A letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal - Assignment Example

of Article: Always invest in what scares you (by Chuck Jaffe) 816 Acoma St APT#805 please change to your own street address) Little Rock, AR 80204February 15, 2014Market WatchThe Wall Street Journal1211 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10036The Editor:This letter responds to an article by Chuck Jaffe entitled “Always invest in what scares you” that appeared in your newspaper last February 10, 2014 in which he claims that the more confusing a market gets, the more investors should listen to reason (to their own voice of reason).

Market investing can be a scare exercise and experience for most people nowadays due to the volatility, weak recovery, and also a host of geopolitical concerns which affect global markets negatively. In particular, the writer cited how bonds are never that secure anyway and since interest rates are set to rise in the near future, then bonds are not that attractive anymore these days. Additionally, he also made mention of emerging markets as reaching attractive levels because of short-term troubles that brought price levels to near- bargain levels.

What his article basically said is that investment advisers made wrong guesses or bets as to which way the markets will go and those investors who believed in the advice are now sorry. However one looks at it, any investor should do his or her own homework and not accept as the gospel truth any so-called “sage advice” offered by some self-proclaimed financial market experts. It is worth noting that any investor who looks at the long-term prospects (whether stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles) is bound to come out ahead if the investment horizon is long enough for dividends and price appreciation to take its effect (meaning, the time element kicks in like in the time value of money when invested).

Anyway, most investors have a wrong or unrealistic time frame when they invest, so many are well advised to listen to reason (Jaffe para. 9) and look at the longer term instead. (Note: word count = 295)Work CitedJaffe, Chuck. “Always invest in what scares you: How to build a portfolio with a long-term outlook.” Wall Street Journal, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. .