Years ago, my wife and I were really into a TV show called The Biggest Loser. If you’ve never heard of it, the general premise was essentially a couple of personal trainers and fitness experts were featured on the show every week helping a group of people struggling with weight loss and body image. Over the course of the season you would see these individuals go through a dramatic multi-month transformation 30 minutes at a time, as they developed better habits and unwound destructive ones. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable to see people improve their lives, many of whom had come from very dark places not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

But the current market environment, with all its volatility and unexpected moves, reflects riding a bike around Washington. There are times you have to work really hard, and times when you can ease off a bit. There are big uphill and downhill moves, and it’s almost like riding around with your eyes closed in a lot of ways.

“A man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.”

That’s a quote from John Foster Dulles, and if you don’t know him, you may be familiar with Washington Dulles airport which was named after him. Dulles was the Secretary of State under President Eisenhower in the 1950s.

To be honest, this quote has always bothered me. Why? I am not a detail-oriented person. At. All.

Believe it or not, “work” can actually mean standing still.

In my previous role at a large financial institution, I found that “work” meant “activity”. When someone was working, a lot of times that meant they were taking action…

FOMO is something we’ve talked about in investing for awhile now, especially after more than a decade of bull markets in stocks. FOMO, or the Fear Of Missing Out, is what is motivating investors to continue to buy stocks on the way up- this idea that stock prices could go to the moon and they don’t want to miss out …

In case you’ve missed it, we have recently found ourselves in a bear market environment.

The first quote I want to share with you about this market environment is,

“Bull markets are great, but they breed complacency. Bear markets can be energizing. Instead of fretting over the decline in your net worth think opportunistically about all of those bargains and the potential gains when inevitably a bull market returns.” – James B. Stewart

When you check your portfolio to discover that your holdings are going down, or already in the red, how does that make you feel, physically? Likely, it is a slightly painful feeling and you get sweaty palms, feel lightheaded, get a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach, or maybe you feel pessimistic (or optimistic)?

I read a quote recently that says, “When you know a thing to hold that you know it and when you do not know a thing to allow that you do not know it, this is knowledge.” Confucius.

This week I’m in Orlando, Florida, getting ready to speak on Saturday at The Money Show. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I will also have the opportunity to interview various strategists and experts for StockChartsTV.

This past weekend my family celebrated our 100th geocache!  If you’re not familiar with geocaching, it’s essentially a real-world scavenger hunt that is web-based. Using an app on your phone that works via GPS, you can go on a scavenger hunt from literally anywhere you are in the world. My family has done this on our travels across the country and as well around the world. My wife and I have done it together but it is also something we really enjoy doing as a family with our 12 and 3-year-old children, as well as our family dog. We follow the directions (via the app) on our phone to find cool and unique treasures.