Topley’s Top Ten – March 9, 2020

Author

Matt Topley
March 09, 2020

1.Stock Buyback ETF Lagging the S&P During This Correction.

Bull Market Winner PKW-Buyback ETF lagging.

2.View of Dividend Yields with Valuations

Wisdom Tree

AtWisdomTree, we have long argued for investors to build equity portfolioswith diversified income streams. The S&P500 Index has a higher dividend yield than U.S. Treasuries, but its valuationsare near 20-year highs—albeit discounted from levels of two weeks ago—withUtilities valuations even higher.

WisdomTree’s dividend-weighted mid- and small-cap Indexes offer diversificationfrom richly valued large caps, and more growth potentialthan Utilities. Because smaller companies are typically priced at discounts totheir larger peers to compensate for additional risk, investors can obtainhigher yields by allocating down the size spectrum for yield. 

WisdomTree’sIndexes have lower earnings multiples and higher yields thanboth the broad large-cap index and the Utilities sector. 

3.LIBOR Well Above Previous Lows.

1 Year LIBOR Rate – Historical Chart

LIBOR due to go away but contracts still being written based off the number.

4.Carnival Cruise Lines Breaks Thru 2014 Levels.

CCL Stock -57% from high

5.10 Year Breakeven Inflation Rate Rolls Over.

Gas prices dropping…InflationRate going lower leaving FED ability to do 50bps. Cut

6.Unleaded Gas -22% Drop in 2 Weeks.

7.A 1% Move Up in Interest Rates on 30 Year Bond Would Equal -23% Loss…Record Duration.

Specifically, a 30-year bond has a duration of 23 years, whichmakes it far more volatile for the same change in interest rates than in pasteras when yields were higher. A 100-basis-point rise in yield would mean a 23%decline in the current long Treasury bond’s price. 

Barrons-Yes, Bonds Could StillRally, Even With Yields Below 1%-Randall W. Forsyth

30 Year Treasury Yield Chart

8.Tilray Market Cap $13B to $1.2B

WSJ Interview with CEO Brendan Kennedy

He thinks that consolidation will continue, leaving thecannabis sector looking a look a lot like the beer business, with two or threecompanies dominating the marketplace. “Our strategy is to positionourselves so that we are one of those three companies,” he says.

A CEOTries to Navigate the Legal Cannabis Sector’s Bad Trip-Brendan Kennedymade Tilray the first marijuana firm to go public on Nasdaq, but the industrynow faces too many greenhouses and too little investor interest

TLRY stock price $150 to $10

9.Death by Despair…Look for This to Become Major Election Issue.

When the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton first published their research on “deaths ofdespair” five years ago, they focused on middle-aged whites. So many whiteworking-class Americans in their 40s and 50s were dying of suicide, alcoholismand drug abuse that the overall mortality rate for the age group was no longerfalling – a rare and shocking pattern in a modern society.

But as Caseand Deaton continued digging into the data, it became clear that the grimtrends didn’t apply only to middle-aged whites. Up and down the age spectrum,deaths of despair have been surging for people without a four-year collegedegree:

How Working- Class  Life IsKilling Americans, in ChartsBy David Leonhardt

10. 5 Fundamental Pillars for Building a Meaningful and Purposeful Life

Posted on May 12, 2017 by StevenHandel

We all crave meaning andpurpose in our lives, but many of us have difficulty finding it.

Oftentimes without meaning, we can fall into a “nihilistic trap” of thinking nothingin our life really matters and we are just mindless machines going through themotions.

However according to the newbook The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters byEmily Esfahani Smith, there are many potential sources to find meaning in ourlives. This article will breakdown these into 5 different pillars: belonging,purpose, storytelling, transcendence and growth.

Interestingly,psychology research is beginning to discover that finding “meaning” is just asimportant as finding “happiness.”

In one study, participants wereasked over a 10 day period to either do an activity that was related to“pleasure” (sleeping in, playing video games, going shopping, or eating sweets)or do an activity that was related to “virtue” (forgiving a friend, studying,thinking about one’s values, and helping or cheering another person).

