A View from the Top of the Coaster

This look like fun to you?  Do you like roller coasters? I can tell you my kids and wife enjoy them.  However, it’s definitely not my thing.  I’ll be the guy watching and checking his work emails as you wait in line for hours for that 45-second thrill ride.  It’s ok, it’s part of what makes us all different. In reflecting as to why I don’t care for them, I really don’t think it’s the quick takeoffs, dips, and lateral movements, but rather the lack of control.  I don’t like being in the back of the bus either and as you probably suspect already, don’t make a great passenger or traveler when I don’t have a say in what we are doing…  Yep, firstborn, “type A”.          

Anyway, what’s that got to do with anything you may be asking?  Well, ironically enough I think roller coasters are a pretty good analogy for how it is to be an investor in the markets.  I will very often tell clients if you look at the roller coaster from the ground and say YEAH! I’m getting on that – Ok, you’ll likely have the discipline to stay the course.  If you look and say – Um, NO WAY – well, then perhaps you and I need to go on to some other ride… Yes, you have to be ok with the ups and downs.  Note I did not say you have to like them – who likes looking at negatives in their portfolio – you mean investments don’t always just go UP UP UP?  

When you get on the ride, you know the dips are coming, you just don’t always know when.  You also don’t know how it’s going to feel until you are in the dip.  Perhaps they are already here. Some handle it well.  Others – not so much.  Those who love it get off the ride and say – I want to go again.  

What type are you?  

If you don’t know, you will.  I’ve been investing through many market ups and downs since I started magii in 1999.  Have I told you I don’t like roller coasters?  Yeah, advisors are human too.

My daughter, who is now 10, still has some fears of the dark.  One of the things my wife and I tell her is that there is nothing there in the dark that’s not there in the light.  Be brave (sure, easy to say right) – do you remember your childhood fears?  We further explain, just like how people say that police or firemen are brave…. you cannot be brave if you are not afraid.  Which means our heroes are afraid too.  Being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of.  It doesn’t make you less of anything.  

Now that we are all sharing, a fear I have as I write this morning is that many investors, seeing how “easy” it’s been (always looks easy from the outside doesn’t it) to make money in the markets have chosen to go it alone – with no advisor.  That may seem like a self-serving comment, and it is, but for a reason – a good advisor lets you know what the rides going to be like – for they have been on it before – we can help a client reel in their emotional reaction to something that is not emotional and put logic to a plan.  We can tell you that which you need to hear and not on that which you want to hear.  Just like a good friend should do – being honest and candid about it.  

Know that to be a good and successful investor, you have to be OK in getting and staying on the ride.  That’s part of the (unfortunate) process and although no one likes the ups and downs in their portfolio – Capitalism. Does. Work.  The right investments can have a way of finding solutions to challenges and making us all money for investing in and with them.  

Know that we have built each of your accounts and positions with the idea and understanding of your unique needs and the inevitable cycles that come from investing.  

We don’t know when the dip will come (perhaps it’s already here), how long it will last, nor how quickly it will recover.  Markets will continue to go on.

As always, thank you for the trust and confidence you have placed in me and our team at magii.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Buckle up, hold on and try to enjoy the ride. 

In partnership,
Mark