Horse Sense

Horse Sense

by Margaret Wittkopp, President

 

Do you have “horse sense”?  Having good horse sense means you know how to handle yourself, have common sense and are a prudent person.  A person without “horse sense” is not considered to have much common sense.  Maybe you have horse sense when you are around your horses…but do you have the same horse sense when it comes to your financial life?   

There are many commonalities between good horse sense and good financial sense, especially when it comes to investing. Here are a few examples:

Patience:   It takes patience to train a horse, gain their confidence and get them to do what you want them to do.  Some have used abusive and brutal techniques to get a horse to behave, but anyone with horse sense knows that is not an effective way to train horses.   

It also takes patience to be a good investor: knowing your risk tolerance and structuring your investment according to your objectives, riding out the ups and downs of the markets, prudently re-balancing and avoiding the pitfalls of the quick fix.

Discipline:  Having the discipline to work your horse regularly and with consistent cues is hard work and necessary for good results with your horse. 

Discipline is also a necessary ingredient to financial success.  Avoiding the pitfalls that so many investors fall into like: track record investing, market timing, and speculative investments among other deadly practices.

Soundness:  A sound horse is a healthy horse, and a sound investment/financial plan is based on sound science, is academically proven, and verifiable.  Before I buy a horse I want it checked out by a veterinarian I trust.  A sound Investment plan should undergo the same scrutiny.

VERITAS Financial Services, LLC 506 East Mill Street Suite 101 Plymouth, WI 53073 920-893-5262   923 South Main Street Suite E Oshkosh, WI 54902 920-251-4862 www.veritasinvesting.com www.facebook.com/veritasinvesting

Courage:  It takes courage to ride a 1000 lb animal.  No matter how they act on the ground, under saddle anything can happen.  We all know that, and still the desire to ride overcomes our fear.

To be financially successful it is important to “bridle” the forces of the market to our advantage.  We do this through investing in the market.  When done in a prudent and cost effective way we can, and generally will, experience the rewards of the market.  To get the rewards of the market we must have the courage to seek the truth about investing and implement it.

Everyone needs a COACH/Trainer:   A good trainer is invaluable, from braking out a horse to knowing how to ride the horse to ...well you name it.  To have a great experience with our horse we need coaching along the way.

A Coach, (not a salesperson disguised as an “advisor” “planner” "wealth manager” etc.)  helps you understand markets, structure your investments prudently,  according to your personal needs and objectives.   And most importantly a Coach tells you want you need to know…. not what you want to hear, to keep you moving toward your goals and helping you have a successful financial life.

Confidence:  This is the reward we receive from our discipline, patience and the courage we develop from working with our horse. 

Confidence is also what we gain when we know how to answer the: “20 Must Answer Questions for Financial Peace of Mind”.  See the attached quiz and find out how you are as an investor.  Answers must be 100% sure to count as a yes…and only you will benefit from knowing.

 

Fund Manager Success: Repeatable or Not?

For those of you who read my blog posts or receive our emails, you'll know that Standard and Poor's compiles some very interesting information on mutual fund manager performance versus their benchmarks.  The SPIVA Scorecard is a piece that I reference often.

Today, I ran across a new paper from S&P, The Persistence Scorecard.  This report looks at performance persistence in mutual funds.  For example, let's say a broker tries to sell you a fund whose manager has been on fire this year, beating the market by 10%.  Should you take this as an assurance that you will enjoy these lofty returns into the future?

Without retyping the entire article, I'll relay one of their findings that essentially summarizes the findings.  Over the three year period ending March of 2013, out of the top 25% of all performing US Equity funds at the start, only 4.69% of those funds remained in the top 25% of performers at the end of the 3 year period.

So, if you are entertaining purchasing a fund just because of its manager's stellar record, you may want to reconsider that decision, and find other, better criteria for fund selection.