Buy Low
(c) 2000 TLC may not be reproduced without permission
One fine day in 1979, I happened to find myself in a comfortable living room in a very expensive residence in the outskirts of Honolulu. The home was magnificent, an older building with a mature mango tree in the front yard and an absolutely gigantic avocado tree in the back, between the pool and the tennis court.
Try as I may, I honestly cannot recall how exactly I happened to be in the house that day. I know it was because I was with someone that knew the owner, and I had simply come along for the ride.
What I do remember very clearly is the owner of the house. He was in his 70s, about 5 feet tall, and weighed I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 110 pounds. He was cordial, animated, and very polite. Due to circumstance not germane to this discussion, I had, at that point, some physical characteristics that he could have considered to be visually odd, so I imagine I may have been as curious to him as he was to me.
At the time, I thought he was interesting not for the spectacular home he lived in, not because he was Chinese, and not because he was 70 years old, but because he was rich. Not just regular rich - he was really, really wealthy. He owned one square block of downtown Honolulu, among other things. I was a young man at that point, and I had met some very wealthy people in my travels, but this man had a certain quality about him that almost hypnotized me. He was not boisterous, not decadent, not arrogant, and not pompous - he had none of the qualities I associated with elderly wealthy people. He was an ordinary nice old guy.
It may be that I caught him on a good day, I don’t know. I do know that I thought he was one of the most interesting people I had ever had the good fortune to meet.
I had the opportunity to sit with this man and talk with him for about ten minutes. We talked about mangos, because when I sat down next to him, I told him I admired the mango tree in his front yard. The mangos that grow in Hawaii are astounding. The trees, as I understand it, were imported from India, and the fruit gets to be about the size of a small loaf of bread. The consistency is that of a ripe pear, and the taste is something you need to experience for yourself. Nothing on the mainland even comes close.
We talked, and finally, I remembered that he was fabulously wealthy, and I thought perhaps I could find something out about that, so I asked him, "Do you have any advice for becoming wealthy, for someone like me?
He smiled, and said, "Yes. Buy low."
"Ah!" I said. (I was sharp for my age.) "Buy low, sell high!"
"No." he said. "Buy low, no sell." And that was it, I thanked him and that’s pretty much all I remember. I don’t even remember his name, unfortunately.
But, I remember his last sentence quite clearly.
Buy low, no sell.
That is some good advice. In fact, at the time, I had no idea how good it was. I guess that’s what makes it good advice sometimes - you don’t follow it so you remember what you should have done. I didn’t follow it, but looking back, it would not have hurt me if I had. I’m not one of these ‘if I had it to do over, I would change’ people - I did it, it’s done, get on with the show. However, I’ve owned some real estate I wouldn’t mind still owning. I’ve owned some stocks I wouldn’t mind still owning. I’ve owned a bunch of stuff I wouldn’t mind still owning.
Buy low, no sell. It’s good advice for a beginner in the stock market, in my opinion. This may sound a bit bizarre coming from someone who trades stocks on an almost daily basis, but "Buy low, no sell." really is good advice. I think the media and the culture have combined to make "long term investments" in the stock market appear almost foolish. The ads on TV make the people that have mutual funds and just let them sit appear as old -fashioned and stodgy.
There is nothing wrong with trading, and nothing wrong with some fast market action. I like it, you probably do too. But, if you don’t own a few good mutual funds, or a few good long term equities, I’m talking ten or twenty years here, I think you will look back in twenty years and say, "I should have bought low and not sold."
We are in the middle of the biggest bull market since I was born. It is an exciting time to be alive - an exciting time to be in the market. I think it’s a good idea to step back every once in a while and look at things from a longer -term viewpoint. I don’t live in that house in Honolulu, but if that’s foolish and old -fashioned, I’ll take it right now, with cream and sugar.
I’ve been with and without money in my life, and all other things being equal, if I had to choose something I might want in ten or twenty years, I do believe I would prefer one of those big Hawaiian-style mangos over just about anything else I can think of. |
