July 10, 2008
Three Good Reasons To Do Nothing
By Max Buzzell

ORLANDO (The DopeyGrumpySneezyVoice) - In these times of economic turmoil and woe you might think the right thing to do would be something, . . . anything but nothing. To do nothing would be foolish, some say. You have to protect what you have. There's a huge opportunity right in front of you. What about that emerging technology? Or that overseas deal? Better act now, before it's too late.

First: Things are happening TOO QUICKLY. Governments around the world are acting even overnight sometimes to change the game. They "add liquidity" here or there as needed. Or "support." Or they change the laws, and incentives. Changes that affect you also happen at the state and local levels. Companies sometimes react quickly to a changing environment. Companies often act faster than governments do. Is a great new investment idea still a great new investment idea if someone blabs it on national television? (Sometimes, yes, maybe.) Chances are you find out the unemployment numbers or the foreclosure numbers at the same time everyone else does. For those kinds of things you have zero react time. The times are now too uncertain.

Second: Everything is much TOO COMPLICATED. Is Congress likely to pass the legislation you hope for? What happens if they change the wording first? You may know your industry well, but if a couple of mergers or acquisitions happen, how will your investments fare then? Do you really know of all the secret (or even not secret) projects in the pipeline of all the sectors in which you invest? You may be able to predict events here in this country as well as anyone, but are you that expert about things in China, India, Iran, . . . Scotland? What effect on your investing would another war have if it started on this particular month, or the next month? What happens if so-and-so gets sick? Where will the next major natural disaster strike? Who really knows what's going on behind the scenes? Do you trust the authorities to make everything obvious to you? Do you trust the media to do that?

Third: You might not want to SELL LOW. The adage goes: Buy low, sell high. Not the other way around. If you are going to do something new and different, chances are you are going to have to sell stuff in order to reinvest. Do you really want to be doing that? The answer to this question might be yes, because it depends what you have. (Regardless of how this turns out, the other two reasons above stand by themselves.)

So, Mr. or Ms. Deer-in-the-headlight, what are you going to do? The future is almost upon you.