It seems like investors are always looking for somebody to emulate.   I find investors dissecting the buying decisions (and annual investor letter) of Warren Buffet, reading books by Peter Lynch, and spending hours trying to figure out how to be Benjamin Graham or Bernard Baruch in today’s world.  Maybe we should pause for just a second, and seek some inspiration elsewhere.   In honor of Martin Luther King Day, we will look to MLK for some wisdom about being an investor today. So, in honor of the wisdom of MLK, we will pick a few noteworthy quotes attributed to him, and reflect on how they can help us shape our own financial lives.  

Here are some lessons Martin Luther King, Jr had for us as people and as investors:

You need to be persistent.

What MLK said:

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Our life goals and our finances can sometimes seem impossible, or impossibly distant.  Sometimes there are setbacks and we are not in as strong a position as we expected to be.  The attainment of most of our goals and dreams requires a subtle engineering process, where we take stock of our present situation (honestly), evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, and make a firm decision to move forward, despite setbacks.  We often find that failures of resolve are the most damaging, and MLK reminds us that determination is usually what wins the day.  Take stock, reevaluate when necessary, change course toward your goals if you must, but keep moving forward.  Take stock today, by checking out the critical questions, and use them to inspire you to make every year a step forward.

Become informed, and learn to think more critically

What MLK said:

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

As investors, and as human beings, it is incredibly common to fall prey to a host of our own cognitive, emotional and behavioral biases.  We assume that the advice we got from someone we respect is the right path for us (sometimes without question) [framing], we reinforce our current beliefs by subconsciously filtering out information that does not support these beliefs [confirmation bias], we misunderstand the likelihood of events for lots of reasons [conjunction fallacy, hot-hand fallacy, selection bias, optimism bias, pessimism bias, subjective validation...too many to list].  For the things we endeavor to achieve in life, and when we invest, it is wise to try to consider what we think about our assumptions, and to find people to challenge them.  Intentionally seek information that runs counter to your assumptions, and work to open your mind up to learning from those counterpoints.  We are writing a series about how these biases affect investor behavior, you can see an example of one here.  We are convinced that learning to question our preconceptions eventually helps us all make better decisions. 

Pursue a vocation that you love, and work at it like your life depends on it. 

What MLK said:

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

and

 "No person has the right to rain on your dreams."

Seth Godin talks about us each having "a personal art project" which is to say something that we alone can contribute to the world.  As we do financial planning, it is often obvious to us that we have clients and friends that are going through the motions of work every day, to earn a paycheck because they have been firmly told that they need to have "X" amount by "Y" date, and the only way to do that is to grind through life earning your keep.   Note that MLK says "if a man is CALLED..."  We should also consider what we are "called" to do.  Whether you believe that a deity directs that, or your own personal inclination, there is a place in this world that is uniquely yours.  Pursue that, and plan around it.  Financial planning and investment planning should serve to enhance your happiness, not make you a servant of a job that you hate.  Whatever you do, do it with gusto and as if your very life and soul depended upon it.  If anything will bring you success, it is probably that, with a good dose of luck.   It doesn't matter if you sweep streets, what matters is that you make it a mission.

Do not give into the despair mongers, or let your vision be clouded by them.

What MLK said:

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

and

"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."

Planning is an inherently optimistic process.  It is about distilling the essentials, and believing that there is a tomorrow.  We believe in hope.  We believe in adaptability.  We believe in preparation.  In the history of our species, the world has undergone tremendous changes, and will undergo countless more.  Change is essentially the only constant factor in our lives.  The world is filled with randomness, and unpredictability.    Do not let that inherent characteristic of the world prevent you from planning for tomorrow.  Live for today, plan for your tomorrow, and plant an apple tree.  Be hopeful.  

Investing is by its nature the planting of seeds to be harvested later.  Putting capital into a business because you expect it to be a long-term success, and trusting your life savings to this complex financial system because you believe that the forward march of mankind is toward great improvement for all people.   Along the way, mistakes are made, new challenges and crises emerge, (just think about the past year), and you can easily see this in practice.  Along the way we break things, and fix them.  We regulate and deregulate things.  We pollute and we clean up.  We resist change and embrace it in turns.  There is, however, seemingly a wisdom in crowds, and as a group we seem to have a way of making things work out.  As dark as the news stories sometimes are, and as bad as it sometimes looks when you reflect upon these stories, remember that almost every indication that you can consider shows improvement in the world over time.  Crime, poverty, life expectancy, frequency and destructiveness of war...all generally on the decline globally.  It is not a smooth road, but there is reason to hope.

Live for today, but plan for your tomorrow.

I think we should take a moment and remember that Martin Luther King was a messenger of hope.  Today, let's remember to keep moving forward at any cost, to make a place in the world that is uniquely ours, which we occupy with gusto, planting trees in the hope that they grow and flourish, believing that tomorrow can be better for all of us, and for those who come after us.