In one of his many excellent commentaries, our good friend and multi-time Investor Summit at Sea™ faculty member Simon Black points out the last time this happened the market crashed.
The market he’s referring to is the stock market … and the event is stock brokerage firm Charles Schwab opening new accounts at the highest pace in 17 years.
Simon opens up his piece by asking, “Anyone remember what happened 17 years ago?”
He then reminds us it was 17 years ago the dot-com driven stock market implosion rocked financial markets and investors.
For those too young to remember, the late 90s was the dawn of the internet age.
And by the turn of the century, investors had morphed into rabid speculators … pouring billions of dollars into tech companies … even though the numbers didn’t make sense.
They were betting the stock price would go up in spite of little or no cash flow.
If you’re a young investor, you’d be wise to study some economic history and talk with older, more experienced investors.
Simon’s a relatively young guy (in his 30s), but wise far beyond his years because he’s an avid student of history. Whether you’re young or old, it’s smart to study history.
Mark Twain famously said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
So Simon’s comments triggered a quick check of housing headlines, and this came up:
Existing-home sales hit a 10-year high in March as homes fly off the market
Hmmmm… that’s interesting.
Channeling Simon Black, we asked, “Anyone remember what happened 10 years ago?”
Of course, 10 years ago was 2007. And you probably know what happened to the housing market in 2008.
Now just because two things happened in succession doesn’t necessarily mean one caused the other … or even was a symptom of a cause. But it COULD be.
As the old adage goes, “Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.”
When the possibility of disaster exists, it’s wise to have a plan.
When we get aboard the cruise ship for the Investor Summit at Sea™ each year, the FIRST thing we do is a mandatory “boat drill.”
We’re told where to find our life-jackets, how to put them on, and which “muster station” to go to so we can get into our assigned life-boat.
It’s no fun … not for us, not for the crew, and not for the cruise line.
They’d much rather tell us how to find the casino, shopping, and premium restaurants. After all, that’s where all the fun and profit are.
The LAST thing they want to do is point out the possibility the ship could SINK. That’s a depressing way to kick off a fun week on a cruise ship.
But responsible people prepare for the possibility of problems. And when signs of trouble start to appear, denial, obfuscation, and normalcy bias are ill-advised.
The Titanic sunk precisely because no one thought it could.
When it comes to housing, most industry economists are more like industry cheerleaders.
It’s usually easy to confirm sunshine as far as the eye can see … if that’s what you WANT to see … because you can always find “an expert” to affirm your pre-existing bias.
So when we invited Fannie Mae economist Doug Duncan to speak at our recent Summit at Sea, we were ready for some lively debate between him and our pal Peter Schiff.
But what happened surprised us.
Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae economist, put up all kinds of charts and graphs, and gave a very entertaining yet sobering presentation.
Doug essentially said the weakest economic “recovery” in history is on the verge of becoming the LONGEST recovery in history … and the probability of an imminent recession is high.
Hardly happy hype from a government real estate economist.
This REALLY shocked Peter. In fact, he mentioned it at the top of the first podcast he did after returning from the Summit.
Peter’s been accused of being a chicken-little perma-bear, always seeing what’s wrong and warning of impending doom. And he’s used to arguing with people like Doug, who try to put a happy face on bad data.
Of course, when you get to know Peter (who accurately predicted the 2008 financial crisis both in his 2006 book Crash Proof and in heated debates on national television), you’ll find he actually sees a lot of opportunity in the world.
The same is true for Robert Kiyosaki, who ALSO accurately warned of the 2008 collapse. You can see the video of one of his national news media appearances here.
So it’s not about the data being bad or the future being gloomy. “Bad” and “gloomy” are our reactions to the data.
The data is what the data is.
The last time Schwab opened this many new accounts, it preceded the 2000 stock market collapse.
The last time housing sales were this strong, it preceded the 2008 housing market collapse.
Oh, and by the way, the Fed was raising rates heading into 2008 telling everyone the economy was strong.
The question is … how are YOU going to react?
Do YOU know where your life vest is? Do you know how to put it on? Do you know where your muster station and lifeboat are?
Those who are ready, are actually EXCITED about the possibility of a downturn.
Downturns flush the dumb money, bring prices back to bargain levels, and allow those who prepared to collect quality assets at fire sale prices.
The key is to be prepared.
Preparation means different things to different people. There’s no magic formula.
Donald Trump told us, “Always have some cash.”
Summit at Sea™ faculty member Chris Martenson says, “Build social capital.” That is, a network of friends you trust and can do business with.
Simon Black says, “Plant multiple flags.” He thinks it’s smart to diversify where you live, work, bank, and invest.
We think it’s smart to listen to wise people, talk with qualified advisors, discuss with other active investors, and set aside time to focus on learning and planning.
We’re not suggesting investors should sit out. You can’t make any money on properties you don’t own.
Just be smart about the markets, teams, and financing structures you use. Favor investments which you can stay in through a rough patch.
If the market stays strong, you’re not really worse off. And if the bottom falls out, you can ride it out.
Either way, you win.
Until next time … good investing!
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