In memoriam, 9/11/2001.           Source: Reuters/Lucas Jackson

No, this isn’t the price level on some new-fangled unweighted index.  It’s the number of views we’ve had of our blog over the past year or so.  In the meantime, we have garnered positive reviews from Barron’s and numerous referrals from other respected websites like Abnormal Returns and World Beta. We appreciate that you and thousands of other investors have made our blog into one of your financial sites of choice and one of the thought leaders in relative strength investing.  We will try to continue to provide you with original content, articles, and news pertaining to relative strength and global trends,  and to continue to give you our unique spin on the relative strength style of investing.

When I wrote a similar post, DWA 25,000, I mentioned that we wanted to deliver even more value down the road in the form of audiovisual presentations.  We’ve done that with new podcasts and on-screen presentations.  Check them out!  Another valuable and educational feature has been our white papers on important topics like asset class rotation.  In everything we do, our intent is to inform, entertain, and provoke thought and discussion.  We think we are succeeding, but if you have constructive feedback, we’d love to hear from you.  Success is never final and we’re always looking for ways to improve.

Employers are finding out that these whipper-snappers have a huge edge in figuring out how to maximize exposure & efficiency on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Managers are turning to younger employees for new-media marketing solutions.

It’s a brief article, but worth the quick read. To me, the most important concept here is for younger employees to establish a “real” connection with their managers. A CEO who was interviewed for the article said, “Usually, I’m mentoring [younger] employees. This gives them this…powerful opportunity to mentor me so that I get to know them and to respect the talent that they have.”

Ultimately, the Olds are going to catch up with the Youngs in certain respects. How hard is it to set up a blog or a Facebook page? Not very. What’s important here is that bridges are being built between the generations to facilitate learning, improvement and a mutual understanding.

The Youngs and the Olds are going to need those communication bridges for the great Social Security Debates coming soon to a Town Hall near you!

Dorsey, Wright has no connection, commercial or otherwise, with IFTA.  I just thought the conference might be of interest to some of our readers.

Over the last decade or so, there has been a very strong trend in place whereby corporate American has moved away from defined-benefit pension plans based on earnings and years of service and toward defined-contribution plans like 401k’s, where the employee saves his or her own money and makes the investment decisions.  It’s an open question as to whether these defined-contribution plans at retirement will be able to supply anywhere near the same level of income as the traditional defined-benefit plans. 

Will American retirees simply make do with less?  If nothing else, it’s clear that retirement planning is more important than ever before.

John, Andy and Mike have dominated the serious posts so far. I won’t try to compete with them in the data analysis department; instead, I’ll bring a little humanity to the equation. Some soul, if you will. So here goes. 

One of the first questions that you ask somebody when you get to know them is, “What do you do for a living?” Depending on who’s asking, I say a number of things. 

I’m an assistant at a money management firm. 

You know what stocks are, right? I work with stocks. 

I work in Pasadena….in an office building. 

I stuff envelopes for a living. 

Once in a blue moon I’ll meet someone who follows the market or is an investor (I’m 25 years old, I don’t hang out in the Chairman’s Club). It’s always funny to me when people give me their opinions on this stock or that stock, or a brief rundown on what the economy “really” needs to get going again. Rants about corporate greed, the housing market and the next Great Depression, lifted straight out of Newsweek and Time. It’s fun to smile and nod along with market mavens. 

At the end of the day, I wear a lot of hats. I answer the phone, send out new client welcome packets, reconcile monthly account statements, and help organize quarterly statements and billing. Every once in a while I might liquidate a new account’s holdings and get the cash ready to invest in the DWA strategy. There’s a lot going on in the office, and there’s only 5 people here. It’s fun and exciting. 

As the only member of Generation Y in the office, I consider myself lucky to be here. Just today I saw a headline about college graduates in 2009 that showed that LESS THAN 20% of those who graduate this year will be employed. That’s a scary number. 

Stuffing envelopes never sounded so fun. I love this job!