☕ The first thing you should do this morning if you haven’t already

Good morning! 👋 

September is off to a rough start, at least if you believe the headlines. 

My take is different. 

I’m going shopping this morning and grinning ear to ear. 

Here’s my playbook. 

1 – Sort the headlines first 

The single most important thing you can do on days like this is to sort out the headlines. 

First. 

Before you do anything else. 

CNBC reports... 

Yahoo has gone with... 

Bloomberg is down with... 

Fox Business notes... 

Motley Fool, meanwhile, has gone straight for the jugular... 

MyPOV? 

Keep it stupid simple. 

Many investors find out the hard way that they’ve been speculating when the headlines and clickbait gets rolling like it did yesterday and is again today because they lurch from stock to stock when their emotions get the better of ‘em. 

Clickbait is not an investment strategy! 

Print this chart out and tape it to your monitor, your bathroom mirror or even your forehead if you must. 

Now, repeat after me just to make sure you’ve got it. 

“The markets always reward discipline.” 

Now, that wasn’t so hard was it? 😊 

2 – Schwab, Fidelity, and Robinhood fail customers AGAIN 

The DOJ wastes a lot of time looking at issues it can’t solve but then does nothing when something happens that is actually detrimental to consumers. 

Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, Interactive Brokers and other platforms reported that they had “operational” problems yesterday that prevented some clients from logging in and executing trades. (Read) 

Blue Ocean, a platform that enables overnight trading (and which many use), also apparently had problems resulting in firms like Robinhood cancelling overnight activity. 

I can almost guarantee Wall Street’s sharks had no such troubles. 

Makes me boiling mad, honestly. 

Where’s the DOJ and why aren’t there uptime guarantees or a system wide requirement that if elements of the market have failed consumers, then everybody’s trades get flatlined or unwound??!! 

Fair is fair. 

Keith’s Investing Tip: People grouse about stuff like this time, then give up. I believe that you CAN beat Wall Street at its game even when it clearly enjoys advantages individual investors don’t. How? By using tactics that take away their advantage and which keep your emotions out of the equation. Learn more. 

3 – Nordstrom does what many CEOs dream about 

I’ve been doing this a long time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned above all else, it’s that money is like water and will flow to where it’s treated best. 

I told you a few years back the increasingly oppressive nature of government regulation along with the constantly rising cost of compliance would have an unintended backlash government boffins can’t imagine. 

Great companies will go private rather than put up with the baloney. 

Nordstrom is out this morning with a $23 per share offer to do just that. (Read) 

Three things come to mind: 

1. Taking the company private would save management millions a year in compliance costs, reduce liability and free up resources that will otherwise go straight to the bottom line... which the investing public will miss. 
2. More companies will follow, particularly if they’re in cahoots with private equity groups that have access to capital rates expected to decline. This, too, leaves investors with fewer choices over time.  
3. Still, there are great retailers out there and my fave – a long time recommendation - has returned 3X the S&P 500 over the past 12 months, sports a CAGR of nearly 26% and is nearly 30% less volatile than the broader markets so investors who own it get a smoother ride with all the profit potential they can handle at the same time. 

Keith’s Investing Tip: Paying attention to big, sweeping themes is an important part of the investing process. Like surfing, you want to ride the big waves - “5 Ds” in OBA parlance - and leave the smaller sets to chumps.  🏄 

Btw, if you’re not getting this kind of performance but would like to have a shot at it, you might enjoy One Bar Ahead®. Otherwise, charge on (because presumably whatever you’re doing is working). 

4 – Financial heresy, but I’m betting against Berkshire 

Call me crazy, but I think BRK might not be “all that” much longer. 

Buffett isn’t a spring chicken but that’s not why. I am certain he’s got a legacy plan in place and a team of folks who are well-trained to take over when he’s done (one way or the other). 

I simply don’t like the chart. 

BRKB has charged higher recently at a time when the company is increasingly pulling in its horns. A break under $450 seems likely but buying under $400 would make it interesting. 

Putskies? 

5 – Volvo drops all EV by 2030 strategy 

Not that this is a surprise. (Read) 

Hybrids are the way to go, but probably not enough to move the needle. VLVLY has been stuck in a range for quite some time and I don’t see management doing anything other than plodding along. 

Meanwhile, Toyota could have owned this market if it had taken Prius technology seriously early on.  

Moves like this do clear the deck for Unka Elon and Tesla. 

So there is that. 

Bottom Line 

Not investing is worse than being invested in markets that stink. 

Just sayin’ 

You got this – I promise. 

As always, let’s MAKE it a great day. 

Keith 😊