Tracy Davidson

It is an honor to be able to contribute my thoughts on Tracy Davidson’s blog. Tracy is the kind of person whose work I’ve always admired and who I’ve always wanted to work with. She is exceptionally professional, insightful and disciplined, knowing that about Tracy, makes me feel honored to be a contributor to this blog.

Over the last several months I have heard many stories. Stories about how people have lost money – a lot of money, mostly because of the stock market meltdown. As you can imagine this has caused havoc with people’s lives. Some people have to postpone retirement or delay sending their children to college. The last couple of years have not been the kind of years we would like to see regarding finances. However, we are here and looking forward to the road to recovery.. The one thing about bad markets and economies is that life does not stop. Thankfully life keeps on going and we must move forward. Moving forward means making tough decisions for now. As human beings, we can not afford to stand still. We are not designed to be still, if we do so then our minds and bodies becomes rusty.

So, what does this have to do with money? Well, during this difficult time we can’t afford to be still, we must react. Not looking at a problem does not make the problem go away; in fact it may cause the problem to become larger. Take the time to look at your financial statements, and if you don’t like what you see make some changes. So many of the stories that I have heard about how the economy has hurt people could be partly avoided by taking action. Because of the dynamics of money and the many choices that are available finding resources can be difficult. Money is as important as people’s health, and when significant health issues arise, people get a second opinion; investors should get a second opinion from a registered investment advisor when issues arise.

Losing a lot of money is never OK. As an investor you should expect to have some losing years, but never such a losing year that you lose half or even a quarter of your wealth! The art of making money is to not to lose it. Of all the books I have read about investing and making money in the market, I’m always reminded of Warren Buffet’s quote about investing, “ Rule number 1 don’t lose any money, Rule number 2, see rule number 1. “

Erwin B. Gant, President

Gant Private Financial Management