The Women's Guide to Successful

Investing: Achieving Financial Security

and Realizing Your Goals 2nd Edition
Nancy Tengler
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 WOMEN’S
THE

GUIDE TO
SECOND

SUCCESSFUL
EDITION

INVESTING
ACHIEVING FINANCIAL
SECURITY AND REALIZING
YOUR GOALS

NANCY TENGLER
The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing
 Nancy Tengler

The Women’s Guide

to Successful Investing
Achieving Financial Security
and Realizing Your Goals

Second Edition
Nancy Tengler
Scottsdale, AZ, USA

ISBN 978-3-031-38372-4 ISBN 978-3-031-38373-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38373-1

1st edition: © Nancy Tengler, 2014

2nd edition: © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2023

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 Preface to the Second Edition

In 2012, when I first contemplated writing The Women’s Guide to Successful

Investing, I had just finished my memoir and secured a literary agent. After
20 years as a portfolio manager and Chief Investment Officer, I had retired,
sought (and completed) a graduate degree in Creative Non-Fiction, and spent
the afternoons enjoying my kid’s sporting events. It was there I met so many
intelligent, accomplished women: doctors, psychologists, MBAs, a periodon-
tist, accountants, multiple law school grads and practicing lawyers, and a
rodeo queen with a coveted degree from a prominent California university.
Each was smart and confident. Except when it came to the family finances.
When these women learned I had a career as a money manager, every
last one of them physically recoiled. “Oh, I leave our investments to my
husband—it feels too much like gambling.” “I don’t understand the markets
and I have no interest anyway.” “I would rather put the money in a bank
account—I’m a good saver.”
I set aside the memoir, fired my literary agent, and began working on
what ultimately became The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing. If smart,
educated women didn’t feel equipped to invest or engage with the markets,
what chance did any of us have of enjoying a successful retirement?
My generational cohort, the Baby Boomers, participates in the investment
of their assets at a greater rate than Millennial women according to a 2019
UBS report. This is a grand disappointment. I would have expected improve-
ments in engagement from generation to generation. Instead, engagement is
moving in the other direction.

v
vi Preface to the Second Edition

Add to that, the average age of a widow in the United States is 59 according
to the US Census Bureau. And the average age of a US woman’s first divorce
is 30. Sitting on the investing sidelines is not an option.
I remind my clients regularly they should think of retirement as twenty
years of unemployment—thirty if you are lucky. Understanding and partic-
ipating in the management of your assets will ensure you achieve your
financial goals for retirement, philanthropy, or your legacy. The statistics show
that at some point 95% of all women will find themselves in charge of the
family wealth.
As we will see, it’s a fact, women naturally make better investors than men.
But women tend to shrink from all things financial—even though we are
diligent savers—and some thirty-eight years after I began a career in investing,
I find the number of women in positions of leadership has hardly budged. So,
this is my mission. And passion. I want to see you build confidence in the
management of your finances and future wealth. I want to see you retire in
comfort and if the time comes when you are widowed by a spouse like I was,
or the dirty rat leaves you in a lurch or you never married in the first place
you will have the wherewithal to navigate the turbulent times with minimal
disruption and maximum reward.
So, this book is a must read for women of all ages—it is never too late
to increase your investing IQ. The concepts are for you, your mother, your
daughters, sisters, or a friend. The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing will lay
out a blueprint for success and this second edition will engage in new, timely
topics and challenges that have presented since the original publication in
2014.

Incline Village, NV, USA Nancy Tengler

February 2023
 Preface

It’s Time to Raise Our Investing IQ

A very long time ago, when I began working in the investment business, the
activity was housed in the trust department of large banks. Our clients were
the heirs to wealth most often accumulated by someone else. Generally, they
were placid and uninterested in the investment process and had only a single
overriding concern: receiving their monthly distribution check. Rarely did
we meet with clients though we were responsible for the day-to-day manage-
ment of their money. Investing, to borrow from an old political saw, was like
making sausage—our clients seemed to think it better not to see how it was
being done. So, of course, meeting with our largest client stands out starkly.
Mrs. H was a regal but spunky widow. She dressed impeccably down to the
matching hat and gloves and carried herself with the air of a woman of the
world. Mrs. H understood the power and importance of investing. She was
interested in every detail we discussed about her portfolios. Most remarkable,
she understood the importance of taking enough risk. Why did we need to
own so many bonds she wanted to know? Why not more stocks? And though
the first rule every investor learns is to diversify in order to spread risk, I had
to agree her question had merit. Why didn’t we own a greater percentage in
stocks? They consistently outperformed the bond portion of her portfolios,
and she hardly needed the income the bonds produced.
Mrs. H was a wonderful role model for women investors: generous, kind,
adventuresome, and prudent. Prudent because she informed herself and in

