Although we believe all markets can be hedged appropriately and we're currently neutral leaning towards the cliche' 60/40 with an optimistic long term view. This article in the Wall Street Journal had a slight hair raising effect as it echoed the 1929 pre-depression attitudes of the stock market.
Many newer investors have not experienced a catastrophic loss and have seen their principal wiped out as a result of overconfidence and listening to pundits. As Mark Cuban would say, "Don't take advice from anyone who doesn't have to write a check."
(Wall Street Journal article by: Rachel Wolfe Feb. 15, 2026 8:09 am ET)
Across the entire U.S., residential construction and real estate values peaked in 1925–1926 with building permits slowing leading up to 1929.
In October 1929, the world’s top experts were convinced the stock market was safer than ever. They believed the "old rules" of economics had been deleted. Check out the timeline of these "famous last words":
October 8, 1929: Charles E. Mitchell (Chairman of National City Bank, now Citibank) dismisses all warnings, stating: "Nothing can arrest the upward movement in the United States."
October 15, 1929: Mitchell doubles down, telling the public: "The markets generally are now in a healthy condition... values have a sound basis."
October 16, 1929: Irving Fisher, the most famous economist of the era, makes his most infamous call: "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." He was so sure that he lost his entire personal fortune when the market bottomed out.
October 24, 1929 — BLACK THURSDAY: The first major shock hits. The market drops 11% at the opening bell. Panic grips Wall Street, but bankers step in to buy stocks, trying to "save" the day and convince the public everything is fine.
The optimism didn't survive long. Black Thursday turned out to be only a preview: the market cratered again on Black Monday, October 28, and then Black Tuesday, October 29, wiping out billions in value in a matter of hours and erasing fortunes that had taken a decade to build.
The bankers' rescue attempts failed to hold, and the slide continued on and off for nearly three more years, with the Dow eventually bottoming out in 1932 down close to 90% from its 1929 peak. Thousands of banks collapsed, unemployment climbed toward one in four workers, and the crash helped tip the United States and much of the world into the decade-long Great Depression.
The lesson for investors today is the same one it was then: confidence, even from the most credentialed experts in the room, is never a substitute for discipline, diversification, and a healthy respect for risk.
Shout out for Andrew Sorkin's book "1929: The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History"