“I’m going to try and stay in the moment and be very patient… and understand it’s going to feel like a whole different tournament.” — Jordan Spieth
I’m not a great golfer, just more of a hacker and lucky to keep my score under 100 in a round of golf. But I enjoy watching the sport from time to time. I used to sit in the “golf seats” at the Orlando Magic games in the 1990s, and I met Tiger Woods once.
But now a new champion has come to professional golf. Jordan Spieth was only 21 years old when he won the recent Masters golf tournament. Spieth is the same age as Tiger Woods was when the latter golfer put on the green jacket of a Masters champion for the first time. Spieth also tied the record Woods previously set for the lowest score (270).
Is Jordan Spieth the next Tiger Woods? It is too early to tell, but Spieth has a lot of promise.
Spieth almost won last year’s Masters Tournament. When asked what made the difference this time, he responded, “This year I learned patience.”
Patience is a key, perhaps the key, to being a successful investor. Too often investors panic and get so emotional they sell near the bottom of a bear market or get greedy and buy at the top.
The key to success is to check your emotions and let your brain do the thinking. Joe Kennedy was like that. He was a strict contrarian who had an ideal temperament for speculating: “a passion for facts, a complete lack of sentiment and a marvelous sense of timing,” said a confidante.
J. Paul Getty, America’s first billionaire, wrote in his classic book “How to Be Rich,” “The big profits go to the intelligent, careful and patient investor, not to the restless and overeager speculator… The seasoned investor buys stocks when they are low, holds them for the long-pull rise and takes in between dips and slumps in his stride.”
Many investors panicked in 2008 and early 2009 after their IRAs or investment portfolios had lost half of their value. They were tempted to sell, and many did. Imagine if they had patiently waited out the crash and held on. Today, their investments might be fully recovered and also may have added some profits. “Patience in market is worth pounds in a year,” advised Ben Franklin.
You Blew It! ObamaCare Increases Food Stamps Even as the Economy Improves
We now have new meaning to the Affordable Care Act that brought us ObamaCare: more Americans can afford to be on the public dole.
Just as the economy is supposedly improving, with the unemployment rate down to 6%, more and more Americans are now on food stamps. Oh, sorry, I mean SNAP, a new acronym that stands for the politically correct Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Around 46 million Americans get food stamps.
But whatever name you use, it means hard-working taxpayers are forced to shell out their hard-earned money to pay benefits to the unemployed (the non-workers). The shame of the dole largely has disappeared but not completely. Two out of 10 Americans qualify for food stamps but don’t take them. They are some of the few out there who don’t believe in going on the dole.
Nevada, in particular, has seen food stamp usage shoot up 14% in the past year. Bureaucrats say it is because the new ObamaCare system has streamlined the program so that people can more easily go on food stamps. Getting enrolled in receiving the assistance is now as easy as SNAP.
Back in 1996, President Clinton and the Republicans pushed through the Welfare Reform Act that required able-bodied Americans to go off of food stamps and welfare after five years, and it worked. The number of people on food stamps and Medicaid declined for the first time in years. But then the Great Recession hit, and the Welfare Reform Act was overturned. Now, we have a permanent welfare class. If we are not careful, it may grow so big that the great American experiment in democracy will end like it did in Rome.
In case you missed it, I encourage you to read my e-letter column from last week on Eagle Daily Investor about how to raise the minimum wage without legislation. I also invite you to comment in the space provided below my Eagle Daily Investor commentary.
Upcoming Appearances
O Las Vegas Money Show, May 12-14, Caesars Palace: I will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Vegas Money Show! I will be speaking on “Is the Golden Age of Investing Over? Not for this Market-Beating Strategy!” Other speakers include Andy Busch, Marilyn Cohen, Roger Conrad, Bob Carlson, David T. Phillips, Jeff Hirsch, Mark Hulbert, Louis Navellier, Jim Stack and Wayne Allyn Root, as well as my Eagle Financial Publications colleagues Doug Fabian, Chris Versace and Bryan Perry.
Be a guest of Eagle Financial Publications and register for FREE by using priority code 038654 and calling 800-970-4355 (toll free in the United States and Canada) or signing up online.
O I want to invite you on a cruise, Sept. 13-20, with Newt Gingrich, Chris Versace and me, among others. I will be doing a special one-on-one interview with Newt Gingrich on the cruise. Come spend seven fabulous days aboard the six-star luxury liner, the Crystal Symphony. We will travel from New York to Montreal with a roster of noted historical scholars, political pundits and renowned market experts who will share their insights and perspectives on the current environment in Washington and Wall Street. For further information, including how to sign up, call 800-435-4534 or visit www.PoliticsAndYourPortfolio.com. Not to be missed! The deadline to sign up is April 30!
