Category: Songs by or about Cash

Six Lessons for Investors from The Gambler

One of the most famous songs by or about cash is Kenny Rogers’ ‘The Gambler’.  While the origins of the song may have been meant for playing card games, such as poker, the lyrics contain insights that apply equally well to speculators of all types including investors and traders alike.

In this song, two travelling fellas find themselves sitting on a train together, staring awkwardly into the darkness outside and at each other.  The gambler, sensing an opportunity finally breaks the silence and proposes a trade: his advice for the last of the traveler’s whiskey.  While it’s tough to say who got the best of that trade, here are six important lessons for investors to ponder that came from that exchange.

If you wanna save your soul from hell, or ridin’ on our range
Then cowboy, change your ways today, or with us you will ride
Tryin’ to catch the devil’s herd
Across these endless skies…

With US stock market indices riding red hot through to new highs, many market observers cannot believe their eyes.

The timing, however, couldn’t be better to launch the first in the SparxTrading.com “songs by or about cash” series.  This series will hopefully show do-it-yourself investors that there are nuggets of investing wisdom that can be uncovered in some well known tunes.

As luck would have it, there happens to be a song about an unbelievable bull-run called ‘(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend’ (by Stan Jones) that (luckily) was covered by “the man in black” Johnny Cash.

The story goes like this. An old cowboy out for a ride stumbles across something surreal: A heard of phantom bulls stampeding across the night sky followed by some equally unearthly phantom cowboys in flaming hot pursuit.

So what’s an old cowboy to do? Chase the heard or let them pass by (or adjust his meds)?

Staring at these markets, it’s not hard to see the value of asking the question – does one chase this hot market or simply just step aside?   For those already in, should they keep going?

With no overhead technical resistance in the major US markets and fundamental indicators on the US economy shifting from awful to ‘less bad’ it may look like an exciting time to saddle up and get caught up in the frenzy.

For traders on the sidelines or those thinking of jumping into trading because the markets are hot, the following ominous warning uttered by one of the ghost riders provides an important cautionary tale:

If you wanna save your soul from hell, or ridin’ on our range
Then cowboy, change your ways today, or with us you will ride
Tryin’ to catch the devil’s herd
Across these endless skies…

Chasing an ephemeral heard is a never ending endeavor. Markets will always be moving, and there will always be those willing to chase them. While your soul may not face eternal damnation, perhaps your portfolio might.

For investors not in the chase, it may all seem pretty exciting. Before jumping in, however, asking yourself whether you want chase a market that can never be caught might not be such a bad thing. For some it’s what they live for but for others, it seems eerily crazy. Yippee-I-Yay.