Hello from Sycamore,

Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton funds, had some investment advice for us in August of 1958. “To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are avidly buying requires the greatest fortitude and pays the greatest ultimate reward”. In March of 1994 Sir John had additional wisdom for us. “ This time is different are among the most costly four words in market history”.

I think we can all agree that talking about the last bear market (with the benefit of hindsight) and living through the current bear are two very different things.

All bear markets are different and also the same. Each time we have a sell-off based on emotion, there’s a different event/trigger that causes the sell-off. But each bear market is the same because they involve emotional investment decisions rather than rational  (based on the math or data) decision making. All bear markets are stressful because we are not able to see into the future but this one is more stressful than most because we are all dealing with the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19 in addition to watching our accounts lose market value.

When you originally made your investment allocation decision, you were not being towed around by your emotions. Changing that original allocation decision based on the current market condition is usually a mistake.

History tells us that ‘bear’ markets generally serve up many wonderful investment opportunities for those that remain cool, calm and collected.

Thank you all for being great investors and for having ice water in your veins and for your business and trust!

Craig Smith
Sycamore Financial Group

*Past performance does not assure future results. Investors cannot invest directly in the stock market indexes such as the S&P 500. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate. Investor value, when sold may be worth more or less than their original cost.