And The Noise Just Keeps Getting Louder

The politics of trade, the politics of populism, the politics of war, the politics of climate, the politics of immigration, the politics of health care, the politics of stock markets, the politics of interest rates, the politics of currencies, the politics of politics!

In my job I am front and center with the "breaking" news of the day, but we are all bombarded with it through the new "speed of information": regular media and social media and all the analysis (our friend David Rosenberg refers to them as "bubbleheads"!) that goes along with it. News sells and it is big business. It is also increasingly manipulated.

There are no shortage of facts ("alternative" and otherwise), data and opinions being tossed about and so many want to spread their own particular influence and histrionics.

It is just so much noise (or at least the great majority of it is). 

For investors (and I mean real investors, with long-term perspectives) it is always difficult to keep our focus when we have so much information crossing our respective paths.

The worst advisors will use the noise and hype to create uncertainty and sell you their "next best thing": is it the 10 best dividend stocks to own in a recession? or even worse, a mutual fund that will take a good chunk of those dividends away (in MER's) from you while investing in the same stocks? Supposedly, to get you through whatever fear has been elevated to champion whatever is happening now in the headlines. Remember the "shiny object" syndrome?

The best advisors will always take a more circumspect position, focusing on the path that is laid out by your long-term plan and advising you to stick with it, because recessions happen (they have before, they will again and we even recovered from the "great" recession of 2007-2008). In three or four years it will likely not matter (in any significant way, other than some opportunities that may arise from the volatility for investing purposes): you will still be growing your wealth (i.e. sticking to the plan) and the politics of yesterday will simply be in the history books. 

The best advisors will be ready to take your calls / emails if and / or when you start to feel a little queasy and confused about all the noise and hype out there. There are never any bad questions.

At High Rock, we are always standing by.