Thosewho were placed in the “pleasure” condition reported an increase in positiveemotions right away, but those positive emotions often faded quickly. Those whowere placed in the “virtue” condition didn’t report as much positive emotion,but they did report more increased well-being in the long-term.

Aristotlewas one of the first philosophers to draw a distinction between “hedonism”(life of pleasure) and “eudaimonia” (life of meaning):

“ToAristotle, eudaimonia is not a fleeting positive emotion. Rather, it issomething you do. Leading a eudaimonic life, Aristotle argued, requirescultivating the best qualities within you both morally and intellectually andliving up to your potential. It is an active life, a life in which you do yourjob and contribute to society, a life in which you are involved in yourcommunity, a life, above all, in which you realize your potential, rather thansquander your talents.”

Thisis a good summary of what it means to live a meaningful life. It often requiresbeing able to connect and contribute to something that is larger thanourselves. It’s more than just chasing pleasurable feelings.

The rest of this article will describe these 5 fundamental pillars behind a meaningful and purposeful life. Belonging

Oneof the most essential pillars behind a meaningful life is a sense of“belonging.”

Werarely find meaning alone in a vacuum, but instead often derive meaning basedon the relationships in our lives.

“Weall need to feel understood, recognized, and affirmed by our friends, familymembers, and romantic partners. We all need to give and receive affection. Weall need to find our tribe. In other words, we all need to feel that webelong.”

It’s difficult to find meaningif you are surrounded by people who don’t seem to accept you or appreciate you.As social beings, we depend on finding a group or tribe thatwe can “fit in” with and contribute to.

Thisneed for “belonging” extends not just to family, friends, and romanticpartners, but also to coworkers and bosses in the workplace.

One of my favorite examplesin The Power of Meaning looked at howjanitors get a sense of “belonging” from their job at a hospital. Whiletypically this isn’t viewed as the most “glamorous” job – the way people aretreated by their coworkers can make a huge difference.

“Thecleaners told some two hundred stories about their time at work. When theresearchers analyzed those stories, they discovered the powerful role thatbelonging plays in how people experience their jobs. Brief interactions, theyfound, could be deeply hurtful. When cleaners felt devalued by theircolleagues, their work felt less meaningful. The most common way the cleanersfelt devalued was by being ignored. Doctors were particularly egregiousoffenders. One cleaner named Harry said, ‘The doctors have a tendency to lookat us like we’re not even there, like, you know, we’ll be working in thehallways, and you know, no recognition of what you are doing whatsoever.”

Inthis setting, even just a simple moment of recognition often made the cleanersfeel more accepted and appreciated – it made them feel that they were a part ofthe “tribe.”

Asyou can see, it’s important that we find people in our lives who we can feelconnected to and call a part of our “group” or “tribe.” Without this sense ofbelonging, we can often feel lost, alone, and unappreciated.

Purpose

Anotherimportant pillar behind a meaningful life is a sense of “purpose.”

Tohave a purpose means to serve something other than yourself. One of the most commonpurposes people find is to start a family and raise children. This is a greatway to “step outside of yourself,” take responsibility for something, and carefor another’s well-being and happiness.

Raising a family isn’t alwaysfun, easy, or pleasurable – sometimes it’s the exact opposite – but the meaning youcan get from it can give your life a greater sense of purpose and duty that youcan’t find just mindlessly seeking pleasure.

Ofcourse, there are many other ways to find purpose too. Many people find purposethrough their work or career by recognizing the ways they contribute to societyand make the world a better place. You can also find purpose through socialactivism, volunteer work, religion, or helping others.

Themain goal to finding “purpose” in your life is to find something to serve.That’s it.

One fascinating study looked at nursing homes andassigned one group of people to take care of a plant. Here’s what they found:

“Aftera year and a half, psychologists followed up with both groups of people. Theyfound that those who cared for a plant did remarkably better than those who didnot. They were more social, alert, cheerful, active, and healthy. Mostsurprising to the researchers was that those who took care of a plant actuallylived longer. Over the eighteen months of the experiment, fewer of them haddied compared to the other group.”

Soeven something as simple as taking care of a plant can give people’s lives somesense of purpose and vigor.

