Men’s Club: September 2016 Update

In August the Men’s club went to the horse races, played golf, had great breakfasts, reminisced about the Olympics, and considered the interaction of elections and investments.
Jack Sweeney led our annual outing to the Del Mar race track and all reported good fun but few winnings.
Our first speaker, Dick Sargent (yes, he is also the Men’s Club Vice President) gave a spellbinding account of his experiences preparing for the 1984 Olympics at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He pointed out that the Coliseum was the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice, in 1932 and 1984, and has been proposed to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
To give us an appreciation of the practical problems that the event managers must overcome, Dick shared some of the roadblocks with us. First, was the issue of cleaning the Coliseum that was going to be used nearly continuously for 16 days. When it was rapidly washed down, a leak between concrete sections which caused water to dump on the concession stands below. Solutions: (1) find a waste management company who would take on the cleaning job, and, (2) convince a local aerospace company to contrive a “mile-long o’ring” in the concrete joint between the Coliseum sections. Sounds easy, but it took masterful negotiations and two Olympic Sponsorships.
Oh, I forgot to say that he had to get these miracles done for free!
Many chuckles filled the room when Dick recounted the task of convincing the LA City Council to install a larger sewer line to the Coliseum because the existing pipes would not accommodate the anticipated beer consumption.
Many more vignettes like these completed the final story of a successful Olympics and a surplus of $260M that was split between the IOC, USOC, and the LA84 Charity.
Our August 16 guest speaker, James Fullenkamp, from Edward Jones Investing, introduced his colleague from Oppenheimer Funds, Dan Meleham, to address the topic “Everything investors should know about the Upcoming Election”. First, Dan dismissed the “misconception” that the market performs better with a particular Party in the White House. He showed data to illustrate that investing only when either Party is in office is far less profitable than being fully invested all the time.
Moving from the past to the future, he quickly injected the caveat that forecasting is an inexact science; but he predicted that the Republican Party will control the House and that the next President will have a filibuster-proof Senate. Dan’s Six Truths were particularly thought-provoking:
1) Gridlock Doesn’t Mean Nothing Gets Done; 2) Changes in Washington Don’t Come all at Once;  3) Campaign Rhetoric Doesn’t Always Influence What Happens During a President’s Tenure; 4) Consumers and Business have a Far Greater Impact on the Economy than the Government; 5) The State of the Economy Influences who is President, not vice versa; 6) The Stock Market Doesn’t Care if the public is happy with who is President.
Possibly the key message in this data-packed presentation was not to mix emotions with investing.
Tickets for the Men’s Club Fall Party will go on sale on Sept 6.
We are planning a Men’s Club Fall Party on October 11, 2016. We are limited to 96 tickets due to space constraints; therefore, tickets will be available on Sept 6 and Sept 20 for Men’s Club members and spouses only ($10 per ticket). On Sept 21 any remaining tickets will be available for sale to other guests. As in previous years, beer, bratwurst, red cabbage, and potato salad will be provided. Thanks for supporting your Men’s Club!
—Jerry Allen