In times of tumult, it may seem odd to suggest that investors worry less. Human nature conditions us to fear uncertainty and dread failure.

True long-term investors and Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame have lots in common. Both delight in chaos, neither worries much in tough times, and both seem mighty peculiar to mainstream society. How many of us are delighted, for instance, when our favourite department store has a sale, marking down items by 20-50 per cent, yet feel alarm when Wall Street does this to our favourite stocks?