“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.''
— Actress Mary Pickford
Unless you’re a big fan of old movies like I am, you may not know much about Mary Pickford.
But believe me when I tell you: She was a Big Time player … in a whole bunch of ways.
We’re talking about the Margot Robbie of the Silent Film Era — an actress with star power who was also a savvy entrepreneur and a true trailblazer who made it easier for all the actresses who “came after.”
Pickford did this at a time when women in America faced towering barriers (they didn’t even get the right to vote until August 1920). And she had to overcome some tough personal challenges — the death of her alcoholic father when she was five and several tumultuous marriages.
But she was one of the biggest stars in early Hollywood, pioneering the ingenue role and earning the label “America’s Sweetheart.” When she married second husband Douglas Fairbanks, the couple was often referred to as “Hollywood Royalty.” (Even at private parties — when the two would enter a room — everyone would reflexively stand up.)
And they lived in a Beverly Hills mansion known as Pickfair — which Life magazine described as “a gathering place only slightly less important than the White House … and much more fun.”
In 1919, she co-founded film-production firm United Artists (now owned by Amazon MGM Studios) in conjunction with such heavyweights as Fairbanks, director D.W. Griffith and actor Charlie Chaplin. She was also one of 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the film organization known for its yearly Academy Awards, more commonly known as “The Oscars.”
That’s an impressive resume.
Just as impressive was her penchant for inspirational messages — a recognition of the struggles and obstacles in her own life.
That quote I shared at the open is well known — but is actually part of a longer message.
Said Pickford: “If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.”
In short, learn from and move past your mistakes — because it’s the future that matters.
As an investment writer, stock picker and Wealth Builder, that whole “what comes next is what matters” is a message that I’m totally down with.
After all, the stock market is a “what-comes-next” organism. And while we absolutely must study the past — and must learn from our miscues — “what comes next” determines our stock market wins and losses.
Powerful storylines. Sales-and-earnings growth. So-called “wildcards” (both good and bad). Opportunities and threats.
It’s all relevant.
Celebrate your victories here in 2024 … and learn from your mistakes. But understand that once the calendar flips … there’s a new game to play.
In that spirit, the Stock Picker’s Corner (SPC) team is excited to cap off our first year here on Substack with “Forecast 2025” — a series of special reports that reviews 2024 … and helps you understand the “what-comes-next” storylines of 2025.
I’m diving into the “Platinum Rolodex” of experts — and presenting my own latest research — to spotlight some of the best moneymaking ideas we see as the calendar flips from the “old” year to the new one.
It’ll give you some great starting points for your own research.
Our “leadoff hitter” in this forecast series is Danny Brody, a venture capitalist and longtime industry colleague who also runs The Net Worth Club. Danny has been a regular guest here at SPC, participated in our midyear review and is working on separate gold-and-copper-mining projects overseas.
Other contributors will include Coal Trader Publisher Matt Warder, Silver Stock Investor Publisher Peter Krauth and more.
All of these SPC-network “experts” will put the “past” (2024) in perspective, will look to the future (2025) and will detail some of their favorite stocks — which we encourage you to research for yourself.
And watch for my own contributions … all of this over the next few weeks.
Let me know what you think. And feel free to share these reports with family and friends.
Share this post