Takingcare of a plant may seem trivial, but for these elderly people it gave themsomething to care for and something that depended on them to survive andflourish. And that can be a powerful feeling.

To find purpose in your life youmust ask yourself, “What do I serve?”

ThePower of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by EmilyEsfahani Smith is a fantastic book about why we need meaning in our lives andthe many sources we can get it from, such as belonging, purpose, storytelling,transcendence, and growth. If you feel like you’re struggling to find meaningin your own life, I highly recommend you check it out.

Storytelling

Weall tell stories about ourselves and the direction our lives are taking.

When we look back on our lives,we don’t just see isolated facts – we form a narrative aroundthose facts to help make coherent sense of them and make everything fittogether.

Storytellingis an inherent part of being human. Our distant ancestors would often look upat the stars and create stories about them to give their lives a greater senseof meaning. In many ways, this was the beginning of mythology, religion, andphilosophy.

“Ourstorytelling impulse emerges from a deep-seated need all humans share: the needto make sense of the world. We have a primal desire to impose order on disorder– to find the signal in the noise. We see faces in the clouds, hear footstepsin the rustling leaves, and detect conspiracies in unrelated events. We areconstantly taking pieces of information and adding a layer of meaning to them;we couldn’t function otherwise. Stories help us make sense of the world and ourplace in it, and understand why things happen the way they do. ‘Storytelling isfundamental to the human search for meaning, whether we tell tales of thecreation of the earth or of our own early choices,’ writes [Gregory] Baterson.”

Oneimportant way we create meaning in our lives is by taking control of how wetell our own life story.

Doyou see your life as a depressing tragedy or a triumphant victory? Often timesit depends more on how we make sense of the events in our lives (and theperspective we look at them) rather than the specific events themselves.

PsychologistDan P. McAdams calls this our “narrative identity.”

“McAdamsis a psychologist at Northwestern University and an expert on a concept hecalls ‘narrative identity.’ McAdams describes narrative identity as aninternalized story you create about yourself – a personal myth, as one writerputs it, ‘about who we are deep down – where we come from, how we got this way,and what it all means.’ Like fictional stories, it contains heroes and villainsthat help us or hold us back, major events that determine the plot, challengesthat we overcome, and suffering that we have endured. When we want people tounderstand us, we share our story or parts of it with them.”

Totake control of our story, we may need to reframe our past, present, and futurefrom a new perspective.

In my article Rewriting the Story of Your Life: AProcess of Self-Exploration Through Writing, I share a step-by-stepexercise you can follow to begin taking more control over your story.

Nomatter who you are, we all create stories about ourselves. Some of us look backon our past and see our memories as a collection of all the bad things that happenedto us that created who we are and determine our hopeless future, while otherslook back and see their memories as the beginnings of opportunity, growth, andinevitable triumph.

How do you tell the storyof your life? It could make a big difference in the meaningyou are extracting from your life events.

Transcendence

Another pillar discussedthroughout The Power of Meaning is “transcendence.”

To transcend literally means“to go beyond.” It’s an experience that makes us feel that weare connected with something larger than just ourselves.

Asyou can tell by now, to find “meaning” we must often learn how to step outsideof ourselves. When it comes to transcendence, individuals directly experience afeeling that there is something beyond themselves – and this can often be bothinspiring and humbling.

Thereare many ways to create feelings of transcendence. One of the most common waysis to look up at the night sky or the vastness of the ocean.

“Sincethe dawn of human consciousness, me and women have looked up at the night sky,marveling at the stars, wondering what they were and what they represented.Studying they celestial spheres, they sought answers to the biggest questionsof human existence. How did the world begin? Will it end? What else is outthere? They sought omens, wisdom, and hints of ancestors past. But what theyreally sought was meaning. The same is true today.”

Feelingsof transcendence can also be found through meditation, prayer, fasting,psychedelic drugs, and religious ceremonies. Many people report feelingconnected to a “divine power” or “God” when they practice these things.

Whensomeone has a transcendent experience, it can often give them a new sense ofidentity or purpose. It changes how you view yourself and thereby changes yourvalues and priorities in life.

