Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of October 1, 2019

Article Excerpt

“A rising market climbs a wall of worry.” —origin unknown, in use with numerous variations, since at least the 1970s I’ve mentioned many times over the years that the quote above is one of the wisest investment one-liners I’ve come across. However, it can be useful or misleading, depending on how you interpret it. The best use is to take it as a reminder that in a healthy, rising market that has additional gains ahead, you never run out of things to worry about. New potential problems—new bricks in the wall of worry—come along all the time. Some disappear overnight. Others seem to drag on endlessly, but most eventually turn out to be little more than background noise. On the other hand, the wall-of-worry concept can be misleading and costly if you use it as an excuse to ignore worrisome developments. Instead, we look closely at those developments, and take them into account when we make or reconsider investment decisions and recommendations. To succeed as…