Truly

Today, I spent time with a cup of coffee and read a shareholder letter from Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock. Given any day, some investors are worried about the high level of spending on artificial intelligence (AI). In the past, new technological changes sometimes caused market downturns. But we may not be at that point yet. One important thing is that the United States has the highest stock market participation in the world. About 60% of the population owns stocks, either directly or indirectly. This includes investments through mutual funds or retirement accounts like a 401(k) or IRA. Around the world, fewer people invest in stocks. They keep their money in bank accounts that earn little interest. They watch the economy grow but do not benefit from it as owners. In financial markets, short-term activity has a purpose. It helps markets process new information, understand risks, and decide where money should go. However, much of today’s economic anxiety comes from a deeper issue: capital...

A baby eagle lost his parents. He fell from his nest to the ground, but he could not fly yet. A man found the baby eagle and took him to a farmer. The man told the farmer, “This is a special chicken that will grow very big.” The farmer looked at it and said, “It does not look like a chicken.” The man said, “Yes, it is. You will be happy to have it.” So the farmer kept the baby eagle with his chickens. The baby eagle grew up with the chickens. He learned to act like them. He scratched the ground to find worms and ate like the chickens. One day, an eagle flew high in the sky above the farm. The young eagle looked up and thought, “What a beautiful and powerful bird! It is so free.” He asked a chicken, “What bird is that?” The chicken said, “That is an eagle. But do not worry about it. Eagles fly and hunt. We are chickens. We stay on the ground and eat worms.” The young eagle believed this. He went back to scratching the ground like the chickens. He lived his whole life thinking he was a c...