For some time now, when I’ve been short on stuff to say or time to say it, I’ve excerpted the wisdom of Dick Davis. There have been 35 items in all, taken from a lecture he delivered early in the year. The topics were:
1. What’s A Reasonable Return?
2. Groups Will Return To Favor
3. It’s Never That Urgent
4. The Durability Of Major Trends
5. Face It, It’s History
6. The Role Of Market History
7. The Income Buyer
8. Do It Yourself Investing
9. Any Approach Can Work
10. Negatives Of Being Totally Informed
11. Advice To Family
12. Investment Versus Speculation
13. Oldtimers Out Of Step
14. It’ll Always Go Lower
15. Brilliant Market Calls
16. Advice From Brokers
17. What’s A Reasonable Price?
18. Why Stay Fully Invested?
19. Index Funds
20. The Contrarian Approach
21. CEOs On Their Own Stock
22. The Insignificance Of News
23. Predisposition Toward Failure
24. Avoid Big Losses
25. Why Markets Go To Extremes
26. Stick With Your Winners
27. This Time It’s Different
28. Market Symmetry
29. Know The Downside
30. Behind The Moves In Stocks
31. Dollar Cost Averaging
32. When To Sell
33. The Market Has Its Own Agenda
34. A Critique Of CNBC
35. Stay Healthy
Herewith, the last. (To see one of the others, enter its title in the SEARCH field.)
Item 35: Stay Healthy
Most everything good that happens in the market requires the passage of time. By trying to stay stress-free, by giving time a chance to smooth out the wrinkles, by taking lots of vacations away from your stocks, by living the good life here at Boca West, and mostly by just staying physically healthy, you’ll be sure to be here when the time comes to collect your rewards. Equally important is staying mentally healthy, keeping things in perspective. The pursuit of financial gain can be challenging, exciting and gratifying. But, taken to extremes it can cause us to lose our balance and distort our priorities. Ross Perot, who at one time was the 3rd richest man in the world, says, ‘There is no worse way in this world to judge a human being than what he is worth financially.’ Comedian Stephen Wright puts it another way. He says, ‘You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?’
☞ Amen.
