<THE FOOLISH FOUR>

Foolish Four Report
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (Mar. 4, 1998) -- Here it is, the first week of March, with "Madness" right around the corner, the golf season threatening to drag me away from my computer (still waiting to get in that first swing since October), and another season of the year beginning.

Why am I waxing nostalgic? Why am I not crunching numbers? Why am I... well, indeed, why am I?

Because once in a while, Fools, it helps just to ignore the Wall Street game for a bit. Sure we could talk about Disney <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") end if %> getting hammered today on earnings guidance from management. Sure we could talk about oil prices and merger announcements (or failed mergers), and stock splits and dividend yields. We could even throw in budget wars and Asian currency crises and Zipper-Gate.

Or we could turn on CNBC and listen to one of the most consistently bearish talking heads (not to mention most consistently wrong talking heads) tell us to buy bonds. Or we could speculate about interest rates.

Or...

Well, you get the picture. Once in a while it's worthwhile just to play hooky and break the routine. This hit home with me this morning when my wife was on her way out the door and asked what my day looked like and I said, "the usual routine." Without even a hesitation, my son looked at me and asked, "Dad, what does routine mean?" And you know? When I explained it to him, it didn't sound all that attractive. So today I'm playing hooky from my routine and talking about an aspect of Foolishness I forget from time to time -- enjoying life.

Fool on!

[Want to be the first Fool on your block to get a copy of Robert Sheard's forthcoming book? Click here to pre-order your copy of The Unemotional Investor.]

TODAY'S NUMBERS
Stock  Change   Last 
 -------------------- 
 UK   -   5/8   46.75 
 IP   +   1/2   48.50 
 MO   -   3/4   43.00 
 EK   -    1    66.50 
 
            
                    Day   Month    Year 
         FOOL-4   +0.19%   2.17%   7.43% 
         DJIA     +0.40%   0.46%   8.56% 
         S&P 500  +0.41%   0.26%   8.41% 
         NASDAQ   -0.09%  -0.75%  11.89% 
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change 
  
  12/31/97  289 Int'l Pape    43.13     48.50    12.46% 
  12/31/97  206 Eastman Ko    60.56     66.50     9.80% 
  12/31/97  291 Union Carb    42.94     46.75     8.88% 
  12/31/97  276 Philip Mor    45.25     43.00    -4.97% 
  
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change 
  
  12/31/97  289 Int'l Pape 12463.13  14016.50  $1553.38 
  12/31/97  206 Eastman Ko 12475.88  13699.00  $1223.13 
  12/31/97  291 Union Carb 12494.81  13604.25  $1109.44 
  12/31/97  276 Philip Mor 12489.00  11868.00  -$621.00 
  
  
                              CASH     $77.19 
                             TOTAL  $53264.94