What can 75 years of marriage teach us about the markets?
Corey Utz, CFP®
January 23, 2025
You have to survive the rough patches – In a world where half of the folks head to the altar with the best intentions only to find themselves later heading to the courthouse to undo it, we certainly have proof that marriage is hard. Attaching your life to another failed human has its challenges even in the best marriages. There are more good days than bad in a good marriage but there, undoubtedly, are still bad days. There are spats, and disagreements, and disappointments. There are miscommunications and unknowns. There are hardships. You have to survive the night. It is certainly the same in the markets. Things can be going swimmingly and then a recession, a war, a change in technology and all of the sudden you’re in the middle of it. Sometimes it’s nothing at all, an innocuous little something turns into something more severe. Selling everything and starting over each time it gets a little unpleasant is a tough way to run relationships. It’s not a great way to run your investments either.
You must continue to learn – When my grandparents got married in 1950 the television was overtaking radio as the dominant broadcast medium. There were about 8,000 U.S. households that had a tv in 1946 and by 1960 there were over 45 million households that had one. It was relatively new technology in the house in the early days of their marriage and there was probably a learning curve. Pap went to Best Buy without me late last year and bought a new TV. He asked me to set it up for him and told me the representative from the store told him it was great. Dear store employee #1437…when my 95 year old grandfather comes to your store the ‘Smart TV’ on your shelf is probably the dumbest idea you could give him! 4 or 5 hours of intermittent reteaching about how to turn it on and scroll past Netflix (which he doesn’t have), and the TV music streaming service (which he doesn’t subscribe to), and the app store (which he doesn’t understand) and I think we’re finally in a spot where he can navigate to CNBC and see how the market did at 4pm. New technology, new advancements, new companies, new investments, and changes to tax law are all a constant in the world we live in. ‘Falling in love is easy, staying in love takes work’ they say. Warren Buffett said the same thing about stocks once when he said that’s it’s an easy decision to buy a stock. The real work comes when you want to ‘hold’. He was talking about the amount of work he does to come to a ‘buy’ decision versus how much work he continues to do on that company as he continues to ‘hold’ that stock.
When you look back it’s remarkable -- I’m not them, but I would imagine that as they ate dinner on their 75th wedding anniversary they are amazed at what they’ve accomplished. The life that they have created, the family tree that has spawned, and the friendships that have endured are probably humbling to say the least. I can’t imagine at 20 and 18 years old, as they said their vows, they had any idea it would turn out the way it did. It's always a hopeful exercise to say 'What's the best possible scenario?'. Imagine it turns out to be even better than that hopeful dream! They made some early deposits, kept on walking, and let time do its magical work. My daughter earned a little over $700 dollars this past summer at a church camp. We’ll make her first Roth IRA deposit this year. She (and I for that matter) has no idea what that will become but I bet that time will again do its magical work over the next 50 years of her life. She’ll have to continue to make deposits to make it ‘remarkable’. She’ll have to continue walking. Time will help. My friend Ross Mayfield recently wrote about the last five years…'two of the 5 worst bear markets in 30 years, two highly contentious Presidential elections, 40 year high in inflation, a global pandemic, and the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII and yet the market is up over 100% in that five year span'. Keep on walking. Let time keep ticking. You must be able to spell ordinary to be able to spell extraordinary. The latter takes more time.
They needed help along the way – After he plows someone’s driveway, or gives some money to a cause, or picks you up at the airport, Pap is very fond of saying ‘I have to live to 114 years old just to get even’. I know it’s sincere. I’ve seen people help them. I’ve heard stories about the help that they had in the house when they were young parents raising three kids and Grandpa was circling the globe talking about life insurance and looking for a new minister for their church and being involved in the community. It takes a village, as they say, and without question my grandparents have been helped by the village. We’re here to be that help to you for all the work that is necessary for your finances. Baird has a village of estate planners and tax professionals and financial planners. We have a business owner team that can help the local dentist, or the company figuring out how to make a robot allowing you to watch Netflix while it performs a root canal. We have a slew of researchers and analysts and a trust company. It’s a village designed to come alongside of you if you need us.
