Ups and downs to watch

Here is some stock market advice I have observed. And I will give you some advice on stocks.

I thought I had it made when my brother-in-law left coaching and became a stock broker in Chicago. So I discreetly asked if he had any special advice. He said “the market always goes up and always goes down, etc.”

So I was disappointed that it was not more specific. However, I eventually realized that it was best not to worry about the daily ups and downs or even the yearly ups and downs. So that was advice from an expert analyst.

Yesterday I saw a long article from a national magazine writer that was reprinted on the internet. The headline and the lead paragraph said that the Waltons were cashing out of Walmart and I should do the same. I actually read the story to see if I really needed to sell my Walmart common stock.

But the rest of the story seemed to say just the opposite of what the headline was saying. Actually, the company is buying up a lot of their own stock, which would indicate that maybe I should buy some more instead of cashing out.

The result of the buyback would be that both I and the Waltons would own a higher percentage of the company. A big benefit would be that the Waltons will own a majority of the stock, so the corporate raiders will not be able to get control.

So while the writers and analysts during many years told me repeatedly that the company cannot get any bigger, which means to sell the stock, I held on during ups and downs.

One analyst that I did pay attention to was the guy who pointed out that when the ladies' skirts get longer, the economy will slow down and when the skirts go up, the economy will go up. I made a point to watch, and found that he was right. That research has been valuable in several ways.

So now I will give you some economic advice.

Watch the skirts and skirt the analysts.