vii
viii Preface

doing so understood the important role risk played in her investment portfo-
lios. As a client, she was also extraordinarily rare. Few of my women clients
subsequently understood the importance of taking a part in the manage-
ment of their wealth. Much later in my career I resigned from managing the
account of a wealthy young heiress who was so dangerously uninterested in
how we were investing her funds (though she was entirely dependent upon
the money); I simply didn’t want her as a client. I had learned that clients
unwilling to learn the basics were ultimately the worst—their instincts were
entirely driven by emotion and therefore dangerous to their own wealth.
Annamaria Lusardi and Olivia S. Mitchell published a paper in 2006 on
financial literacy. Their findings, while startling, line up with my four decades
of managing billions of dollars of other people’s money. Most people don’t
understand the most basic economic and investing concepts nor are they
particularly interested in mastering them. In their review of the available
research, Lusardi and Mitchell found that on a basic test administered by
the National Council on Economic Education, American adults earned, on
average, a C grade while high school students flunked entirely.1 As women,
we have a significant reason to learn about finance and investing—we tend
to live longer. And because we tend to live longer, we will at some point
be responsible for our own financial management. And presumably we’ll
also need more money than our male counterparts for retirement. Two
professors at Colorado State University, Vickie L. Bajtelsmit and Alexandra
Bernasek, published an academic paper exploring the difference between the
way women and men invest.2 The variance is primarily centered around
a woman’s willingness to take risk. Taking a conservative approach is defi-
nitely an advantage when investing but avoiding risk altogether is not.
Risk is inherent in every aspect of our lives, but it seems more prominent
and somehow more dangerous when we invest. Perhaps that is because we
measure our results every single day. But the fact is over the long-term
investing is not the risky activity. It’s not investing that contains the most
risk to our future security.
Join me in this adventure and you will increase your investing IQ. In doing
so, you will begin to take control of your own financial future, creating wealth
for you and your family. I know your plate is full with the daily business of
living and that adding another “to do” seems impossible. But, ladies, our

1 Lusardi, Annamaria and Mitchell, Olivia S. (2006) “Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness:
Evidence and Implications for Financial Education.” University of Michigan Retirement Research
Center, working paper.
2 Bajtelsmit, Vickie L. and Bernasek, Alexandra. (1996) “Why Do Women Invest Differently Than
Men?” Financial Counseling and Planning, 7, 1–10.
 Preface ix

greatest strength is our strength; our ability to squeeze just one more thing
into our day and to do it well. With intelligence, grace, and determination.
As the former governor of the Great State of Texas Ann Richards once said,
“After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it
backwards and in high heels.”

Paradise Valley, AZ, USA Nancy Tengler

May 2014
 Acknowledgments

If central casting were to select someone to portray the consummate literary

agent, he would look and act like Sam Fleishman of Literary Artists Repre-
sentatives. Sam was a gift to me during every stage of shaping the manuscript
for the first edition of The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing. His willing-
ness to encourage and suggest and dig in with both hands is rare and deeply
valued. Without his insight, the first edition would never have made it out of
rough draft form. I missed his guidance while completing the second edition
as he decided to retire a few months before I began drafting number two.
Still, Sam’s influence remains front and center in the following pages.
To my business partner and long-time friend, Arthur B. Laffer, Jr. my grat-
itude and undying affection. His ability to make me laugh at myself daily is
so good for the soul in this crazy business and got me through the hours and
days and weeks completing this book. I appreciate, very much, his wisdom
and counsel. Lauren Mitchell has cleaned up behind my inability to organize
and has managed my work life impeccably. She is gracious and funny and
loyal and in this world those traits are hard to find wrapped together in one
person. Her precious daughter, Aubrey, is a member of the future generation
of women who will, I hope, show the investing world how it’s done.
Tula Weiss, Executive Director, Scholarly and Professional Finance, Head
of Economics and Finance at Palgrave Macmillan, has been a joy to work
with. It was Tula’s idea to publish a second edition. I am indebted to her.
Deborah Kostroun, Managing Director of Zito Partners, has been an
invaluable guidepost for media strategy as I seek to follow my passion of

