Amongst all the market volatility, it’s important to ask the really important questions:
God, what’s my purpose?
Why am I here?
Do you hear my prayers about Facebook going to 150 this year?
Are Sasquatches real?
I think I can say with conviction that I have never seen a 100% authentic Sasquatch. God doesn’t mention Sasquatches in the Bible and I have yet to meet anyone that could pass a drug test that has seen one. Yet the world holds out hope that perhaps Sasquatches exist…
While Sasquatches may be the stuff of legend, a far more common fairy tale is the belief in an investor that will get you 20%-plus returns every year and just sits around waiting for your call. Like all rumors, they are fueled because we look back at financial heroes and jealously wish we had been their college roommates.
We ignore the fine print like their 2-20 fee structures and requirement of a last name like Rothschild to invest. We assume that if they can have one year or trade create a 300% return, we can too.
Those that know me know that I’m prone to get really competitive. So if Peter Lynch averaged 29% return for 13 years then that’s what I’m going for. Disregard the fact that I occasionally have the risk tolerance of a bed-wetting 10-year old at a Six-Flags Theme Park. If Peter Lynch set the bar, then I’m looking at the bar. China’s slowdown, a 7-year bull market, and Saudi Arabia running out of money be darned!
Post GFC, it was pretty easy to feel like you could reach the bar. As long as you had half a brain and were diversified, there were a couple of years that were actually difficult to screw up. As we stretch into the late innings of this bull market, it’s easy to take for granted the market moving forward like a Jamaican sprinter, especially after the bottom of 2009.
Anyways, this year I’m committed to getting better, and being a more patient investor. (In addition to learning that golf is just a game and surfing is just for fun). While it’s getting easier to laugh at blowing a 2-foot putt, 2015 tested my patience with seeing flat returns or even worse…RED. While I’m excited about 2016 and what the New Year plans to bring, my resolution is to better handle this volatility. I don’t know how Peter Lynch would have handled 2015 but I do know that he probably would have been on the lower end of his 29% average. That helps me sleep better.
Until next time…
Jonathan Chesner 