Neanderthal man possessed certain emotional characteristics.  Guess what! They were never lost—man still has all of them, fight or flight, fear, greed, happy, sad, etc.  There is no place on earth where this is more clearly illustrated than THE STOCK MARKET.

Early last century there were two shining examples of the above, to wit, Jesse Livermore and Bernard Baruch.  Livermore was one of the first great and wild Wall Street traders. He accumulated several MILLION dollars in the early 1900s. He seemed to possess an uncanny ability to "read the tape" and then pounce on same and make very short-term trades - in this he was very successful.  On the other hand, there was Mr. B. who made slow, calculated INVESTMENTS.  He is credited with saying "you take the 20% at the bottom and the 20% at the top and I will take the 60% in the middle".  He did this exact thing for many years until in 1928 and early 1929 he decided that the market had entirely too much risk so he sold everything and went to Europe for a year or so.  Most everyone is aware of just how smart that was.  However, I think the absolutely smartest thing that he did and almost no one else did then, or would do today—he bought heavily in 1933, 34, and 35.  He later became a financial advisor to such luminaries as Franklin D Roosevelt.

Now let’s look at how they finally ended their careers. Mr. Baruch died an extremely wealthy man with an absolutely sterling reputation while Mr. Livermore died in a $.50  per day "flop" house in Philadelphia.

Of these two historical figures, whom do you most resemble???????????  Sometimes it is very helpful to examine oneself to determine if current conditions control you OR are you in control per the reality of facts gleamed from "WHAT REALLY AND TRULY WORKS ON WALL STREET"?

There are areas of the market that are looking quite undervalued while others are just the opposite—we are currently, and will continue to make portfolio moves accordingly.

You may also be assured that I am spending 10 to 12 hrs a day to monitor market movements.  In that same vain, I now have a wireless card for my laptop computer that allows me to connect to all of the exchanges instantly wherever I might be at the time, in order that I am NEVER (EVEN FROM AN OUT-OF-OFFICE APPOINTMENT) out of touch with the market.

Have fun, enjoy a balanced life.

Regards,

Jack