| I found a touching article written by Ben Stein, a columnist at Finance Yahoo! Enjoy.
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Lately, an analogy has
occurred to me that sums up just what I mean. We old guys (I'm 61) are
fond of saying, "If only we knew then what we know now, we could
have...." You can fill in the blanks: dated the cheerleader, bought
stock at IBM at its low, bought Google at 60.
If the recession comes or even seems to be coming, it will lower
interest rates and the stock market, and provide a buying opportunity
for stocks and for real estate.
The savvy investor wants to
buy low. If a recession gives him or her that chance, they should go
for it. The data is overwhelmingly powerful that when you buy at the
low point on the economic cycle, you make more than if you buy when
things are rosiest.
So, to me, it looks as if no recession is
coming. Certainly the stock market would bear that out as well. But if
the market tanks, that's not the time to panic -- that's the time to
buy. Buy when the boys and girls on CNBC are at their most gloomy, not
when they're cheerful. Buy on the sounds of muffled drums and mourning
about the market, and hold on even when you get scared.
The
good news -- again with the good news -- is that if you do that, you'll
wind up practicing your backswing and your mah-jong instead of
exercising your fear when you get to retirement age.
A Fine Mess
But the truth is that we
already do know something vital we can use to good effect in our later
life: We know that if we don't have money when we're older and are
unable to work, we're well and truly in a pickle.
We also
know that the government isn't going to be able to bail us out. We know
that working conditions are getting ever more difficult as a result of
Far Eastern competition and the competition of low-wage immigrants.
All of this, every bit of it, tells us we need to do just two simple things: save like a banshee and invest wisely.
The Real Payoff
All the time, day and night. And I usually sit next to men and women who are also traveling frequently.
Would
you like to know what we talk about when we take our snoots out of the
Wall Street Journal? We talk about our families and how much we miss
them. We talk about how tired we are, but also how happy we are just to
be supporting our loved ones.
If Pat Robertson and James
Dobson or the other backers of family values could hear how strong the
love of family is among business travelers, I think they'd be very
moved indeed. Those men and women with bulging briefcases and laptops
loaded with PowerPoint presentations are mostly thinking about how much
they just want to be sitting quietly at home with their wives and
hubbies and kids and dogs and cats.
If that's what you want
to be doing when you get older, buy stocks and bonds, carefully
selected variable annuities, and real estate now. Then, someday soon,
you'll be out of the middle seat and by the fire with the people you
love -- that's the real payoff. |
