Sometimes a lack of creativity will steal over you, and your output will come to a halt. That’s what has happened to me over the past few weeks. We went back to the office, then we were traveling, then my whole family got COVID, then work got busy and I started studying for some regulatory exams. I started this newsletter as a pandemic project because I had all the time I wasn’t spending on a commute and the day-to-day office interactions to think more creatively and put my thoughts down in pixels. Certainly, the depressing state world affairs has played a role as well. It’s hard to think too hard about topics of personal finance when Ukrainians are being bombed out of their homes for no reason other than one madman’s caprice.
Your advice in a downturn/correction seems right to me. In the 2008-9 fiasco I sold nothing. In 2020 I sold a little for liquidity reasons, holding enough cash to live on for a year if we had to, since we were staring at a COVID crisis, a tipping point election, and war in Europe. I've since re-invested about half of that cash. In 2008 I only called my broker once announcing that I needed some "handholding." Emphatically and slowly that broker reminded, "You don't need the money" as a rationale against panic. The advice proved correct. I like your occasional columns, Anders.
Your advice in a downturn/correction seems right to me. In the 2008-9 fiasco I sold nothing. In 2020 I sold a little for liquidity reasons, holding enough cash to live on for a year if we had to, since we were staring at a COVID crisis, a tipping point election, and war in Europe. I've since re-invested about half of that cash. In 2008 I only called my broker once announcing that I needed some "handholding." Emphatically and slowly that broker reminded, "You don't need the money" as a rationale against panic. The advice proved correct. I like your occasional columns, Anders.
Please keep writing, and do it frequently. You have a sensible POV that I like to share with others.