The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Living With Volatility

This is an interesting chart.  It shows that the earnings history of the S&P 500 companies since the Great Depression. 



At first blush, it appears that an all-time high is approaching and is a good reason to be bullish on the stock market.  But, if you look at it awhile, you’ll also notice that volatility is greater than anything we’ve ever seen before.

Warren Buffett believes his ideal holding period for any investment is “forever.”  That is the “buy and hold” strategy of investing, where you just hold it until the price/economy recovers.  The current argument is whether increased volatility makes this strategy more or less useful.

My thinking is that the level of cash in a portfolio should have some relationship to the level of anxiety about the market.  As anxiety increases, so should cash.