she sat down by me.

We became friends immediately and for weeks, rode to and from school together. It was the first time I paid attention to girls at all. Alas, however, we will never know how this middle-school infatuation could have ended. You see, others on Bus 4 had an interest in my friend. It took a while but over time a classmate convinced me that she wasn’t my type. The next morning, she walked right by me, on her way to sit with him. I was talked into walking away from a very good thing.

Today, we are constantly bombarded with messages carefully orchestrated to influence behavior. You have likely seen gold pitched from the deck of a flag-draped decommissioned battleship and reverse mortgages hawked by fading actors sitting on your grandma’s couch. My favorite is the money manager who constantly advertises with the tagline, “We’re Fiduciaries”. Of course they are fiduciaries—that is a term describing the standards of conduct and behavior for the bulk of our industry today. I hope they didn’t pay too much to the marketing person who came up with that idea!

This bear market is starting to show its grey hair which is exactly when it can be most damaging to individual investors. Emotions rise to match blood pressure and there is a tendency to look for relief by seeking alternatives to the stock market. Marketers know this and have kicked their efforts into high gear. My counsel, don’t listen to kids on the school bus, stay off decommissioned battleships, and away from aging actors.

Any opinions are those of Nathan Clakley and not necessarily those of Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected.