Perspective

I am not accustomed to having my customers lose money. The roughly 20% losses my clients accounts have seen over the last 18 months defied all of the rules that have held true in my 25 years as an advisor. Obviously, I was not alone in being caught by this charade that has been foisted on the unsuspecting public.

In retrospect, I don't think any of us could have seen this manufactured banking "crisis" coming, not even the most saavy advisors. After reading the following article and realizing how much of my clients' funds we DIDN'T lose, instead of how much we DID lose, I might sleep a little better at night.

Hopefully you will too.


Why You Should Sell
from The Motley Fool

I can be just as dumb as anybody else. -- Peter Lynch, September 2008

Peter Lynch earned near-30% annual returns running Fidelity Magellan from 1977 to 1990. He's sold millions of books, raised millions for charity, and holds the rare distinction of having a Motley Fool Global HQ conference room named after him.

But in September 2008, Peter Lynch also had the ignominious honor of holding both AIG (NYSE: AIG) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) in his personal portfolio -- as they dropped 82% and 76%, respectively, during that month alone.

Ouch.

For those of us who have spent our investing careers trying to match the great Peter Lynch … well, if you lost 80% in September, then congratulations -- you did it! If you did better than negative 80%, then you beat the great Peter Lynch.