lessons from history

The “Crash” of 1987: A Contrarian View

© Can Stock Photo / konradbak

The 30th anniversary of The Crash of 1987, the biggest one day drop in the stock market ever, recently passed. Mainstream commentary made much of the 20+% loss on the day, the panic, the shock, and whether such a drop could happen again.

People sometimes learn the wrong lesson from experience. (In our opinion, many investors learn the wrong lesson.) The so-called crash is another case in point.

First let’s put the event in context. The S&P 500 stock index went from 242 at the beginning of the year to 247 by the end of the year, with some commotion in between1. There was no apparent damage to long term investors when the dust had settled—provided one adopted sensible time horizons by which to judge it.

In fact, the next year saw a gain of 12% in the S&P 500, plus dividends1. The five years following 1987 notched a cumulative gain of 76%, plus dividends. This is why it might make more sense, in our opinion, to refer to The Great Buying Opportunity of 1987.

Those with unproductive perspectives measure the loss in the crash from the high peak the market reached earlier in the year. The S&P had jumped 39% in just a few months, even though interest rates were rising sharply and corporate earnings had stalled. From that frothy peak to the lowest closing price after the ‘crash’ was a drop of 36%1.

Clients, many of you were evidently born with the common sense to know that your perspective on events is a matter of choice. You choose productive, effective ways to consider things. Some of you weren’t born that way, but were able to learn how. Our work is intended for you who may benefit from it, not those who insist on counterproductive investing attitudes and behavior.

We believe the productive way to think about 1987 is as a year where the market saw a modest gain, before rising more significantly in subsequent years. The wealth-corroding way to think of 1987 is as a terrifying rollercoaster with damage so great no one could stay invested. You choose your perspective.

The true lesson of 1987 for effective investors: avoid stampedes in the market. Go placidly amid the noise and haste. That you are able to do this is why we believe you are the best clients in the whole world. Email us or call if you would like to discuss your situation in more detail.

1S&P Dow Jones Indices, http://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500


The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal. The payment of dividends is not guaranteed. Companies may reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends at any given time.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is a capitalization weighted index of 500 stocks designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of 500 stocks representing all major industries.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

Classical Language, Mostly Classic Ideas

© Can Stock Photo / franckito

A surprising number of Latin phrases are woven into modern society, considering the language has not been widely used for centuries. From simple truisms like tempus fugit (time flies) to mottos like e pluribus unum (from many, one), the wisdom and ideas of a civilization lost to antiquity survive.

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote “experientia docet,” experience teaches. We must take issue with this one. Investors make a critical mistake in learning from experience, in our view. They often learn the wrong lesson.

People sometimes adopt tactics and strategies that would have worked great in the last cycle. Unfortunately, times change and the outdated strategies usually fail to perform like they did before.

In the year 2000, following the stock market bust stocks fell—but home values rose. This taught people the wrong idea that “you can’t lose money in real estate”, which caused a lot of damage during the 2007 financial crisis. Then, by 2009, lenders learned the wrong lesson again—because auto loans outperformed in the downturn. Today they may be setting up future losses by putting too much money into substandard auto loans.

A related problem is best illustrated by a product pitch we recently received from an investment sponsor. Their latest offering is based on “the top performing asset class of the last decade!”

Clients, you know what our issue is with this. We love to buy bargains. The best performer over the past decade is, by definition, no bargain. Piling in after a big runup may be jumping on the bandwagon right before it goes off a cliff. However, the experience of the last decade evidently taught many that the specific sector was the one to buy now. Wrong lesson, again.

One interesting facet of all this is that experience actually can teach us. We just need to be certain we are learning the right lesson.

There were useful and profitable lessons in the tech wreck of 2000 and the real estate bust that began in 2007. In our view, those lessons are that it is dangerous to invest in over-priced assets—and it doesn’t pay to join a stampede in the market. Those lessons help us live with attractively priced stocks, and avoid the flight to safety that made historically more stable assets overpriced (in our opinion.)

So let us leave you with a little Latin of our own devising: cognitio ad felicitatem. (Knowledge leads to prosperity.) Clients, if you have any questions, comments or insights please email us or call.


The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.

No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.

Because of their narrow focus, sector investing will be subject to greater volatility than investing more broadly across many sectors and companies.