Lessons I’ve learned as an investor...

It’s been almost 30 years since I bought my first stocks and began investing, but I had no idea, what I was doing.

It’s only since the early 2000s that I have have become a more serious and steady investor; let’s say 15 years. I’ve made mistakes, made some good moves and in general, been quite lucky.

I have learned that no one knows anything about what the market will do, no matter what their credentials. I have also tried to live by Warren Buffet famous quote: “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”.

I also have discovered that I shouldn’t stress so much when the market goes down or when I’m missing out on a market going up without my participation.

In summary, I’ve learned to be very diversified, more calm, quiet, patient and not worry too much.

Is the stock market ready for the plunge?

After breaking all records lately, the U.S. stock market shows no sign of weakening in spite of all the trade uncertainty and the recession rumor-mill. So my question is the following?

Is the Market overvalued and, as an investor, should I be mindful of it. Morningstar, my usual benchmark says that it’s only overvalued by 2%, while the CAPE ratio (cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio) is a valuation measure that applies to the US S&P 500 equity market and that is defined as price divided by the average of ten years of earnings (moving average), adjusted for inflation.

It is also used to measure if a stock is undervalued or overvalued by comparing its current market price to its inflation adjusted historical earnings record. It is like the more popular price to earning ratio but it is calculated by dividing the current price of a stock by its average inflation adjusted earning over the last 10 years. It’s he brainchild of the American economist Robert Shiller.

While it’s not intended as an indicator of impending market crashes, high CAPE values have been associated with similar events. It’s not as bad as it was in 1999, but it’s still pretty high… Time to watch out?

Happy Thanksgiving !

If you are not American, Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and even in Liberia.

It’s a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year, but has turned into a big commercial event that culminates the following day (Black Friday). It’s celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places.

Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well and today, many question its place as it relates to the treatment of natives by European colonists.

The power of a (good) story

Last week, I attended (briefly) the 14th Annual Filmmaker Showcase at Park City, an evening of short film from Utah filmmakers and artists. I went there in quest for inspiration, but didn’t find much of it.

They were more use of drone, image manipulation and technical tricks, but it mostly was a confirmation of what I already knew: At the base of any great film is a compelling story that is well told, and that the shorter the movie, the more difficult it is to tell the story well.

I love to produce family videos and I’ll keep producing them as long as I can, by giving it my very best and adding a zest of my personality to it!

When gastronomy doesn’t meet expectations

This past Sunday night we decided to have dinner at the Montage, this “famous”, luxury Deer Valley Hotel.

The Apex is their best restaurant, and when we entered the dining room it was all but empty, something quite predictable in that period of off-season when everything looks dead. The room sure was impressive, the menu as pricey as we had expected it, but pretty confusing too.

As for the wine-list, it was as extensive as the bottles were expensive! We ordered, sat for a while and pretty soon, the cold coming from the exterior glass door was as noticeable as it was biting.

The quality of the food was not able to make up for that little inconvenience and the whole experience left us quite disappointed. Main Street, Park City, is a hell of a lot closer, tastier and much more affordable.

The worst news is that we already had lunch there in 2011 and that I had totally forgotten about it! Our take away is that, from this point forward, we’ll leave the Montage for those who get too easily confused between pompous setting, as well as obsequious service on one hand, and fine tasting food in a convivial atmosphere on the other.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!

Back on skis for another season!

After toiling on tuning up the family skis, installing my ski rack on the car and checking on my other important gear, I was fully ready to begin my 67th ski season, one day after the official Park City’s opening date and less than six month after hanging up my boards for the summer.

This past Saturday, the sun was up, and while the air was cold, I had a nice couple of hours skiing, without any line, the only work I had to do was dodging other skiers and finding a path on a narrow band of icy, man-made snow.

With new snow in the forecast for today and the rest of the week, I feel ready and mentally prepared to embrace another fun-filled ski season…

“Chin up!”

Many decades ago, while I still lived in France, I once happened to feel very sad and depressed about an outcome that was eluding me and was told “chin up!”, perhaps as a way to cope with my state of mind and help me draw the capacity to move on.

At the time, my English was quite limited and I failed to fully understand the meaning of the two words. I’ve since learned that “chin up” is something said to someone facing a difficult situation, to encourage them to be brave, not to be sad and “face the music” as it were.

Of course, “chin up” is ambiguous in and of itself and was handwritten on a note from a non-native English speaker, so all parties involved might have missed a lot – or not - out of an entanglement of ambiguities...