How to react to the stock market beat down

I just had a delightful conversation with Gus Sauter, chief investment officer of Vanguard. You might expect the man who used to run the much-beloved investment shop’s index funds to be dull as dirt, but quite the contrary. Did you know that he started a gold mine back in the early 80s?

As the market has gone a-plunging the past few days, Vanguard’s seen an uptick in calls from investors wanting to know what to do. In a shocking turnabout, Vanguard has been advising people… to invest for the long-term. In fact, yesterday Vanguard posted a Q&A with Sauter on just that topic. An excerpt:

Disembodied questioner: How should investors respond?

Sauter: For many investors, the wisest response is no response at all.

When I asked Sauter that question, he mentioned the Q&A on the web site, and also made one other point. You can listen to what he had to say by clicking on this hyperlink.

I know, I know, this isn’t sexy. Buy and hold. Ignore the market. Rebalance once—and only once—a year. The thing is, it also happens to be the best investment advice out there. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Barbara!

The Creepy Dudes of Wall Street: Are Finance Guys Losing Their Mojo on the Dating Scene, Too?

It’s tough to tell when an internet phenomenon reaches actual meme status. But, in the case of the “creepy finance guy,” I think we can finally call it.

This week saw yet another jaw-dropping tale of Wall Street prattishness, this time in the form of a post-date survey. Yep, a finance dude went on a date with a lady. And then he asked her for constructive feedback.

venk

everything points to your “new austerity”. while much has been written about the history of the amerucan psyche that allowed us to get into this mess, more is necessary to be written about what is perpetuating it.

the “i, me, mine” generations of overpaid, corporate executives (promoted by desperate reporting-quarter-at-a-time boards and greedy executive recruiters), overpaid entertainment stars (enabled by the box-office, the internet and bigger-than-life TV screens that reach millions of pitiful viewers), sports stars and owners (an artificial scarcity of teams and games created by sports commissioners and paid for by sports-crazed fans and advertisers), and a third-worldization immigration policy (via family-unification) of america’s most vibrant states: new york, florida and california.

americans must come to realize that unless their half-century long habits undergo radical change, from consuming 70 percent of the gdp to 50 percent, then 40 percent, the rest of the world will not disengage from feeding and feeding off the ugly american.
passwords

Regarding Mackey’s comment,”It’s this principle that the purpose of business is not primarily to maximize the shareholder value.”
I believe there are some who would argue the decline of the American auto industry started when maximizing shareholder value was put above designe and quality.

Tony