For the past ten years, the stock market has been an elevator that has only gone up. Now the cord has snapped. What floor are you falling from? Here’s how I explained what I call “elevator investing” some years back. I wrote:
Elevator Investing
Where do you want to be when the cord snaps? I often think of risk management with a simple elevator analogy. In the investment process, I quantify risk first. Then I evaluate potential gains. Just envision, if you were in an elevator and the cord snapped, where would you be better off? Dropping from the second floor or the 10th floor? Makes your palms sweat. You sure would not fare well plummeting from floor 10. Today’s level of risk in the financial markets is at the 10th floor, moving ever higher. Many investors will not survive the coming collapse. Collapse? Is this appropriate wording? Sure is. America is now in the late stages of the business cycle. The government is out of control. And the Fed continues to manipulate interest rates in favor of Wall Street and against American savers. I lay out the late business cycle details for you later. When you read the evidence, you’ll agree that the potential for game-changing, black-swan-initiated losses accelerates monthly.
The rapid pace of recent declines in market indices is neck-snapping for anyone. For investors who ignored risk, they are positively devastating.
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