It's A Crazy World Out There

      Its no time to be in stocks and bonds. There will be rapid inflation, and politicians, of both parties have totally screwed us over and forgotten about us. These are some if nit all of the things that advisors are telling their clients. Advising their clients to hold gold, real estate, art, or some other non-income producing asset. I wonder do these advisors take heed to their own advice, or perhaps the advice if THEIR advisor, who says the same thing. If so, then things are crazier than I first believed.
      There is 24 hour news, 24 hour trading, 7 days a week commentary, and yet, 95% or more of mutual funds do not beat the market averages. The even crazier part is that there are trillions of dollars in between mutual funds, index funds, and exchange traded funds, and not only are the institutions content with less than stellar returns, but so are the millions of retail customers of brokers. This truly is a crazy world.
      There are a few people that stand out from this crowd however. Not only do they stand out, but they also stand alert from each other most of the time. They are called value investors. There is dispute about the true definition of value investing. There is even dispute about the correct technique, or some other detail. However, these people speak with one voice, loudly, when they say that a value investor is someone who looks at securities as parts of a business. They speak resolutely when they say that they do not follow the market, that it's to be used and not obeyed. They speak definitively when they say that they will buy a business for so much less than they think it is worth, that they'll still make out ahead.
      What I find to be MOST crazy is that there are not many in this crowd. Some people can understand, grasp, and jump on board with value investing, most van not. I am glad to say that I am one of those that can. There are great ones and up and coming ones. There are mentors and guiders, then there are leaders and great thinkers. Value investing is mostly sound business analysis, and then business buying, sometimes wholly most times fractionally. But always with rationale, intelligence, and cleat thinking. I wish that I could say things are easy being a value investor, but I can only spay it's simple. I also wish I could say that value investing made sense to everyone, but I can only say that it's a crazy world out there...so glad I'm not a part of it.