A Message from Leigh Baldwin

Greetings Fellow Dollar Investment Club Members:

I wanted to take some time and give you some thoughts and hopefully some perspective on the recent historic events impacting our daily lives. Five weeks ago, before the words Corona (other than beer), social distancing, and the CDC were part of every conversation, the markets were at all-time highs. In the most rapid descent ever, stocks at their worst were down about 38% from those same highs as the highly infectious and deadly Covid-19 virus has run through more than 150 countries. It is a scary and unprecedented time for everyone.

And how did Dollar Investment Club Members respond? Last week, amid the shocking market disruption, we opened a RECORD number of new member accounts in one day alone. I was not only very pleasantly surprised, but also totally reinvigorated with the investment process. We understand that investing in great companies today, even in turbulent times, means that we have invested in great companies for the future, but at much lower prices. We understand that time in the market is much more powerful than trying to “time” the market. Finally, taking a systematic approach to investing, disciplined buying on a monthly basis, helps us “flatten” the risk curve and to invest when everyone else is selling.

Going forward, our absolute primary concern is the health and safety of everyone around the world. We urge you to support all efforts to control this pandemic, we all need to do our part. As for investing, it is going to continue to be a volatile period as the world economy has never been suspended for this length of time and timing is the key. The longer the shutdown persists, the more long-term damage is done to our economy. With all this uncertainty, I am certain of one thing…America is the strongest and more importantly, the most innovative country in the world. We will get through this and come out the other side. I would like to again personally thank everyone for their commitment to the club. As legendary investor Shelly Davis once said…” You make most of your money in a bear market, you just don’t realize it at the time.”

Sincerely,

Leigh Baldwin