07-05-2014, 07:46 AM
Good thoughts, Eric. I also generally agree.
I do find it harder to deploy new money these days. But I think I am succumbing to the dreading "anchoring." It is just hard to buy at $100 when you picked up shares in the same company at $60.
There is something to be said for patience, which in the market is measured in years, not weeks or months. I am much more devoted to dividend growth investing than I am to value investing, but the real pleasure (and long-term wealth creation) is when they intersect. Through that lens, I think it makes sense to buy more aggressively when there are bargains to be had, and to be a bit more picky during up stretches like these.
But as I've said in other posts, I would not just sit idle in times like these -- there are countless times in the last century that the market made new highs only to continue higher in ensuing decades. So you've got to stick to your plan in up markets and down markets. In the past seven years we've had opportunity to live through great examples of both.
I do find it harder to deploy new money these days. But I think I am succumbing to the dreading "anchoring." It is just hard to buy at $100 when you picked up shares in the same company at $60.
There is something to be said for patience, which in the market is measured in years, not weeks or months. I am much more devoted to dividend growth investing than I am to value investing, but the real pleasure (and long-term wealth creation) is when they intersect. Through that lens, I think it makes sense to buy more aggressively when there are bargains to be had, and to be a bit more picky during up stretches like these.
But as I've said in other posts, I would not just sit idle in times like these -- there are countless times in the last century that the market made new highs only to continue higher in ensuing decades. So you've got to stick to your plan in up markets and down markets. In the past seven years we've had opportunity to live through great examples of both.