Tuesdays with
The Pure Investor

I met the Pure Investor as a young man just starting out in the financial services industry. He was older and more experienced. Most importantly, he was generous enough to share with me his beliefs regarding economics, politics, the market, and investing and how each was interconnected. He had a good career and a nice family life. He invited me to his home and shared his food, his wine and his cigars. By all definitions, he was successful. He had an inner calm and stability about him that I was attracted to and wanted to emulate in my own life.

After dinner, over those glasses of wine and through the smoke of those cigars, I would tell him how I felt about this or that subject. He was always quick to tell me not to feel but to think. He guided me through an analysis of each thought and emotion I had regarding economics, politics, and investments. It was a richer education than all my previous study had ever provided. He dramatically altered my beliefs regarding the right way every person should view the financial markets in their own life. He was able to put aside all the societal baggage that weighs down many would-be investors and simply focus on his own profits and returns. He was able to whittle away any distractions until all that was left was clear, pure investment truth. He was a Pure Investor.

At some point in our discussions, I began to write down his thoughts and observations. I did this mostly to clarify and solidify my own thinking so as a practicing investment advisor I could better communicate with my clients. I saved those yellow legal pads in a drawer that after a few years was overflowing.

I decided that a philosophy this valuable would be useful to others. I asked him if I organized and wrote his thoughts down, would he like to publish this book. For his own reasons, he said no. He didn’t explain, but gave permission for me to go ahead with the project. He has read the book and approves of it. These are his thoughts and strategies. He asked that his name not be used so I will refer to him throughout this book as the Pure Investor. I want to thank him now and, after you read this book, I hope you will want to also.

This book discusses how the Pure Investor views the world and what actions he takes to increase his wealth. Specifically, it will concern two areas. First, it examines many of the topics that arise and are debated in each election cycle. It looks at how the broad influences of the church and the media attempt to dictate how the citizen investor should think. It also addresses how businessmen preach false cures for the healthy country that benefit only their companies or their egos. Second, the book prescribes how the Pure Investor should view each of these topics. Those who don’t know politics will never know the financial markets. It is important to remember that the first Economics departments at major universities were originally called Political Economy. This book will also gaze into many of the facets of investing that confound many people. Questions such as what and when to invest will be discussed. So to will be how to get professional help. Strict adherence to the positions put forth over the pages of this little book will, over the course of a life, yield a profitable and secure life. This is the ultimate freedom of the Pure Investor.