“Duringtranscendent states, two remarkable things happen. According to psychologistDavid Yaden of the University of Pennsylvania, an expert on transcendence, first,our sense of self washes away along with all of its petty concerns and desires.We then feel deeply connected to other people and everything else that existsin the world. The result is that our anxieties about existence and deathevaporate, and life finally seems, for a moment, to make sense – which leavesus with a sense of peace and well-being.”

Transcendentexperiences create feelings of awe, gratitude, and humility. It can diminishour selfish tendencies and get us to focus on new priorities and values thatserve something bigger than ourselves.

For example, oneinteresting study showed howfeelings like “awe” can promote more altruistic behavior. When you feel thepower of something bigger than yourself, you often become more motivated andinspired to help others – because you realize that not everything is justabout you.

Keep in mind, you don’tnecessarily need to be religious to experience feelings of transcendence. Evensomething as simple as walking through nature (or even watching a nature documentary) canelicit feelings that there is much more to the universe than you think thereis.

Growth

Thelast fundamental pillar of meaning is a feeling of “growth” or moving forward.

Thiscan be particularly difficult for people after going through a negative eventor crisis, but that doesn’t mean that growth isn’t possible.

PsychologistsRichard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun at the University of North Carolina areexperts of a phenomenon known as “post-traumatic growth.”

Thebasic idea behind “post-traumatic growth” is that people can often take atraumatic experience and turn it around to improve the lives of themselves andothers.

Forexample, a war veteran with PTSD can use their experience to help otherveterans manage their mental difficulties and reintegrate into everydaycivilian life, or a victim of sexual assault can use their experience to helpprevent other sexual assaults in the future.

Whileno one should ever wish to be the victim of a traumatic event, it’s alwaysencouraging to see strong people rise above their negative experiences and turnthem into fuel to make the world a better place.

“Tedeschiand Calhoun use the metaphor of an earthquake to explain how we grow in thewake of crisis. Just as a city has a certain structure before a majorearthquake, so too do we have certain fundamental beliefs about our lives andthe world. Trauma shatters those assumptions. But out of the rubble comes anopportunity to rebuild. In the aftermath of an earthquake, cities aim to erectbuildings and infrastructure that are stronger and more resilient than what nowlies in ruins. Similarly, those who are able to rebuild psychologically,spiritually, and otherwise after a crisis are better equipped to deal withfuture adversity, and they ultimately lead more meaningful lives.”

Thisis a great metaphor for “post-traumatic growth” because it shows how sometimeswe can take a destructive experience in our lives and use it as an opportunityto build something even stronger and more resilient.

Accordingto Tedeschi and Calhoun, there are 5 major ways people can grow after a crisis.These include:

1) Relationshipsstrengthen – After a crisis, individuals often begin to prioritizetheir relationships with friends and family more because they understand theimportance of social support.2) Discover new paths and purposes – After a crisis,individuals often start to re-focus their priorities in life which could leadthem to pursue new paths that are more centered on helping people and makingthe world a better place for others.3) Finding your inner strength – After a crisis, individualslearn just how resilient and strong they can be during difficult times. Theybegin to think, “If I can make it through that terrible experience, then I canmake it through anything!”4) Spiritual life deepens – After a crisis, many individualsbecome more interested in religion and spirituality to help deepen theirunderstanding of life and connect themselves with a “higher power.”5) Renewed appreciation for life – After a crisis, individualslearn how to appreciate the small, everyday things in life more, like spendingtime with family, eating a good meal, and being able to go outside and enjoynature.

Thetruth is that no matter what our past experiences are, they can be fuel forgrowth and improvement. And being able to take these past experiences and usethem as motivation to improve ourselves (and improve the world) can be afantastic way to build more meaning in your life.

Conclusion

Overall ThePower of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by EmilyEsfahani Smith is a fantastic book about why we need meaning in our lives andthe many sources we can get it from, such as belonging, purpose, storytelling,transcendence, and growth. If you feel like you’re struggling to find meaningin your own life, I highly recommend you check it out.

Stay updated on new articles and resources in psychology and self improvement: