Richard's Comments

The single most difficult concept to get across to investors (and I say this after many years of writing about it) is the concept of the great primary trend of the market.

A primary trend, bull or bear, once set in motion, does not reverse until it is EXHAUSTED. A bull market such as this one, for example, will not top out until the bull forces have totally spent themselves. Thus, a bull market will not die on bad news, economic recessions, corporate disasters or political threats.

Richard’s Comments

The following was written on January 16, 2004

Investing today is just plain different and difficult. Today, it's a global world, and billions of dollars are being invested by managers using "other people's money."  

Investing to me has always been a matter of buying great values at a time when most people won't touch these same values.

Which, of course, brings up the question, "Are there any great values today, and if so -- where the heck are they?"

Richard's Comments

It's human nature to be optimistic. It's human nature to hope. Furthermore, hope is a component of a healthy state of mind.

Hope is the opposite of negativity. Negativity in life can lead to anger, disappointment and depression. After all, if the world is a negative place, what's the point of living in it? To be negative is to be anti-life.

Richard's Comments

Nothing created by the mind of man has ever equaled the stock market in terms of its sheer ability to frustrate people. Why is this? The answer is that the stock market frustrates because millions of traders and investors across the face of the US and the world are all trying to take money out of the market.

Richard's Comments

All great bull markets come in three psychological phases. The first phase is the accumulation phase, during which sophisticated and value-oriented investors pick up what is generally being ignored.

The second phase is the phase where the seasoned professionals and a few more sophisticated funds take their positions. It is in the second phase where we see the most painful secondary corrections, which are almost always mistakenly taken to be primary bear markets.

Richard’s Comments

Today I'm going to present a discussion between two characters named A and B. Who are these guys? They're two guys who live between my ears. Somehow, these two clowns got into my skull over the weekend.

A – What are the fundamentals, the very basic fundamentals, of the investment world today?

B – Here they are, and I don't think you're going to love them. The world is overproducing. Not only is it overproducing, but it's overproducing at viciously competitive prices.