<THE FOOLISH FOUR>
by Jean Macaulay
(TMF Jeanie)
AMESBURY, MA. (August 6, 1998) -- Gorillas, monkeys and chimps... oh my! Bears battle with Bulls, and those Internet Gazelles act like the Viagra wore off. It's a jungle out there, dear Fools.
Ah, but then we have our Dow Dogs, whose binomial nomenclature strikes me as terribly misguided. After all, in modern parlance, "dog" is a pejorative and with the whole market acting like a squirrel caught in traffic, methinks our Dogs should be called Elephants. Consider that the elephant is the only member of the animal kingdom that cannot jump, and you'll understand why tonight I'm renaming this The Dow Elephant Report. [Besides, Robert Sheard picked this week, of all times, to go on vacation. That'll teach him.]
If you've allocated a portion of your portfolio to include the Foolish Four, then you already know that these stocks aren't likely to give you whiplash on days when the market goes bungee jumping. Like the mighty elephant, our Dow companies are steady, slow-moving beasts of burden with incredibly long lives. They allow us to tune out frantic jungle drums from the media, whose general attitude is best summed up by this brain dropping from George Carlin: "TV news anchors pretty much bank on a short attention span when they take a couple of minutes during the 5 o'clock news to tell us what's coming up at 6."
Let the Wise bleat about broken trend lines and rising hemlines and other mumbo jumbo. My own personal reading of chicken bones and tea leaves reveals the real truth. C'mon, inch closer to your screen... here it comes: Market volatility wasn't created on August 3, 1998. When fluctuations come, as they inevitably do over a lifetime of investing, the long-term investor takes her cue from the elephant. Don't jump. Ride high above the herd of hyenas and focus on the lifeline of your ultimate goal.
Remember -- time and history are on your side. Plod on!
[Robert Sheard is on vacation this week.]
Current Dow Order | 1998 Dow Returns
[Robert Sheard is the author of the The Unemotional Investor (Simon & Schuster, 1998) available now at Amazon.com and your local bookseller.]
08/06/98 Close
Stock Change Last -------------------- UK - 3/8 47.19 IP - 3/8 42.63 MO --- 43.25 EK +1 3/4 83.00 |
Day Month Year
FOOL-4 +0.26% -2.02% 11.68%
DJIA +0.36% -3.44% 8.46%
S&P 500 +0.76% -2.77% 12.28%
NASDAQ +2.32% -2.29% 16.50%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 60.56 83.00 37.05%
12/31/97 291 Union Carb 42.94 47.19 9.90%
12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 43.13 42.63 -1.16%
12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 45.25 43.25 -4.42%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 12475.88 17098.00 $4622.13
12/31/97 291 Union Carb 12494.81 13731.56 $1236.75
12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 12463.13 12318.63 -$144.50
12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 12489.00 11937.00 -$552.00
CASH $754.73
TOTAL $55839.92
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