<story><title>How This Ends</title><url>https://avc.com/2022/05/how-this-ends-2/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ChrisMarshallNY</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; I would be planning to ride this thing out for at least eighteen months or more.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m betting more like three to five years.&lt;p&gt;I was talking to a friend (another old guy, like me, but really rich, unlike me).&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;ve both been through at least two recessions (big, nasty ones, with teeth and claws). We realized that there&amp;#x27;s an entire generation of folks; many running companies, that have never seen a real bear market.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s likely they are having a shit hemorrhage, right now.&lt;p&gt;The company I used to work for, was (still is) an over 100-year-old Japanese company. They lasted through a devastating war, a depression, multiple recessions, and were still around. I&amp;#x27;m hoping that they stay around. They&amp;#x27;ve made some choices that could be disastrous (I think that sidelining my team was one ;), but not the same kind a lot of companies are making now. Lots of people are leveraged to the hilt. Bad place to be, when the economy starts tanking.&lt;p&gt;HODL is the word. Live cheaply, so you don&amp;#x27;t need to cash out in a trough. Don&amp;#x27;t rely on other people&amp;#x27;s money, keep debt &lt;i&gt;way&lt;/i&gt; down, keep margins high, optimize processes, etc.&lt;p&gt;Old-fashioned stuff. It worked 100 years ago, and still works today.&lt;p&gt;Not everything old is bad.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rsanek</author><text>&amp;gt;there&amp;#x27;s an entire generation of folks; many running companies, that have never seen a real bear market&lt;p&gt;If anything, this is a problem that is much less bad than it was in previous down markets.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;7% of CEOs were younger than 50 years old at the end of 2018, compared with about 16% at the end of 2009.&amp;quot; [0]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Data on S&amp;amp;P 500 companies measured over the last two decades by executive recruiter Spencer Stuart shows a small but steady increase in the age of the CEO.&amp;quot; [1]&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;ceos-under-50-are-a-rare-find-in-the-s-p-500-11558517401&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;ceos-under-50-are-a-rare-find-i...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2021-11-30&amp;#x2F;twitter-s-agrawal-is-now-youngest-ceo-in-s-p-500&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2021-11-30&amp;#x2F;twitter-s...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>How This Ends</title><url>https://avc.com/2022/05/how-this-ends-2/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ChrisMarshallNY</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; I would be planning to ride this thing out for at least eighteen months or more.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m betting more like three to five years.&lt;p&gt;I was talking to a friend (another old guy, like me, but really rich, unlike me).&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;ve both been through at least two recessions (big, nasty ones, with teeth and claws). We realized that there&amp;#x27;s an entire generation of folks; many running companies, that have never seen a real bear market.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s likely they are having a shit hemorrhage, right now.&lt;p&gt;The company I used to work for, was (still is) an over 100-year-old Japanese company. They lasted through a devastating war, a depression, multiple recessions, and were still around. I&amp;#x27;m hoping that they stay around. They&amp;#x27;ve made some choices that could be disastrous (I think that sidelining my team was one ;), but not the same kind a lot of companies are making now. Lots of people are leveraged to the hilt. Bad place to be, when the economy starts tanking.&lt;p&gt;HODL is the word. Live cheaply, so you don&amp;#x27;t need to cash out in a trough. Don&amp;#x27;t rely on other people&amp;#x27;s money, keep debt &lt;i&gt;way&lt;/i&gt; down, keep margins high, optimize processes, etc.&lt;p&gt;Old-fashioned stuff. It worked 100 years ago, and still works today.&lt;p&gt;Not everything old is bad.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>eezurr</author><text>&amp;gt;We realized that there&amp;#x27;s an entire generation of folks; many running companies, that have never seen a real bear market.&lt;p&gt;This is true for every recession, so maybe rethink your friends logic.</text></comment>