☕️ 10 ridiculous reasons to sell (and why smart investors won’t)

Howdy! 👋 

Let’s play a game. 

I’m gonna list a few of the things that are about to end the world as we know it and crater the markets.  

You tell me how far off highs you think the S&P 500 is. 

Ready? 

• AI is coming for your job, your kids' jobs, and possibly your toaster, your fridge and your picnic basket, too. 

• AI infrastructure spending – the thing propping up half the S&P – is supposedly slowing down (it’s not, but we’ll play along). 

• The 10-year yield is running near 5%, up from the low 4s a year ago.  

• Oil just punched back above $100 a barrel for the first time since July.  

• August's core inflation print came in hotter than expected, and odds of at least one Fed rate hike this month are sitting up near 90%. 

• Iran won’t settle down and China wants to play peacemaker. 

• Tokenized stocks are coming for your brokerage app, pretty soon you'll be able to gamble on whatever company you fancy at 3 a.m. in your bathrobe. 

• The power grid is being asked to run your air conditioner and a small city's worth of AI data centers at the same time, and everyone acts shocked when the lights flicker. 

• Washington is buying back Treasury debt with one hand and issuing a fresh truckload of it with the other while calling that fiscal discipline. 

• Japan's bond market is wobbling hard enough that hedge funds across Asia are quietly rerouting money into US assets, just in case. 

Pick your poison.  

There's a headline for every fear you've got. 

Now, your turn. 

How far off all-time highs is the S&P 500? 

I’ll help. 

S&P 500 closed at a record 7,798.99 on Aug 13, 2026… today it opened at 7,612.30. 

Yep, just ~2.40% from all-time highs. 

That’s it. 

The gap between what everybody thinks is going on and what the market is actually doing. 

The panicked chyron is noise. 

Profit potential, on the other hand, is always how you build wealth. 

Three guesses which one matters most. 🤷🏻‍ 

This happens every time the markets face a wall of worry. Social media and the news make it worse. Liquidity, computerization and record options activity boost volatility. 

The gap is where fortunes get made. It’s also where losers justify their own failures and what happens next depends on which side of the fence you’re standing on. 

My view is very simple, albeit blunt. 

You can have results or excuses. 

I’d rather have the former and suspect you probably feel the same way or you wouldn’t be reading along.  

I encourage you to resist the urge to trade the headlines because you will only do yourself in. Look at what quality companies like those we talk about all the time are actually doing with their balance sheets, their cash flow and their competitive position – not what a cable news crawler says they should be doing based on this week's fear du jour. 

This is not the moment to bail if you own ‘em – and I hope you do. It is, however, very much the moment to remind yourself why you bought ‘em in the first place. 

Every one of today’s scary headlines is a trader’s problem. Not one of ‘em has anything to do with the underlying business case for investing which, btw, is actually getting stronger by the minute if you own the right names. 

I’ve seen this movie more times than I can count over the past 4+ decades I’ve spent in global markets… investing in optimism beats cowering in pessimism. 

Click to enlarge.

People often say keep it simple stupid, but I don’t think that’s quite right. 

My version is keep it stupid simple. 

• Buy when others run for the door 

• Make concentrated bets 

• Use high probability tactics that take away Wall Street’s advantage 

One other thing. 

People first. 

Most folks think investing is about the numbers, but that’s a mistake. There’s always a “people” story underneath… your retirement, your kids, your dreams, hopes and the wealth you deserve… something I learned from the fabulous Suze Orman and my own grandmother Mimi years ago. 

A few s___y headlines don’t get to hijack that unless you let ‘em. 

Investing is about YOUR life and your success. 

MAKE it happen. 

There is always a path to profits. 

Always. 

You got this – I’ll be with you every step of the way. 💯 

Keith 😀 

PS: Check your email if you’re an OBAer… I sent you a Special Alert this morning with a slew of LowBall Orders and Cash Secured Puts for your consideration. I LOVE the smell of profit potential in the morning!