Why do you believe that much of the world’s wealth has actually been created during times of great uncertainty?
Bob Wiedemer:Let me give you a historical example, because I love history. My co-author, Dave Wiedemer, is an economic historian. In the late 1800's, we don't think about this or the second half of the 1800's, 1850 to 1900, we saw tremendous growth in the middle class American. In fact, we kind of invented the middle class. That was really the first time we had a big massive middle class in a world economy. We had tremendous growth. There was great opportunities, but we also had big problems. We had financial crisis of 1872. We had a Civil War. We had a lot of other minor banking crisis, but we got through all those and the people that got through it were the ones who were diversified and they were careful with their money. You had to be careful.
You had to be diversified. That doesn't mean you're fearful or hiding. It could mean, you're the best performing investor out there, because this is the time of tremendous opportunity. When things change, that is when the real money is made--the long-term money. Just like that period of enormous growth in 1850 to 1900, lots of ups and downs and problems, but if you were diversified, you kept your risk down by diversifying, you had found you did extremely well. I see the future as being full of a lot of opportunities and a lot of money to be made.