Front Range Financial Consulting

We thought you might be interested in a recent article from the New York Times in which Warren Buffett, one of the world's most renowned investors, discusses opportunities he sees in today's market.

You can view the article on the New York Times webpage.

As you are aware, the capital markets and global economies are experiencing a tremendous shock. What was isolated to certain segments of the marketplace has spread to other areas. Naturally, this has translated into lower investor confidence – a phenomenon with which we can all relate.

Investors enjoying a wonderful 2008 probably aren’t concerned about the financial markets. Perhaps they haven’t been shopping for groceries or filling their gas tanks. By most measures, the second quarter of the year was memorable only for its abysmal performance, though the degree of misery it produced depends on how you are invested.

It could be that those images of large chunks of Antarctic ice floating free into the warming oceans are having an effect on the world of investments. Add the multiple effects of visible climate change, the growing global concern about the future of energy and the maturing of the concept, and you can understand why incorporating a sense of social and environmental responsibility into portfolio choices is a hot trend.

There are two ways to handle the kind of markets that played out in the first quarter of 2008. You can simply look away, adopting a long-range view that one day the antic volatility of the first three months of 2008 will be seen as an inconvenient blip on the upward trend of market value. Or you can be caught in a frozen stare as market values suddenly dash upward only to see those gains evaporate in a steady march back down.

Now that President Bush has signed a $168 billion economic-stimulus package that includes one-time payments to more than 131 million households, taxpayers are asking two key questions:

Disciplined, learned behavior tends to benefit everyone, especially in tense situations. In investing climates characterized by volatile markets, you can benefit by calling on those learned skills and applying them to your investment outlook. That said, when markets drop dramatically, it’s perfectly natural to speculate on how much value your portfolio might lose, or wonder whether you’ll be able to maintain your retirement lifestyle. 

As you bid goodbye to the 2007 market year, you may have felt a bit like a reluctant rollercoaster rider who staggers onto the unloading platform unsure of just how many corkscrews and loops were encountered along the way, because the thrill wasn’t in the ride. The thrill was in survival.