Sir John Templeton, the Founder of the Templeton Funds invested quite successfully over many years with the belief that:

“Bull Markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria”.

This has been just as true in the last decade as it was in the 1940’s when he started his first mutual funds.

No one can doubt the great euphoria of the late 90’s, with the markets rising greater than 20% five straight years from 1995 through 1999[1] - a truly bullish market.  This bull died in the 3 years following, 2000-2002, leading to deep pessimism caused by the market performance, terrorist attacks, war, Enron and other corporate scandals, etc.  That pessimism was followed by the bull market of 2003-2007 only to be followed by the bear market and pessimism of 2008.  Since the market low of that deeply pessimistic time (March 9, 2009) the S&P 500 Index has risen 108% as of March 31, 2012[2].

It takes great fortitude to overcome the emotion of pessimism to invest in the dark days of a bear market, but great rewards have resulted for those who have invested with their “head” and not their “stomach”.  As always, though, we must add that past performance does not guarantee future results!

One of my favorite people, Ronald Reagan, exuded confidence and optimism - two things that have long been characteristics of American people, but seem to be in short supply today.  Even in the darkest days of the 1980's, he had the vision that those were not days of darkness and fear, but of that time being "Morning in American Again."  I don't know about you, but I am tired of being inundated with the gloomy and fatalistic prophecies of this being the end of America, of the World, of Capitalism, of everything that is good and just, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  I choose not to attend the pity parties that seem to permeate the airwaves, the newspapers, the coffee shop talk, etc. 

Life is so much better when we choose to live it in a positive, optimistic, enthusiastic manner, and I choose to do that.  I choose to throw off the cloak of gloom and doom and dark thoughts.  I choose to look forward to the future with hope and optimism.  I have made up my mind to view gold as a bright shiny metal that can be made into beautiful pieces of jewelry and not something I will have to eat in the future, as it will be the only thing left.  I have made up my mind to smile and to have a brightness to my disposition that leaves all those I meet better for have crossed my path.  I choose to look for the good in all people.  And I choose to thank God for all the blessings He has brought into my life.

Please join me, and Cuba Financial Group, and let's transform this world by being a positive influence to the small space that we occupy within it.