Joe Eqcome submits:

Having the privilege to have met Sir John Templeton, the founder of The Templeton Funds, I was stuck not only by his crushing intellect but also by his sense of optimism regarding investing. Warren Buffett, a fellow optimist, who upon acquiring Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI) for .3 billion said, “It was a bet on America”.

Optimistic Investing: Being an unblinking optimist has been a helpful personal affliction for successful investing post-WWII. The S&P 500 is up 65 times since 1950. On a weekly basis it has advanced 56% of the time. Prior to the most recent stock market peak in Oct ’07, you would have made money even if you were unfortunate enough to have purchased the DJIA at any of its peaks since 1900 (see accompanying chart). It was the equivalent of throwing darts at a dartboard with nothing but a “bull’s eye” on it.

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