As I change my text here monthly, I cannot help but to make reference to September and what it means for baseball fans – if their team is in a playoff race.  Yes, this does in some way correlate to investing for the long term.

We have heard many times that the baseball season is a marathon and that teams have to prepare long term.  However, we certainly see that teams make major adjustments as the season progresses, to hopefully make the playoffs.  This can be correlated to investing in that it is indeed a marathon, and the marathon is supposed to get us to a place where we can take less risk, while making adjustments along the way. 

Another comparison that I love relates to when my daughters played softball.  They both pitched, and at the time the trend for pitchers was to have a big windup and a long stride when delivering the pitch. 

As they progressed, we found a great pitching coach.  After just a couple of minutes of him observing their pitching form, he immediately reduced the long stride.  His comment to us was “it’s not about a long stride, it’s about the correct stride”.   It was a bit of a revelation at the time, and since then it became quite logical, especially for investing.  Everyone has their own risk tolerance and style.  It truly is about investing with the “correct stride”, not what is trendy.

Peter Janowsky