Chris Mayer, a friend of our firm who authors a well regarded publication titled Capital & Crisis, was kind enough to contribute an article for this edition of The World According to Boyar.
His article touches on a theme we discussed in our latest quarterly letter: How investors can be their own worst enemies by focusing on short-term performance and selling stocks too early.
This behavior is in part aided and abetted by the short-term focus of financial news outlets (with notable exceptions) and their desire to sensationalize stories to drive ratings and/or sell newspapers. This “noise” puts pressure on investors to take action each time a company they own temporarily stumbles or when there is geopolitical uncertainty that causes a near-term correction.
In the vast majority of cases, however, the best course of action would be for an investor to stay the course. In this article, Mayer maintains that investors should focus on finding great investments and buy them with the intention of holding them for the long-term. He discusses a strategy called the “coffee can portfolio” advanced by long-time money manager Robert Kirby as a way investors could avoid the temptation to act.
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