Chief Investment Officer, Nathan Hoyt

You have probably heard from any one of the financial news outlets and most of the major news outlets (or your barista, uber driver, hairstylist etc.) the remarkable price action in a handful of stocks that you thought you would never hear about ever again ($AMC / $GME / $NOK / $BB to name a few positions that have doubled or tripled and then halved, sometimes in the same day). Right now, most people are either wanting to mute/ignore it, or like some, dive into a trade we might not witness again. If you are reading this, you probably already know the backstory, so I won’t summarize it here, but as investors (and human beings) we ask ourselves, “What should I DO about this?”

My response: Nothing. While it’s entertaining and drives headlines, these trades are truly happening in the margin – Long term investing/wealth accumulation is boring and admittedly simple even though it is not easy (I could reference March of 2020 here, but I won’t). I’m always happy to see individuals do well vs. the institutions. It’s one reason we are independent and don’t work for a brokerage house. However, someone will be left holding the bag, and the institutions are still playing to win.

Speculation has been around forever and the fear of missing out on a massive upswing will strike again! If you have the gambler’s itch to buy a highly speculative position, there are plenty of less expensive (and more fun) ways to double your money (or lose it all). Las Vegas could use the economic boost.

At least we can take a breather from our fear of missing out on Bitcoin this week.

• Nathan Hoyt
• Chief Investment Officer