Welcome Jager
It’s official. The Wagner Family has grown from 6 to 7. The newest addition is Jäger, our 9-week old Chinook puppy.
Walking a puppy on a leash is an adventure. Yesterday, Jäger reminded me of a great analogy from famed investment writer Ralph Wanger.
Ralph basically said that the stock market moves the same way a puppy moves on a leash.
I have done the same walk for years. Beginning at our home in Hilltown PA, meandering down our street, and ending at Walt’s dairy farm at the bottom of the hill.
Jäger has limitless energy and never walks in a straight line. He leaps randomly from one direction to the next, barks at other dogs, stops to smell every blade of grass, and decides to gnaw on my shoes without warning. I can never predict what he will do, or which way he will turn to try to veer off course.
But the whole time, I know we are headed northeast at about 3 miles per hour, toward the dairy farm, where we’ll eventually end up --- because that is where I am taking Jäger. Our direction over time is predictable, even if Jäger’s step-by-step movements are not.
“What is astonishing,” Wanger said, “is that almost all investors, big and small, seem to have their eye on the puppy, and not the owner.”
As you navigate your life as an investor, you will be happier and more successful if you pay more attention to the owner, and less to the puppy.
If someone you care about needs help with their financial planning or portfolio management, have them contact me. I will help them. Have a great rest of the week.
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