what are your sources of information for the 76 time frame?
In August of 1976 I packed everything I owned into a blue Fiat 131 sedan and left Boston for the New South. Atlanta was just awakening as an embryonic metropolis, still segregated along Ponce de Leon Avenue and sporting the lowly Atlanta Braves as well as the soon to be departing Atlanta Flames. I stopped off in Michigan to say good-bye to my folks before heading down I-75 for what would be the inflection point of my life.
Those were good times for a young turk in a sports car. A time of innocence, A time time of confidences. Although I vividly recall a nasty October in '77 and another in '78, nonetheless it was a good time to start accumulating stocks and learning about the markets. In the summers I would fly back up East, spending a week on the beaches of Chilmark on the Vineyard. Jack and I would lie on the beach from morning until late afternoon, drinking water out of gallon jugs, playing hearts, smoking sensimelia and listening to NYC talk radio. We always sought out the financial shows as even then, we were traders, or thought we were. Wasn't Brinker on the air in NY in the late 70's?
Yes, it's all coming together now. Notwithstanding bear markets and nasty October declines, the late 70's was a great time to start owning stocks and I still own one that I had back then, Household International, but it was Beneficial Finance at that time. I think it's about a 15 bagger since then. It was a pick of my fathers and one that I have committed the sin of having an emotional attachment for....sort of like a tie that binds. No one's left in Michigan, but he would be proud that I still own it as it was his kind of stock, full of profits and dividends and boring growth. A part of the cumulative acquisition of market knowledge. I remember clearly our late summer discussions in our back yard in Southfield and the eloquent simplicity of his approach to stocks and the market. Yes, '76 was a very good year.
Looking at it all from that perspective, I can only say, "What bear market?"
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