Folks are calling it “The Great North American Eclipse.”
And the last few days have delivered a synchronous array of eclipse-related anecdotes with personal connections – as it’s saying: “Bill, write about me.”
So I did exactly that.
Truth be told, the writer in me can’t resist chronicling the (admittedly) tangential ways the Great Eclipse is touching my life.
I mean …
I was trying to connect with my college roommate Sparky and his wife Colleen, who yesterday told me that they’re “kinda off the grid” visiting her brothers in Vermont – to get a great view of the great eclipse.
My mother-in-law has updated us about the Upstate New York region — where she still lives and where my wife Robin grew up — about how it’s experiencing a Noah-magnitude flood of tourists … each of them hoping for a better look of their own.
Robin’s Aunt Irene, who lives in Avon Lake, Ohio — billed as that state’s “point of greatest duration for the total solar eclipse” — told us her city has been overrun by campers wanting to see for themselves. (Indeed, the Avon Lake Recreation Department said its 79-acre Weiss, the largest community park in the area, is “SOLD OUT!”).
When I took Joey to Bomboy’s Homemade Ice Cream in nearby Havre de Grace Saturday evening – to get him out of the house and spend a little time together – he told me about all the TikTokers who claim the eclipse is a manifestation of the Second Coming and Judgment Day. (Joey likes to find TikTok videos he knows will make me laugh).
And Harry, one of my two friends of 50 years – knowing I was working on a Great Eclipse piece for you folks here at Stock Picker’s Corner (SPC) – sent me the following meme. (In the slice of Maryland where we live and work, this same meme gets used for thunderstorms and snowfalls of any amount).
These present-day anecdotes took me back to a different time … a different story … and a different eclipse – this one in the middle 1980s, at the start of my newspaper career, at a tiny weekly called The Record, operating out of the same nearby city of Havre de Grace that Joey and I just visited for our ice cream outing.
It’s a story with some worthwhile lessons for your future and your money – in the months, years and decades to come. (Which means that, with apologies to those TikTokers, Judgment Day is well down the road.)
Let me share that story with you here today.
“They” Told Me To
With a small staff (the editor, three reporters and a photographer), we’d often tackle big stories in a “team” fashion; in short, have each staffer go out and gather notes, and name one person as the lead writer –meaning they’re responsible for ferreting through all the gathered material and pulling the best of it together into the “Page One” story.
During one of the eclipses we had in the middle 1980s, the tiny weekly opted for such a “full-staff press.” Each of us journeyed out on our own, to beat the bushes for the best story fodder. We each interviewed the elected officials, top cops, judges and community personalities on our respective “beats” – and fed our notes to the staffer assigned to write the main story … which, in this particular case, was the editor, John W.
And after I’d shared the “stuff” I’d collected, John stopped what he was doing, shook his head, looked me directly in the face with a laugh – and said: “Have I got a story for you, Bill.”
Now, you have to remember: We’re talking 1984 or so – a point that was loooooonnng before people were getting their news on the Internet. So that eclipse had been the featured story in newspapers, magazines, on the radio and on TV. And one of the dominant messages dealt with the “don’t do’s” … you know, don’t stare directly at the eclipse … don’t use ‘exposed film’ to look at it … don’t expect the mirror-lens sunglasses that were “hip” at that time to protect your eyes.
As part of his reporting, John did one of those “man-on-the-street” interviews with a random person (known as “real people” in newsroom parlance) he’d found. As John told me, this guy (whose name has been lost to the years) ended up questioning him.
“Is it true that you’re not supposed to look directly at [the eclipse]? That it’s dangerous? That it can damage your eyes, or even make you go blind?” the guy asks my boss.
John said he nodded, averring that all to be true.
The man being interviewed thinks this over for a few seconds, shakes his head in bewilderment and shoots back:
“Then what are they having it for?”
As if an eclipse is some kind of “planned event” – like a concert tour or a fireworks display.
We never figured out who “they” were … and I’m not sure John ever asked. (That may have been one interview he was happy to cut short.)
Shining a Light on Human Nature
Forty years have passed. And that story still makes me laugh. Usually out loud.
But as extreme (and funny) as that eclipse anecdote is, it also makes me think – about human nature … and how to harness those sometimes-ruinous tendencies in winning ways.
Even when it comes to our money.
For instance: As humans, we have a need for answers. So we ask questions – lots of questions. As a former reporter, I’ll be the first to tell you that asking questions can be good – heck, can be great. But if you question everything, the odds are pretty strong that you’re failing to ask the right questions.
We also feel the need to “eventize” everything – you know, obsess about finding “the reason” for every single thing that happens.
The combination of those two can lead to some destructive results, including:
A tendency to ask lots of questions … too many questions … but not the right questions.
An obsession with minutiae – so you end up with lots of “facts,” but very little “meaning.”
And a hyper-focus on the near-term – which can cause you to lose all sense of the long term.
With money … investing … and stocks, this can be fatal.
Indeed, one of the mantras here at SPC is: “Be a Wealth Builder, not a Wealth Killer.” And sticking with today’s solar eclipse motif, these errant tendencies can turn out the lights on your investing success – and if they persist can be real Wealth Killers.
So let’s translate those solar-eclipse “do’s and don’ts” into their Wealth Builder Counterparts.
Don’t: Question everything: This leads to an obsession with data that floods you with so much of it that there are no conclusions on which to act.
Do: Figure out which questions matter – for your specific goals, your investing tolerance and the strategy you’re following. Those are the right questions – and are the queries you want to pose over and over again. For instance, don’t ask “what stock should I buy?” Ask, what businesses do I want to invest in? And why?”
Don’t: Drown in minutiae: In combination with the next “don’t,” this leads to an inordinately near-term focus – one that can turn you into a true Wealth Killer.
Do: See the big picture: Together with the next (and final) “do,” this is the key to being a Wealth Builder … and Wealth Winner. It focuses you on the long haul, where the real wealth is made.
Don’t: “Eventize” everything: Do this and you’ll burn your time trying to figure out why the stock you own went up or down a quarter point today, and what that stock will do tomorrow, or next week, or three months from now. The real money is made in the long run. And the next “do” will help you see where you want to be.
Do: Find and focus on the dominant “storylines:” Our other key mantra here is “find the best storylines and you’ll find the best stocks.” Here we mean “stocks” as a synonym for “businesses.” I know from years of experience, those dominant “storylines” are the investment narratives that are poised to last for years. Sometimes even decades. These are life-changing, economy-altering, paradigm-shifting narratives – and are the narratives true big money will keep flowing into. So I’m not as concerned about the near-term “events,” because I don’t obsess over what’s happening this week, or next month, or later in the year. I’ll look at some of those – insofar as they help shape the big picture. But we Wealth Builders want to stick with the storylines that will carry us for three, five, seven or 10 years – or more. And to invest in the businesses that we know will be the biggest beneficiaries. Some of the dominant storylines I’m following right now are Artificial Intelligence, the New Biotech, the New Cold War, and the Need for True Passive Income. These are Wealth Building storylines that will anoint opportunities.
Contrary to what those TikTok videos say, the Great North American Eclipse isn’t the end of the world. In fact, if you take the lessons I shared to heart, it can be a New Dawn – one that shifts you from Wealth Killer to Wealth Builder. Or, if you’re already on a Wealth Builder path, it renews your focus in a way that lights up your results.
That’s a change to feel good about.
Even “they” would be proud — whoever they are.
See you next time;