Sushi Money

Does the market just keep going up?  The big 13k is close but does it really mean anything?  I don’t follow the technical indicators much, and for me it’s just a number.  Motley Fool expressed it pretty well in a recent article titled “Dow 5,000?” I don’t usually read the MF articles- too many hoops to jump through and it seems like most of their stuff is a sales pitch.  But many of the articles are informative, and I agree with Mr. Zimmerman about being prepared:

“…savvy investors should strive to fix their portfolios while the sun is shining, in part by ensuring that their basket of investments is spread intelligently across the market’s valuation spectrum.”

But what does it mean to spread your investments “intelligently across the market’s valuation spectrum?”  I think it means many different things to many different people.  One investor’s goals and tolerance for risk may be far different from another investors.  Before a pitch for some mutual funds, Mr. Zimmerman describes that value stocks should hold up better in a down market than growth stocks.  No real surprise there- growth stocks command a risk premium that value stocks may not since they have already fallen in value.  Growth stocks may have greater volatility with potentially greater variance of performance over time- higher returns in good times and lower returns in tough times.  One way to look at it is using a statistical measure called beta.  In essence beta is used to measure risk based on volatility, with the market having a statistical beta of 1.0.  Stocks with beta higher than that are potentially riskier, but also may yield a higher return.  Stocks with a beta lower than the market are less volatile and less risky but also have a lower expected return.  So value stocks should have a lower beta than growth stocks right? Not necessarily… if a high-flier stock has fallen greatly and some may consider it a value stock, it actually may have a higher beta and be classified as more risky after it decreased in price! Why? Because beta measures volatility. Beta can be a useful measure, but it’s only one way to look at risk.  Beta doesn’t work very well when price movements are considered.  There is a key issue here, and Investopedia has a great discussion of it in an article titled “Beta: Know the Risk“ from 2004 by Ben McClure.   For me, the big take-away is how I approach investing for the long term while considering the fundamentals.  From the article and a reference to Ben Graham:

“Try to spot well-run companies with a “margin of safety”–that is, an ability to withstand unpleasant surprises. Some elements of safety come from the balance sheet, like having a low ratio of debt to total capital. Some come from consistency of growth, in earnings or dividends. An important one comes from not overpaying. Stocks trading at low multiples of their earnings are safer than stocks at high multiples.”

I don’t know where we go from here… but I try not to care too much.  Saying I don’t care would be a specious statement… of course I care how the market and my investments do!  But at the same time- I agree with preparing for the down side because it will come… it’s just a matter of time.  When I’m better prepared, I’m less inclined to fret over market movements.  How we prepare for those times is the question, and my answer is to focus on fundamentals, invest for the long term, and keep on learning along the way. 

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