A Treatise for Taylor
Wolf Group Capital Advisors
By Michael Goodson
October 6, 2011
Last week my granddaughter, Taylor, was born. As I reflected on the miracle of birth, I began musing about what kind of life Taylor might expect to have.
Despite all the negative talk about the United States, I suspect that Taylor will be grateful to live in this country. The U.S. economy is still the world’s largest by a large margin, and per capita GDP is still envied by most of the world. She will likely live in a home most of her life that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Her father sells insurance, a product that will likely be in demand for the entirety of her lifetime. Her mother has chosen to stay at home and focus her efforts on the rearing of her children. I suspect that Taylor will benefit from both of her parents’ career choices.
The Greek crisis, which seems to be the key driver for the U.S. stock market these days, will probably be little more than a footnote in some history book Taylor reads in a class someday. Even the “Great Recession” may become a near non-event in the trajectory of Taylor’s life. She will likely attend public schools and, if she works hard and gets good grades, may attend a university. It is likely that her careers choices will include jobs in industries that don’t even exist yet.
If she follows the example of her parents, she will likely fall in love, get married and start her own family, experiencing all the joy, pain and promise that family life can bring. She will likely cry when her grandfather dies, but will have numerous occasions to remember him fondly, his corny jokes, his dry wit, his unshakable belief in value investing…
During her lifetime, the expansion in innovation and technological gains is hard to imagine. Consider that when I was born, the world had no knowledge of color television, cable television, 24-hour news programs, MTV, manned space flight, personal computers, CDs, heart transplants, GPS, reality TV shows, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, moon landings, the Beatles, etc. Taylor will be able to compile a similar list in her 50s that will likely seem like science fiction to us now.
In spite of the notion of diminished expectations we hear constantly now, I suspect Taylor’s life will be full, rich and fulfilling. The big picture issues we fret and fuss about now will likely have little impact on her ability to find happiness and contentment.
Taking a longer-term view allows one to see things as they really are, apart from the sometimes myopic view we see through the prism of the present. Sentiment and the markets will swing around as they will, but truth and true principles (either of investing or other areas of importance) will persist and resist all our attempts to invalidate them.
(c) Wolf Group Capital Advisors
