We’ve all heard the adage “it’s a marathon – not a sprint.”  Sadly in our instant gratification society too many of us miss the importance of the sentiment.

Investors often fall victim to impatience – usually through fear of missing out or falling behind.  Emotional barriers to smart behavior are real and shouldn’t be minimized but letting them get in the way of achieving goals is a loser’s game.

Each year we’re battered with useless information to which we give too much credence.  Websites and magazines promote the top ten funds.  Our friends tell us about the latest stock tip/hunch/guess.  People with a short-term focus and poor impulse control leap at the chance to do something dumb with their money.  Those with a long-term focus come out on top.

Feeling a little cynical?  Then explain why fads reach out of control proportions and ruin so many people.  It’s OK to admit you rushed into companywithnoearnings.com in the late 1990s.  Don’t be embarrassed to admit you were flipping houses in the early 2000s.

The smart money focuses on fundamentals over the long-term.  These so-called contrarian bets simply choose not to follow the herd, fall prey to groupthink, track the scorecard du jour, benchmark against the arbitrary, etc.  Dopey investment ideas come and go.  Logical, sustainable and repeatable processes endure even when out of favor.  Plenty of empirical research exists.  There’s lots of anecdotal evidence to be found.  Myriad articles have been written.  Here’s a recent one.

In 1573 English farmer and poet Thomas Tusser gave rise to the now popular phrase “a fool and his money are soon parted” with this verse from Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie:

A foole & his money,
be soone at debate:
which after with sorrow,
repents him to late.

It doesn’t take a high-stakes Wall St financier to express a sentiment so obvious and true.

Keep your leveraged ETFs and hedge funds.  Chase the latest fad being pushed by your friends and neighbors and co-workers.  Subscribe to newsletters offering hot stocks and buy every magazine proclaiming you need to own these ten funds for retirement.  Our clients will stick with the tried and true.  We’ll wait for you at the finish line.