Only The Survivors Get Paid

The first rule of being successful is not dying.

Rolling Stone’s guitarist Keth Richards is a case in point.

Last week, Richards celebrated his 82nd birthday. Unlike his bandmates Charlie Watts and Brian Jones, Richards is still shredding.

Amazingly, the average American Man expects to live to 75.8, and only 7% of longevity is attributed to genetics; the remainder is one’s chosen lifestyle.

How did Richards do it? Copious amounts of Heroin. Alcohol and other toxic substances flowed like water through his bloodstream during extended periods of his life.

When discussing Keith Richards, it’s all about how he survived, not what he lived through.

Rich Cohen of the WSJ summed up Keith’s perceived immortality.

Looking at a picture of young Keith, gap-toothed and geeky, beside old Keith, as gnarled as Yoda, is a lesson in time, in what the years can do. It’s the damage that makes him seem immortal, not just what he lived through but how he survived. It’s what Hemingway called “grace under pressure,” the ability to maintain a steady inner atmosphere even when the whip comes down. In his memoir “Life,” Keith describes writing “Angie” in a Swiss sanitarium after narrowly surviving yet another overdose. It’s Keith—squeezing his life like a press, turning a brush with death into maybe the most beautiful ballad in rock’ n’ roll—that gives us hope.

Keith not only withstood these ordeals but also emerged from them with great songs, along with an extended life.

Investors should take heed. Survivability in the markets is the only thing that matters. As the old saying goes, Only the survivors get paid. 

In the stock market, continuance is a complex and often unpredictable process. Staying in the game is of prime importance. Short-term volatility and noise are features, not bugs, of the financial markets.

Like Heroin, emotional investing is addictive. Panic selling, chasing fads, and abandoning plans after losses destroy more portfolios than the harshest of bear markets.

Enduring volatility without capitulation is the iron law of investing.

Keith Richards is the epitome of the term “resilient,” and investors would do well to follow his lead.

Building mental fortitude to cope with inevitable market mayhem and rules-based investing, such as portfolio rebalancing and systematic contributions, are excellent building blocks for developing your pliancy.

Richards made it this far because of his ability to reinvent himself to survive culture shifts, industry changes, and personal health crises.

Investors must adapt their processes more than their positions. Evaluating new information, such as changes in tax laws, risk profiles, and time frames, is crucial to maintaining sustained investing relevance and long-term success.

Beating the market is chasing fool’s gold. Investors need to focus their energy on the other E-word- Endurance.

Renewing your financial plan as conditions change, without straying too far from your overall direction, is the winning strategy.

Cohen sums up his piece on Richards with this simple lesson thats interchangeable in the stodgiest of investment policies.