What if we're wrong?  Any sound investment philosophy begins with this question.  The past two years remind us that financial ambushes lurk around every corner....

Risk happens gradually, then all at once.  Inconvenient slips needle us as markets rise, while ruthless wealth plundering declines stun us as they tumble.  Over the past two years, we've gone from the most significant economic crisis since the Great Depression......

When we're losing money, markets can feel like a casino. That feeling, while natural, is inaccurate. The longer we gamble in a casino, the more odds tilt in the house's favor. Vegas is "Vegas" for a reason. The longer we stay in the game, the greater our odds of success.

History doesn't crawl; it leaps.  Significant events that change the world seem abrupt, shaking our confidence casting the world in a dense fog.  More times than not, giant leaps aren't giant at all.....

Stock market history is the story of enormous gains with bouts of sheer terror amid the drumbeat of constant chaos.  All past declines appear like opportunities through the lens of hindsight, while uncertainty paints all future market slides as risks.....

History is the study of surprising events.  Ironically, historical data, littered with surprises, is the compass guiding us into the future.  Following an erratic two years, we covet predictability in 2022...

Current times usually seem complicated, and we fondly remember golden earlier days.  But the past certainly wasn't as comfortable as we remember, with more challenges than we often recall.  The same is true with investing....

We all crave certainty.  It's in our DNA.  But investing success isn't about discovering one optimal investment solution.  Optimal solutions don't exist because factors in the investment equation constantly shift.  What worked yesterday won't always work today...

Finance professor Elroy Dimson says, "risk means more things can happen than will happen."  Lurking beneath that comment is the sobering realization that if the COVID crisis had never occurred, something just as wild and unpredictable could have replaced it....

On March 23rd, 2020, The S&P 500 dangled at 2,237.40.  Three hundred and fifty-four trading days later, on August 16th, 2021, the S&P 500 closed at 4,479.71.  The fastest 100% gain off a bottom since World War II....