Portfolio manager Cale Smith on investing, Spoke Funds®, and Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

I got a nice plug this week over at the Islamorada Guides Club from good friend Captain Ted Wilson.

The odds of me catching a tarpon that big all by myself are zilch. To paraphrase someone else, fishing in the Keys is amazing – if you have enough sense to hire a guide.

Here’s the full article. And if you’re ever coming to the Keys to fish the backcountry, give Ted a shout. Snook, tarpon, redfish…I’ve caught them all with Ted – and I am a ham-and-egger kind of angler.

And as tragic as this oil spill is in the Gulf, the Keys have not been affected in any way, shape or form. The waters are as gin-clear as ever, and everyone is open for business. “Giddy” is not a term I would normally use to describe any of the guides down here, but they sure do seem to be smiling a lot lately. The fishing has been phenomenal – and tarpon fishing in particular is about to get even better this weekend. Why?

Two words.

“Worm hatch.”

Okay, maybe it’s an island thing. But here is much more about why you should absolutely, positively grab a couple of fishing rods and come down to the Keys this weekend. There is nothing quite like catching a tarpon. It will make you temporarily forget all about stock market corrections, oil spills, and European credit derivatives, for sure…

A video from future Spoke Fund® manager Dustin, who says:

I’m always looking for things I can add to the ‘mental file cabinet’. Thought you might find this one interesting. This helps explain why Spoke Funds and aligning your interests with investors works.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

My favorite was this quote:

“The goal is not to do business with anybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

Enjoy.

Q. What’s with all this volatility in the market lately?

A. It’s been a strange, tough few weeks in the stock market. From the crisis in Greece to the Gulf oil spill and the bizarre 1,000 point “flash crash” in the Dow, there are plenty of reasons the market seems uncertain.

Take inflation. Two months ago, inflation was the most predominant concern among many investors. You’ll remember inflation is a general rise in the price level of various goods and services that can be caused by an increase in the supply of money. You may also remember that both the Federal Reserve and the federal government recently pumped huge amounts of money into the economy to recover from the credit crisis and ensuing recession. So with inflation such an obvious risk, why, then, are some investors starting to become concerned about deflation again?

Well, an odd thing happened while we were waiting for inflation to show up. The Euro, the primary currency of Europe, began to fall in value as a result of the recent bailout in Greece. As the Euro falls, the value of the U.S. dollar increases – at least on a relative basis. And because commodities like oil, gold and grains are priced in the dollar in international markets, a stronger dollar means you can buy more of that commodity for the same buck, so commodity prices tend to drop. Except, well, for gold, which usually moves in the opposite direction of the dollar, but has instead recently reached a record high.

Confused yet? So is the market. It can be hard to stay on top of it all. Here’s the thing, though – you don’t need to in order to be a successful investor. In fact, instead of worrying about all this volatility, some investors actually welcome it. Buying high quality, high return companies at prices well below what they’re really worth offers you the best chance to grow your wealth long-term – regardless of the inflation rate. So if you’re tired of the noise, I’d encourage you to think about becoming a value investor. There’s plenty of room.