Mish Mailbag: How Can My “Sidelines Dad” Get in the Market Safely?

Reader Larry wants to know what advice I can give to his dad, sitting on the sidelines since 2009, waiting for the DOW to hit 6,000 which never happened.

Image from Why sitting on the sidelines in life — and investing — can be a big mistake.

Sitting on the sidelines in life is indeed a mistake.

But ask those who chased real estate in 2007 or dotcom companies in 2000 about investment mistakes.

Better yet ask Japanese Nikkei investors still hoping to get back to even after three decades. Contrary to near-universal disbelief,  that can happen here.

How long is your time horizon?

Larry writes:

Hi Mish,

Please do a story on how older people like my dad 68 can re-enter the stock market to balance out his portfolio at the next 40% bottom. He has had a war chest of $5 million to put in equities in 2009. He picked 6000 on the Dow as a starting point which proved greedy. At 6700 it got close but he thought it would be a dead cat bounce. He did not understand how QE would cause zero interest rates and allow companies to refi their debt and show more profits.

So far he has been willing to be patient and not chase yield. He is surprised how long the low-interest rate environment has lasted. He did not think he would have another opportunity but now he thinks he might. He also has money set aside to buy more real estate but the low caps and retail and office weakness have kept that in his pocket too. He missed the apartment rent increase play.

What would you have told people like him to do in 2009 and what would you tell them to do when the market gets whittled down slowly vs 1929, 2000, 2009? I Hate to see him do the wrong thing at his age.

Probably a lot of your readers are like him conservative to a fault.

Happiness = Wealth

For starters, it seems like your dad has $5 million. How bad can that be?

Maybe your dad could now be sitting on $25 million.

Had he thrown $100,000 at Bitcoin at the right time he might have a billion dollars. Ignoring Bitcoin, would he be any happier with $25 million than $5 million?

I know what I would have advised in 2009 because I know what I did. I bought when the S&P hit 666. My mistake was hedging after a double and getting out almost totally near $1500 except for some gold and miners that got clobbered. Ouch!

But the miners recovered nicely, and I am in some biotech plays that I like a lot. I am heavily in one private placement medical play that is doing exceptionally well but is still in a lockup period.

Like your dad, I have enough to live comfortably in retirement.

I have never been happier. I won’t even retire, I like what I am doing and I am having fun.

Understanding QE

I failed to understand what QE would do. Many of us did.

Many others believe they are geniuses because they accurately predicted what would happen.

In reality, the result may have been random. Things will not play out the same way the next time.

Opportunities Abound

There are always opportunities. They were giving gold miners away in late 2015 and early 2016. Pull up a chart of Newmont (NEM). In late 2015 one could have purchased NEM at $15. It tripled but fell back a bit. How bad is that?

Some junior miners are up 1000% in the same timeframe. Gold sentiment was a total washout in early 2015. No one wanted miners.

My message is to buy value when no one wants it. That’s easier said than done.

I bought a basket of miners in 2013. Opps. I unloaded some winners and losers in that basket and I believe I am marginally ahead (have not even looked at that account for a while, I don’t care). But nearly everything I added after that is way ahead, and I have some huge winners.

Get In Safely?

The only way to get in safely is to get in on total washouts and hold until you have a profit. Even then you time horizon better match.

But what constitutes a total washout? Stocks can go to zero. Enron and Global Crossing come to mind. Amazon fell to $6. It’s now over $1000.

Buy Amazon here? No thanks. But I would have said that at $250 if not before.

Back to Dad

It’s not clear that your dad needs to be doing anything. What does he want? What does he need? How long does he expect to live?

It’s not possible to fully answer your initial question not knowing the above.

My only fear would be your dad start chasing things after this massive rally. Recessions do happen. So do profit warning declines. In my estimation, it would take a 50% decline in the markets just for stocks to get back to normal valuations.

It is far easier to make up for lost opportunities than realized losses! More opportunities will come, but no one flashes a light.

Staying on the sidelines with a bit of gold and miners seems like a reasonably prudent action at this point even though I personally am overweight miners.

Final Thoughts

Some people really do not belong in this market at all. Perhaps your dad is one of them. What’s his timeline? What’s yours?

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1. Median Price-to-Revenue Ratio Higher in All Deciles vs 2007, 90% vs Dot-Com Bubble: THE Choice

2. Bubblicious Debate: Greenspan Says “Bond Bubble About to Break”, No Stock Market Bubble,

3. Tracking the Amazing Junk Bond Bubbles in the US and Europe

Trends in Sentiment, Asset Bubble, Gold

Finally, please consider my 38 slide powerpoint Venture Alliance Presentation on trends in sentiment, asset bubbles, and gold.