Sometimes it's just crappy

I decided to let you in on more of the not so glorious side of what I do. I've been in the business of working with people on their financial planning and future for over 14 years now. Sometimes things not in your control make people loose money. It is a very difficult thing when people loose money. It pains me. It crushes me. But I can't let it destroy me, otherwise I would have to re-recruit myself back into the business everyday. In that way, I'm probably a little bit like a detective, sometimes things don't end up the way you want them to and if you let it get to you too much you wont come back to work.

Take, for example, your clients whom you have been working with since you started in the business. One of your oldest clients, who loves you like a grandson, or so you think. And you invest their money in something that has proven a safe-haven for many, many years. And one day you wake up and the government has decided they are not going to pay interest on that investment and it goes to almost zero, literally, in one day. After talking and talking and talking and more talking and explaining and explaining and pondering, they tell you that they have lost their trust in you. They ask you how you could have let this happen. They tell you that you should have seen this, that many people saw this coming, and you have let them down.

That's crappy. The truth, I tell them, is that no one saw this coming. No one, not even people who are incredibly smarter than me, who have more things on their wall than I have dog poops in my yard. I tell them that I make my decisions based on the best information that I have, and at the time when he claims I should have known to get out, I made a decision based on the best information I had. Sure, I could tell you right now we should have all gotten out of the market and gone to cash in October of 2007. Do you know what that was? It was the very top of the market. Hindsight is 20/20. I apologized to him many many times, but this is what makes this time so difficult. It is nothing anyone has every experienced or could have dreamed would have come about. But I truly believe that this will work itself out. It always does. I am not just being an eternal optimist, though being one sure makes it easier to go into work. If you look throughout the US financial markets history, every year, nearly, there is a reason for disaster. Here is a look through historical bear markets: Some may take comfort in this chart, some may be freaked out by it. It is what it is.
Currently the Dow hit a high of 14,166 on October 9th of 2007. It's low point was 10,595 on 9/15/2008. A 25% drop, peak to trough in nearly a year. Sure, this is dramatic, this is different, this is the end of the world. But it was at those other bear markets too. I don't want to belittle the feeling and sentiment out there, believe me I deal with it every day. It is very real. VERY real. But that is where I guess the strength of my philosophy can help my clients understand that we have been here before. It may feel like it's different, but it's not. History has shown us that yes, markets go down. Markets go up. It is the way it works. It will recover, it will make it through this, it may take some time, but it will work itself out. I might be talking to no one, I might be talking to myself. But I am also not ready to give up on history, hard as that might be.

So cheer up, don't despair. Look to history to tell us what to expect. We have a very resilient economy and country. I have confidence that things need to and will change. So put on that matador outfit and head out into the ring. The bulls could be running soon.