Sometime in the middle of the last decade I was speaking at an investment conference in Las Vegas. Howard called me and asked if he could come down from where he lived in southern Utah to give me a copy of his new book (which he wanted me to review). You can’t tell a force of nature no, so I told him to come on down. We agreed to meet at a booth on the exhibit floor in the afternoon. The floor was rather busy, and I was talking with friends and attendees at the back end of the aisle. I looked down the aisle and saw Howard walking toward me, and it wasn’t until he was about 10 feet from me that I realized that no one had stopped him to have a chat. Howard was still the same person, but the world had moved on, and he had not moved with it. I vividly remember thinking sic transit gloria. That lesson, the thought that it could happen to anyone, has been seared into my brain over the last 10+ years.
He wrote a biography in which he talked about his successes and failures, and we compared notes on his career and mine from time to time when we had opportunities to get together. I had jumped in near the beginning of the investment publishing business but on the management side, and I didn’t begin to really write my own material until the late ’90s. Howard was glad to mentor me and freely talk about his ups and downs.
He shared what he considered to be his biggest mistake. In the early ’80s, and certainly by the mid-’80s, he began to realize that inflation was truly not coming back and that gold might be challenged. But he had well over 100 employees and a subscriber base that would rebel if he changed his tune. Changing his message meant he would have to lay off scores of people, including many friends and family members, and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. “I knew it, in my heart, but I just couldn’t get myself to damage the company that badly.”
We had that conversation several times. I have had the unique advantage of being friends with a number of writers and publishers over the last 35 years. I’ve seen writers get big and then fade. Other seemingly stay on top of their game, riding the wave wherever it takes them. The biggest mistake that leads to downfalls is believing in your own investment magic (or, as we are wont to say in Texas, believing your own bullshit). Howard was a true, one-of-a-kind marketing genius; and if he had changed his tune when he knew he needed to, he would have lost half his readers, but he would have built his list back up. The lesson: Be true to what you know and believe, and let the chips fall where they may. Don’t tell the people what they want to hear, Howard would say, but what you really think. Just make sure you believe it.
Howard was a friend to everyone he met, forever generous with his time and resources. Those of us in the investment publishing world owe a great debt, whether we know it or not, to Howard Ruff. Your publishing business has Howard’s DNA buried deeply within it. May he rest in peace.
Washington DC, New York, Atlanta, and Florida
I have rarely asked my readers to connect me with someone; but when I have, I have never failed to get that email address or phone number. So with that hope in mind, could someone please give me email and/or phone connections for both Matt Ridley and Bill Gross? You can send them to [email protected]. Thanks.
Week after next I will make my way to Washington DC and New York for a series of meetings and then to Atlanta for a Galectin Therapeutics board meeting. Then I’ll be home for the holidays. I’ll be in Florida for the Inside ETFs Conference in Hollywood, Florida, January 22–25. And then I’ll be at the Orlando Money Show February 8–11 at the Omni in Orlando. Registration is free.
It’s time to hit the send button. After writing such dramatic and emotional content, I think I’ll go watch the latest Harry Potter movie and simply be entertained. I am still utterly amazed that I can make a living doing what I enjoy doing – writing and thinking and talking. Every time I sit down at this computer to write my letter, I truly do think, “Dear God, don’t let the magic stop this week.” But then the real magic is you. It’s been 17 years, and I still enjoy every step of our journey together. Thank you.
Remember, I really do read your comments and take them to heart. So if you want to tell me something, go right ahead. In the meantime, you have a great week. It will be interesting to see how Trump transitions from showman to President, from a candidate who can say anything to “Oh my God I have to make decisions, and this is the real world.” Maybe I’m asking for the triumph of hope, but I believe he can.