With high energy, humor and enthusiasm, Jeffrey Weiss, author of Relationship Investing – Stock Market Therapy For Your Money, delivered the Executive-in-Residence Forum in Foundation Hall at Southern Arkansas University on November 6, 2019.
The Forum was co-sponsored by the David F. Rankin College of Business and Farmers Bank & Trust Wealth Management.
Weiss is an author, television personality and former chief technical analyst for Lehman Brothers, PaineWebber Inc., UBS/PaineWebber and UBS. He has appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” “Fast Money,” “Talking Numbers” and “Trading Nations,” in addition to Bloomberg television and radio. Relationship Investing was named 2018’s “Best Investment Book of the Year” by the 2018 Stock Trader’s Almanac.
Weiss was invited to come to SAU by Dr. David Rankin and Todd Smith, Executive Vice President of Wealth Management at FB&T. Weiss had become friends with them and their families and they discussed the possibility of him coming to Arkansas to share his expertise with students.
From left: Todd Smith, Dr. Tim Wise, Dr. David Rankin, Jeffrey Weiss, Dr. Robin Sronce, Jackie Tarlton and Amy Lewis in the Reynolds Center at Southern Arkansas University.
“The Executive in Residence program is a long-standing tradition at the Rankin College of Business that we reinstated this year with the support of Todd Smith and Farmers Bank & Trust Wealth Management,” said Dr. Robin Sronce, dean of the Rankin College of Business. “The purpose is to bring successful business professionals to the college to share with students and faculty through formal presentations, classroom visits, and informal conversations.”
During Weiss’ visit, students learned firsthand information about the role of the technical analyst in stock market investing. Over two and a half days, Weiss shared his 30-plus years of experience as a chief technical analyst and work on Wall Street with students and faculty in energetic and informative sessions that engaged the students.
Weiss arrived in Magnolia on November 4 and had numerous discussions with RCB faculty and students. “It’s such an honor,” he said, “the students are fantastic kids. Everyone gets along and there is this camaraderie here that you don’t often see.”
Weiss spoke about the importance of learning from one’s investment mistakes, often comparing owning stocks to human relationships.
“I’m lecturing on stopping financial cuts from becoming financial wounds, hemorrhages, or amputations,” he said, with a laugh. “Things you would not do in your life, people often do when investing in the stock market.”
He cautioned that by the time a person has gained sufficient wisdom to handle their market losses, “you could be broke. That’s too high a price to pay!”
Weiss said he bases his buy-or-sell decisions on “what can go wrong. I always say, ‘be careful.’”
He advises students to prepare for unpredictable events in the real world. “You have to know how to adapt to sudden changes. Students need to decide in advance what environments they think they will thrive in. Don’t do anything just for the money.”
