Investor's Soliloquy

Today seems appropriate to resurrect an old writing that I've slightly modified to suit the current market.

Investor’s Soliloquy (B):
To buy, or not to buy – that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of bear raids
Or to make some buys in a sea of red stocks
And by buying join them. To hold, to sell—
No more – and by a sale to say we save
The heartache, and the thousand small hits
The P&L is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To sell, to buy—
To buy – perchance to survive: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that calm buy what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this bear raid
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes huge gains of low price buys.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of bears,
Th’ hedgie’s wrong, the perma-bear’s contumely
The pangs of despised shorts, the move’s delay,
The insolence of gurus, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might hide in cash
With the “Sell All” button? Who would burdens bear,
To sigh and sweat before a blinking screen,
But that the dread of something after selling,
The undiscovered roaring bull, till such end
Much gold is made, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather buy those stocks we like
Than hide in cash that we know gives little?
Thus fear does make sitters of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Rise you now,
The fair Ms. Market! -- Nymph, in thy prayers
Be all my stocks remembered.

For any Gen-X, Y and Zers, this is based on the famous Hamlet's Soliloquy of William Shakespeare written about 400 years ago. Suitably altered, the soliloquy makes a fine self-reflection for many vital decisions.

Word of the Day

"Contumely" - noun [$10]
Contumely means 1. insolent or reproachful language or treatment; 2. disgrace.
Sentence: Lonely bulls like Bunkerman bear much contumely from the arrogant bears, but the confidence in his mind about the Fed's actions steels him.