1968

I heard a quick story today that paints an important lesson.

The year was 1968. Consider the following events that transpired:

North Korea hijacks the USS Pueblo; Tet Offensive in Vietnam; Prague spring; RFK assasination; MLK assassination and subsequent riots; DNC riots; Vietnam War protests; U.S. Presidential Election - LBJ drops out, George Wallace support, and Nixon is elected president.

Sounds like a chaotic year. If I told you in December 1967 that all of these things were going to happen over the course of the next twelve months, there's very little chance you would have jumped to invest your money.

The S&P 500 was up nearly 8% in 1968, not including dividend reinvestment.

You may have heard there's another U.S. Presidential Election in 2020. There are a number of other things that can and probably will go wrong in the world.

Let history be a guide. We have no clue what will transpire. And we have no clue how human nature will react to what eventually unfolds. Don't let this reality stop you from investing according to plan.

Onward.

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^{Source: Macro Trends (S&P 500 - 90 Year Historical Chart)}