We Are All People of Courage
March 3, 2020
Greetings all,
I think everyone knows that I don’t have a crystal ball, but just in case, I really don’t. The future will emerge out of the intentional will that is placed in the service of bettering our individual and collective lives. What I know, is that human creativity cannot be subdued: there is always a way forward.
All times are interesting times and the past few months have certainly, if nothing else, been interesting. We only have to look around the globe to see how much change is occurring, politically, economically, socially and spiritually. The river of life continues its flow through time and space. There is a lot happening that could drag our spirits into a downward spiral and the forces of ‘fear’ are hard at work seeking to do just that. But vision-inspired ‘hope’, supported by the courage to engage, have and always will, triumph. It may take time, perhaps longer than is comfortable, but triumph it will.
It is certainly not perfect and it is certainly not by any stretch of the imagination, better for everyone. The changes we seek as individuals will require time – more time perhaps than our current lives will allow for us to see. With every change that we initiate, we are planting acorns for future generations. Not every acorn will take root and not every sapling will become a tree. Storms, disease and you-name-it, will take their toll, but the trees that grow will be transformative. I know this, not because I have the crystal ball, for as you now know I don’t have one, but because I see and benefit from the Oak trees of today that were planted many years ago: the river of life continues its flow through time and space.
Our economy is strong and all leading economic indicators have been pointing to further strengthening not only here in the US, but also in Europe and emerging economies. And, so we might ask, why did the market drop so precipitously last week? What happened that fear gripped so many so quickly? I really don’t have an answer to that nor do I accept that anyone has at this point, but what I can say is that Monday’s positive market rally was based on investors who know that the fundamentals of our world economy are strong, while simultaneously also knowing that tomorrow or the next day fear may again raise its head. This is out of the recognition that an economy is comprised of the goods and services provided to support and improve the lives of billions of people worldwide.
We, the people, seek to improve our lives in many ways every day. Whether it is to provide shelter and a stable food supply for a growing family in an emerging economy such as Kenya or to shift from coal-fired electricity to a renewable source of electricity here in the US, we are all seeking to improve the quality of our collective lives. This will not be ground to a standstill due to a new virus such as the corona virus, or a new declaration of war such as just happened between Turkey and Syria. These are painful and will cause hardship and sorrow for many, but they are temporal. We can look to the SARS and MERS outbreaks for examples of how we as creative humans, respond. It may take time, but we will respond.
At the risk of overstating it, I don’t have a crystal ball and as such I cannot say that the current market downturn is over. Nor can I say that there will not be a slowdown in global or US economic growth as a result of the quarantines that are in place in efforts to contain the spread of the virus. What I can say though, is that this too will pass. Fear is the enemy of creativity – courage is the antidote. We are all people of courage.
And how does this relate to our portfolios you may well ask and my response is that we must stay focused on the horizon – our vision, the purpose for which we are invested. If we pull out of the market when it drops 10%, will we know when to get back in? If we sold last Friday, would we have known to get back in at 9:30am yesterday morning?
Our approach is to invest in high quality companies providing the needed goods and services to better the lot of all living on this planet. Those companies will continue to provide those goods and services even if the price of their stock drops 10% and it will not be long before their value is again recognized and the stock price is realigned to that value.
My advice to everyone I work with is to stay invested and ‘stay the course’. We are investors – investors in the future.
I welcome your calls and emails so please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any follow up questions you may have about your specific portfolio and financial plan.
I look forward to continuing our conversations,
Bernard
