It’s been another whirlwind year that we can reflect on and learn from, and while such exercises can be derisively written off as water under the bridge, the fact is, recurring themes generally apply all the time.
Case in point, tonight I’m urging people to be safe and drink moderately. I’ll knock a couple back, but we hate the aftermath of too much alcohol. And yet tomorrow, thousands will wake up looking for that magic elixir to cure their hangover…
If you’re one of those with a throbbing hangover, you’ll get lots of advice to have…
- Water
- Sports Drinks
- Coffee
- Crackers
- Greasy Foods
- More Alcohol –known as hair of the dog
So, it might be smart to not over-indulge in the first place.
It’s the same concept with stocks; the key lesson is don’t panic, and yet it’s the main thing people do all the time. There are few investing experiences worse than selling a stock of a company you love only to see it soar (see Whirlpool - WHR) soon thereafter.
I spent far too much time this year telling people the market is more than the Fed; most have missed an opportunity of a lifetime, and by now pride and ego are keeping them from ever investing. Despite the challenges of minute to minute handholding, I love this job and I’m honored that you have faith in me. There are things I have to work on and things subscribers have to do better as well:
- Balanced portfolio – be in the winners when they become winners and don’t close too soon
- Doing more than one stock at a time or freezing during rough patches that ironically turn out to be the exact time that you should have been buying
- Loading up on some ideas and nibbling at others
I’m going to beef up my staff next year and work on communications as well (I don’t think anyone communicates better, but there is room for improvement).
Happy New Year and God bless!
Charles Payne
