Consumer Confidence

I also want to discuss confidence this morning. We hear all of the doom and gloom from the news media about how terrible we are and how dire our circumstances are and are going to be. First of all, it is what you make of it. If you feel like hell hath no fury, then it will, but if you are more positive and see the glass half full side of things, then you will find a bounty of opportunities in this marketplace right now.

It reminds me of the mythical creature, a Phoenix. The small, fiery, red bird who possess great attributes, but dies in a burst of flames. But out of that pile of ashes comes a magnificent create to start anew.

We are bursting in to flames right now, but we are going to emerge victorious from this. When it looks like all else is going to fail, that's when things are going to be there best. I could go on with a number of other feel good quotes and sayings, but they are all true, it really boils down to perception.

Yes we are in a protracted downturn, call it recession, deep recession, mild depression, the symantics don't matter, but times are tough. We all know that and we have adjusted our lives to compensate for that. We need to stop dwelling on it like the earth is going to collapse tomorrow. Got news for you, if the earth is going to blow up, not a lot we can do about it, so stop fretting.

We have some great opportunities to fix some of the problems that we've created for decades, so instead of adding fuel to the fire, let's all take our lumps and fix them. Let's stop putting duct tape on the leaky pipes and just replace the pipes. Let's create something new and good and become a productive country and society again and stop being a "user" or consumer society.

Why do you think things are so bad? We keep doing the same things over again, because we don't want to face reality, so the "fix it people" keep doing what we've been doing, and see how far that has gotten us.

I for one am using this time as a great time for opportunity and I encourage everyone else to do so as well. If you want stocks, then pick good companies or ETFs that have a slim chance of going bankrupt and write covered calls against them until things turn around. Don't complain about how bad your portfolio is, try to gain knowledge and learn how to nickel and dime your way back until things turn around. Once again, covered calls work great.

Even though the financial sector has been left for dead, if you look at history, the financial stocks and sectors lead us into and out of recessions. Small cap stocks have much better returns, especially coming out of a downturn, moreso than a large or mid cap stock. Maybe use ETFs for these right now until stocks emerge.

I'm confident in what is to come. Yes, we might hit DOW 5000! like a lot of people try to foresee, but if we do then the upside is much greater. This downturn will be one of the greatest times in history for wealth to be generated. Just wait and watch, hopefully join the train.