We can teach from our experience, but we cannot teach experience - Sasha Azevedo

 

 

 

“It must be a difficult time for you with all these market ups and downs,” she began. It was another meeting with Mrs. G., as always highly anticipated. Whether she knew it or not, there were always so many life lessons with every visit. I always joked that she should write a book but being the humble person she was she always replied, “No one wants to hear about my stuff.” But I did.

 

“Well, my friend, I keep hearing about ‘jittery investors’ and a ‘nervous market’ so I thought I’d come and get your thoughts.” She was always curious and passionate about understanding.

 

“Mrs. G., through all these years, I’ve never seen you ‘jittery’ or ‘nervous’, why is that?''  I asked.

 

With a deep breath and her typical grin, she said “It really goes all the way back to my upbringing, our past experiences shape our behaviors, whether we like it or not. Some people understand this and see the nuances in their behaviors, and some just don’t. You see, I was born in the spring of 1926 on an island in the Caribbean and we were not wealthy, but we were not poor either. Our family worked hard farming and we really knew and respected the value of our work and what it brought us. We really learned living through the Great Depression, those times were tough, but we persevered. We just did what we had to do and just as that time passed World War II started sending us into another tumultuous time and again, we just kept plodding along. Through those tough times, my dad taught us that we worked hard for what we had and the fruits of our work allowed us some choices. He had two big lessons that have always stuck with me and those were: money is only good for the choices it allows you and money is not to be wasted nor worshiped.”

 

“We were taught to always be optimistic. Everyone wants better for their future generations, and everyone strives for that, throughout history it has always been that way but sometimes the ‘noise’ gets in the way. When that noise gets too loud, I always step back and think if in the long term this will stop the relentless pursuit of getting and doing better. It never has. We’ve been through wars, disease, conflicts, crisis and it never lasts, it’s not easy but it doesn’t last and that’s because we all want to get better, not only for ourselves but future generations too…. we’re all inherently optimistic. When people lose sight of that they become jittery and panicked and no one makes smart decisions in that frame of mind so I just try to avoid making big decisions when I have that feeling…and I do feel like that sometimes, not as bad as my neighbor but we all feel like that occasionally. Through my whole life, I’ve seen what we can overcome and I’ve always held on to that optimism.”

 

“Is this the same neighbor that you play tennis with?”, I asked.

 

“Oh yes! She’s a wonderful neighbor, we just think differently. She has the nicest tennis racket, the newest golf clubs, a beautiful car, fancy home and all the nice ‘stuff’ and she admits much of it is to live up to what people think is the appearance of success. It works for her I guess but quite honestly, I don’t care what other people think, I tend to just stay in my own lane, if you know what I mean? And that brings us full circle as to why I’m here today”

 

“I’m not sure I’m following” I said, trying to emulate her curiosity.

 

“Well, my neighbor is nervous and jittery about markets and I’ve learned that there is often an opportunity when others are fearful so I’m here to start exploring … staying in my lane but watching what’s going on around me. Things might seem a bit tough right now, but they’re not going to stay that way forever, this too shall pass and we’re going to profit from it eventually.”