Frank Sinatra Has Some Sage Advice for Your Investment Portfolio

Chris draws a unique connection between Frank Sinatra's timeless classic, "It Was a Very Good Year," and smart portfolio management. Using George Goodman's metaphor of a clock with no hands, he explains why timing the market is futile and highlights the importance of asset rotation, trimming positions, and protecting your downside. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it will have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Frank Sinatra and Your Portfolio. Yes, I am a Frank
Sinatra fan, and I'd have to say if I was
put on the uh put on the spot, I think
my favorite song by Frank Sinatra is it was a
very good year. Why, I don't know. I can't think

(00:36):
of another song quite frankly where you listen to it
and you close your eyes and you're there. I mean,
it's nothing like it. I mean he takes you, you know,
the background music, the way it is, he takes you
to those points in time. Read a little bit from

(01:00):
you know when I was seventeen it was a very
good year. It was a very good year for small
town girls and soft summer nights. We'd hide from the
lights on the village green when I was seventeen. And
if you're not familiar with the song, listen to it
for crying out loud kids. Close your eyes and listen
to it, and it goes through different points of his

(01:20):
life twenty one thirty five, all great years, even when
again he talks about when he's older in the autumn
of the year, thinks of his life as a vintage
wine from fine old kegs. Well, what does this have
to do with your portfolio and your money. Well, we

(01:45):
all have very good years. We all have very good
years when it comes to the performance in our portfolio
if you have any sort of competent advisors. With that
being said, With that being said, there are other years

(02:08):
and points in time where things come up where you
know what, things are not so good. And Frank doesn't
really sing about that in any of his songs. How
to tell what's going to be a very good year
in a not so very good year? It was a

(02:29):
great I was just reminded of this quite frankly. The
was a guy by the name of George Goodman, and
he wrote under the pen name Adam Smith. I got
to thank Jason's wife from the Wall Street Journal for
putting this out, and he put this information was in

(02:50):
a book in nineteen seventy two called Super Money. And
again he basically he writes a little tale about almost
similar to like the Frank Sinatra song, having a great
time at a party and champagne glasses are full and
everyone is laughing at a good time. But you know,

(03:14):
when is the right time to leave the party and
everyone is looking around you know, you know what time
is it? When should we go? And he he mentions
that you look at the clock and the clock has
no hands. Well, this goes along with what we talk
about about trying to time markets and the futility of

(03:39):
all that. With that being said, Okay, I don't know,
because again I'm getting questioned all the time what to
expect out of the markets during the Trump years. Listen,
I don't know what's around the corner. In order this
Donald Trump. Things were going swimmingly during his first run

(04:02):
at it and then you know, the COVID crazies came
in and wrecked it. What you need to do is
to make sure make sure that again you rotate assets
in your portfolio. You protect your downside by doing that.
You have that Barbelle strategy that we've talked about that

(04:26):
makes sense for the long run. You can have very
very good years, very good when the market's going like
anguists and the parties on, you can have a great year.
You know, the issue is when people get a little
bit too nuts. It's kind of like if you go

(04:47):
to a party and you drink too much, then the
party doesn't turn out so good in the end, does
it not. Again, what one needs to do, okay again,
is to make sure make sure that you're rotating assets
in your portfolio, you trim positions along the way, and

(05:10):
you're protected for whatever, you know, whatever your risk tolerance
is at that point in time. Again, I don't know,
I don't know. I said, that's kind of interesting. I
almost to put a clock in my office with no
hands on it. Here I am trying to time the market.
Because it doesn't work. Be smart, be prudent, and again

(05:35):
you will have plenty of very good years. Watchdog on
Wall Street dot com.