Q3 2019

October 3, 2019 

Who said, “these are the times that try men’s souls”? We are clearly engaged in a national political race to the bottom (if we’re not already there). One can look to the forthcoming political race in 2020 and only hang their head. A foreboding envelops us knowing nothing good can come from the process. 

Do we really have to go through this!? Yes, we do. 

I fear this is going to overwhelm judgment on matters beyond who we vote for. For that reason, I want to be brief and to the point in this letter. 

This isn’t new, we’ve seen it before, and we will all get through it. Hopefully, the result is legislative gridlock. 12 years of transformative legislation has been hard on everyone; I think it would be nice to rest for a while. 

Regardless of how it all ends up, the business of investing is first about the economy, and then about the financial prospects of each investment. The legislative climate can certainly affect the tone of things, but companies are quite adaptive, and entrepreneurship is creative in finding a profitable path. 

I have said repeatedly: only money you don’t need for the long-term should be invested in stocks. If you do that, you have the capacity to weather the volatility of adverse news cycles. Investing is a marathon, and sometimes it rains when it wasn’t in the forecast, sometimes it doesn’t when everyone thought it would. 

There are clearly issues the markets must get through in the coming year, but we are also in a period of strong employment, an economy that is doing well, with several potential catalysts for improvement. With our time horizon measured in years, what happens over the coming months will be forgotten. 

I wish you all a joyous and peaceful Fall season. 

Mark Hoonsbeen, CFA
Principal