Quite often we seem to get “accused” of playing only very short term trades, and ignoring the longer term holds. To a certain extent that’s true. Not because we have anything against long term holds, in fact we have several of them in place as we speak. No, the reason we haven’t been focusing on longer term holds lately, is precisely what we saw happen in February.

 

The “correction” that hit in February was the single fastest drop of 10% the market’s really ever seen, and it was obscenely overdue. If you look back at the history of the DOW, what you often see is that somewhere between 8,9, or 10 years into a rising market, it changes direction. Sometimes it’s a simple correction, and sometimes it’s a crash.

 

At the bottom of every letter, there’s a “donate” button. I put it there about a year ago, because we had folks over the years that tell us “we don’t do any investing, but I like reading your letters, is there any way I can toss you a few bucks?”   

Well this week I got notice of a donation, and figured it had to be a mistake. I’m not talking thousands, but it was quite large, and I contacted the donor. I said thank you for the donation, but surely you made a mistake. He said there was no mistake, and that he has enjoyed our letters and wanted to help keep them coming.  But what got me all emotional was when he said he forwards my letters to his daughters, because he thinks some of them are important enough that he wants them to read it.  

 

I’ve said this a few times in various newsletters of the past.  The fact is, that your entire existence is reliant on other people. Without the drilling, there’s no oil, no gas. Without the electric company, there’s no power. Without the farmers, there’s no food. Without the town/county most would have no water. On and on it goes. Where would you get rope or a rubber band, or a piece of wire, or a new knife, if “someone else” didn’t make it? While you seem to be independent, you are connected to the system at the hip.  We’re like one huge organism, and each part of it interacts with other parts to keep the whole thing alive.