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Sunday, September 16, 2012

FORTUNE-ATE? Don't sulk, resist!

In his piece from the current issue of Fortune magazine, Geoff Colvin says the current environment is a "...nasty, insidious force that's undermining the native optimism that buoys up business people everywhere" and then he admonishes readers with one word -- "Resist!"

I appreciated another article in this issue by Ms. Mina Kimes who wrote about a manager for the MFS International Value Fund -- Mr. Barnaby Wiener.  Like a lot of people; I largely stick to index funds, but Mr. Wiener's actively-managed fund according to Fortune, is one of the best in its class having outperformed 99% of its peers since 2002. 

Mr. Wiener says "It's much more important to avoid losing money than it is to make money" and he adds, "If you avoid the big losses, you make money almost by default."  Those statements seem consistent with Warren Buffet's well-known view, "The first rule of investing is don't lose money; the second rule is don't forget Rule No. 1."  OK, but what's the third rule?  Anyway, on to the election...

1. The presidential election is only 50 days away.
2.  It's the most important election of my conscious lifetime (in other words, since I was 26).
3.  We desperately need a CEO more than a Community Organizer with velvety speeches.
4.  Encourage everyone still on the fence to get out and vote for Mitt & Paul.

Wiki image by Gage Skidmore



Wikipedia, Ryan official portrait