"It's Vegas again, Baby!"

Richard Crenian Blogs
December 15, 2008

“It’s Vegas Again, Baby!”

Does anyone really care about the markets anymore? Up, down, sideways?
Do we even bother running home to check to see what they are doing, or have we managed to go on with our lives.
Nothing has changed unless you have a ton in the market.
We just learned that the markets are not to be trusted and what it seems to be may not always be true.
Smoke and mirrors and when they disappear you have what we now have, reality.
It was nice to see an article by Dan Richards, a faculty member in the MBA program at the Rotman School at the University of Toronto, in the Globe and Mail on December 9th, with a heading “Markets: Like Taking your Cash to Vegas?”
I don’t have an MBA but I graduated with a honorary degree with a doctorate from the U of HK (Hard Knocks). Hardest school to graduate from, easiest school to get into; perhaps I have run into you as a graduate too?
I heard today that Ipso Reid Survey suggests that Canadians still believed that Real Estate is the better way to go instead of stocks.
I will go one further, good real estate cash flow, well located with a good management team is the only way to go. Do you agree?
Here is my last Vegas Baby Blog from September 29th, 09 if you missed it!

Richard Crenian


“Its Vegas, Baby”
By Richard Crenian

September 29, 2008

I have been to Las Vegas, but I don’t gamble. I tried. I lost a hundred dollars and it made me sick. That was about 25 years ago. I couldn’t stand that I had lost the money so foolishly and in about twenty minutes. I worked hard for that hundred dollars and wanted to stretch it to enjoy it. I didn’t. I have not gambled since.

When my friends were investing in the stock markets, and making money in mutuals, I was happy for them. Why they asked didn’t I invest in them?
For me it was easy……. “Vegas, Baby”.

My rule was not to gamble unless it was a sure thing. A sure thing is tangible and I have control. Logic and common sense is how I like to invest, not on emotion.

A hurricane happens, and the oil prices go up. The wind blows the wrong way and a stock goes down. Russia looks at China the wrong way and the stocks go down. The USA has a banking crisis and………….?

Gold up one day, down the next. Currency up one day, down the next.
What happens when you turn 65 and want to cash in your chips? Is something, somewhere in world affecting your ability to draw your hard earn money out? Then what?

If you have the stomach for this, I applaud you.
I don’t.
I refuse to gamble with my future.

Will I have to work till I am 80? It is worrisome.

Me? Stick with my cash flowing products, stay above inflation, worry less and enjoy life more. Let the winds blow from where they may as it doesn’t affect my investment decisions.

When you buddies lament about how their portfolios are not doing well, smile, nod and think, “It’s Vegas, Baby!” And be glad you aren’t there!

Richard Crenian