“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.”  – Ben Graham

I was going to write some general thoughts about Warren Buffett’s annual letter just like I always do, but given the political and economic climate I want to do something else.  I want to talk about a central aspect of Warren Buffett’s investment strategy – his long-term optimism.

In a political world where we’re constantly being reminded that America isn’t great as well as an economic environment that appears permanently sluggish, it would be easy to convince yourself that our living standards are in a state of permanent decay.  This sort of negativity might lead one to believe in extremist political views or take extremist approaches to asset allocation. These fears are almost always overdone. As I like to say, fear is the greatest destroyer of wealth.  And every year for as long as I can remember, the greatest wealth accumulator in the world reminds us that these fears are unfounded, yet the message falls on deaf ears: