You are here: Home » the Blog » Miscellaneous » Money Means Nothing If...

Money Means Nothing If...

By Joe Ponzio on April 28, 2008  |  19 comments

April has been one of the most difficult months of my life. It started with identity theft and ended with a 24-year-old loved one in intensive care since Friday the 18th. Without getting into too much detail, the last ten days have been very difficult.

Folks, all the money in the world means nothing if you don't live long enough to enjoy it. This is not a new revelation; still, you shouldn't wait for someone to nearly die to remember it.

This whole mess might have been avoided if he had just gone for an annual physical and blood test. Instead, he has gone through hell and back and has a long road of recover ahead of him.

Close the browser, call a doctor, and get a physical.

Your portfolio will be there when you get back.

Written by Joe Ponzio on April 28, 2008

Joe Ponzio is the managing partner of the Ponzio Investors Funds and owner of Ponzio Capital Inc, a registered investment advisory and deep value portfolio management firm. The author of F Wall Street (the book and the website), his articles have appeared in hundreds of financial media, including Financial Planning Magazine, CNBC.com, Yahoo! Finance, and Reuters. He has appeared numerous times nationally on both radio and television, and has presented at universities and seminars across the United States.

Read more articles like this online at www.fwallstreet.com.
To learn more about Joe's portfolio management services, visit www.ponziocapital.com.
The Discussion
J.F. Hardy' gravatar

J.F. Hardy
Apr 28th, 2008
1 comment

Good luck to you Joe... We too will be here when you get back. Take all the time you need.
C.G. Robare' gravatar

C.G. Robare
Apr 28th, 2008
1 comment

I concur with J.F. Hardy, take care of your loved ones. We'll be here rereading your old post and reading all the new and relevant SEC docs thanks to your slick RSS for Edgar feature. Thanks.
Jeff' gravatar

Jeff
Apr 28th, 2008

Good luck with everything Joe, we all wish you and your loved one the best.
ziggystardust' gravatar

ziggystardust
Apr 28th, 2008

I advise people to buy a blood pressure monitor and check thier B.P.
I bought one for myself, only to have normal readings, and then my brother grabbed it to try it out as a joke. It read 170/150 - after looking it up on the internet it advised that he should go to an emergency room immediately.

He was diagnosed with malignent hypertension. (See this guide) http://www.merck.com/mmhe...

If I had not brought around the B.P. Monitor by chance, he would have been dead within 3-6 months. Now he is taking tablets to control his B.P. and trying to lose weight.

Howard' gravatar

Howard
Apr 28th, 2008
18 comments

Joe,

What you said in this post is exactly right. I'm sorry to hear about your loved one. I wish him a speedy recovery, and hoping you can get thru this too. Thanks again for all the help you've provided us.
bryan' gravatar

bryan
Apr 28th, 2008
2 comments

Joe,
Great post, and I am praying for a speedy recovery.
Sami' gravatar

Sami
Apr 28th, 2008

hopefully this will pass and the the rest of the year will be a brighter one for you and your loved ones.
Duc Le' gravatar

Duc Le
Apr 28th, 2008
1 comment


Best wishes to your loved one, your family and you.

Thanks a lot for your good advices
Peter' gravatar

Peter
Apr 28th, 2008
2 comments

I've taken physicals before, but it doesn't seem like doctors are really focused on you. I've told them I have pain in certain areas but they just acknowledge it and go on. This was from a Kaiser Permanente clinic.

It seems like the best advice is simple:
"patients would be better off if doctors spent their time counseling them on such things as stopping smoking, eating a healthy diet and drinking moderately, using seat belts and having working smoke alarms in their houses."

reference: http://query.nytimes.com/...;sec=health&pagewanted=all

So I guess we all shouldn't just invest time in wealth, but in health as well.

Joe, if this is a cancer-related issue, you may be interested in this video:
http://video.google.com/v...

It's about using food as medicine, the speaker makes a lot of sense to me.
Gustavo Sapienza' gravatar

Gustavo Sapienza
May 1st, 2008
3 comments

Best wishes, and try to take it easy.

Everithing is gone be all right.

Just trust in it.

Warm regards.

Ron' gravatar

Ron
May 1st, 2008
3 comments

Like you always say Joe, price eventually always follows value. Your circumstances will rise again to meet your value as a good person and
as a great teacher of investing. Thank you for all you've done.
Guillermo Perez' gravatar

Guillermo Perez
May 2nd, 2008
1 comment

We wish you the best for you and your loved ones Joe. Regards.
Steve' gravatar

Steve
May 6th, 2008
1 comment

Good Luck Joe
Dean' gravatar

Dean
May 7th, 2008

Sincerely hope things work out for the best for your loved one.
jay' gravatar

jay
May 8th, 2008

Hope everything goes well.

If we have $1,000,000,000, 1 is your health, if 1 falls down, you left 000,000,000.
karl' gravatar

karl
May 8th, 2008
27 comments

We want Joe!
We want Joe!
We want Joe!
We want Joe!


Where aer you? I look forward to your blog and the ercent inactivity makes me sad :-(
BlahBlah' gravatar

BlahBlah
May 10th, 2008

Well said as usual

It's amazing how your focus quickly changes when you or a loved one no longer is in good health.

As the old adage goes, don't sweat the small stuff and most everything is small stuff. I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to acheive that simple goal.
F van den Broek' gravatar

F van den Broek
May 13th, 2008
3 comments

I wish you and your family health and safety.

Take time, take care. Come to think of it this is another very good reason to invest in wonderfull companies. You just don't want to be worrying about your portfolio when there are more important things to take care of.

Thanks all. I've always put family first. I apologize for taking time off, but I had to find a balance between what I had to do and what I wanted to do.

My brother is doing well now - getting better every day. Let's hope that is the end of the Joe Ponzio drama for a while!
Join The Discussion

Your Name
Mar 10th, 2010

Remember me on this computer
To help keep the F Wall Street website free from comment spam, we require that you have javascript enabled to post a comment. Please turn on javascript and refresh this page to load the comment form.

Joe Ponzio's F Wall Street

Submitting Your Comment

Please wait while your comment is submitted. (It may take a moment.) Comments on F Wall Street are moderated which means that your comment will appear only after it has been reviewed by Joe. Comments are typically reviewed and approved (or denied) quickly, except between 11:30PM and 5:00AM (CST) – Joe has to sleep some time!

Joe Ponzio's F Wall Street

Thank You For Participating!

Thank you for participating on F Wall Street. Once your comment has been approved, it will appear here. While waiting, check out some other articles on the blog or click here to return to the article.

» Buy F Wall Street at Amazon.com

Excel 2007|Excel 2003
(ZIP, 168kb) (ZIP, 138kb)

Search F Wall Street

Powered by Google

Subscribe to F Wall Street

E-mail or RSS updates. And it's free!

Enter your e-mail address below

Sun @ 11:09AM | View comment
Eric T said,

Instead of inventory turnover, I use the cash conversion cycle, or CCC.It is more accurate for companies that manufacture and...
Understanding the True Profit Margin

Sun @ 5:48AM | View comment
Diversification said,

well it all depends on the correlation between the stocks you have choosen many big mutual funds are having the...
The Dangers Of Overdiversification

Sun @ 4:46AM | View comment
sandesh trivedi said,

Very well explained joe. i believe one must also take into account the nature of the product being manufactured while...
Understanding the True Profit Margin

Sat @ 10:19AM | View comment
Ron said,

Hi Joe,Is there a rule of thumb of percentage of net shares sold by insiders where we should start to...
When To Watch Out For Insider Selling

Sat @ 10:18AM | View comment
jan said,

joe, any thoughts on jackson hewitt? what were the risks that played out in your mind when you decided...
BreitBurn Energy: Playing the Commodities Crash

Fri @ 3:20PM | View comment
Joe Ponzio said,

If you don't have the CRB Commodities Index book and software (issued each year for a few hundred bucks), your...
BreitBurn Energy: Playing the Commodities Crash