xi
xii Acknowledgments

raising the investing IQ of women around the country and the globe, for
that matter. Her in-depth knowledge, creativity, and indefatigable spirit have
been invaluable.
My mother, nee Siranooch Kanchelian, aka Tobie Caven who hard-
scrabbled her way through the Great Depression, taught me how to work
hard and save, by her life-long example. When she finally retired from her
job (with Thursday’s off for tap dancing lessons, of course) at the age of 85,
she left a legacy of charity, hard work, and determination.
Finally, to my late husband, Doug, and my children Chip and M.K., who
have lived the principles outlined in this book; thank you. Through innumer-
able dinner discussions and shopping trips where I checked the shelves and
grilled the salespeople or critiqued the service, they have remained patient
and bemused. And supportive always.
 Contents

1 Wealth Accumulation is an Attitude: Investing for Your

Future Requires a Few Goals and Much Less Capital
Than You Think 1
2 Saving to Invest is the Best Strategy 9
3 Covid-19 Hit Women’s Finances Much Harder Than
Men’s: Women Left the Workforce En masse—At What
Cost? 21
4 It’s True! Women Make Better Investors Than Men (Sorry
Guys). Women Inherently Display the Traits Required
for Successful Investing 35
5 Developing an Intelligent Investing Strategy All Your
Own: Like Any Discipline, Sound Investing Can Become
Muscle Memory for the Diligent Student and Practitioner 47
6 Developing an Investment Discipline That Will
Achieve Our Goals—Continued: The Stock Market is
a Tug of War Between Fear and Greed; Arm Yourself
with the Tools to Succeed 69
7 Construct Your Portfolio Like a Dinner Party Invitation
List: Holdings Should Be Balanced and Behave Well If
Things Get Out of Hand 81

xiii
xiv Contents

8 Apple, Inc.—A Case Study in How to Select a Core

Holding: A Role Model Investment You Will Want
to Emulate 95
9 Mutual Funds Are So 1990, How to Use Exchange-Traded
Funds to Round Out Your Portfolio Holdings. To Crypto
or Not to Crypto and What the Heck are Meme Stocks? 109
10 A Case Study of a Fallen Consumer Discretionary, Tech,
E-Commerce Company: Amazon and Stocks to Own
for a Lifetime 125
11 Five Critical Lessons and Warnings: Don’t Touch a Hot
Stove, Don’t Talk to Strangers, and Other Lessons
for the Ages 135
12 Twelve Intelligent Investing rules—And One More
for Good Measure: Rules for Women to Invest by 145

Appendix 1: 12 Fundamental Factors I Find Useful 149

Appendix 2: Investment Websites 151
Glossary of Investment Terms: Mastering the Language
Will Provide You with Confidence and Will Broaden Your
Knowledge Base 153
Index 167
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 S&P 500 compound annual growth rate (January 1,

1995–February 28, 2023) (Source Strategas) 6

Chart 5.1 McDonald’s dividend history, 12/31/1998–03/29/2023

(Source Bloomberg, March 2023) 62

xv
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Recommended stock allocations for future goals 29

Table 7.1 Five stock portfolio returns, April 11, 2003–April 12, 2013 84
Table 7.2 S&P 500 sector weightings, February 21, 2023 87
Table 11.1 Annual total return for Dow Jones industrial average,
1987–2022 140

xvii
 1
Wealth Accumulation is an Attitude:
Investing for Your Future Requires a Few
Goals and Much Less Capital Than You Think

This book is for women.

Which is not to say it is not for men. Anyone interested in achieving
financial independence for themselves and their family will benefit from
reading these pages. But my focus is women in particular, women who,
for too long, have been left out of the financial dialogue or have, perhaps,
excused themselves from the conversation altogether. Since many women
oversee their family finances, this deficit in our financial education creates
at best a lost opportunity for the balance sheets of most American house-
holds. And because the research shows that at some point in her life virtually
every woman will become responsible for managing her family’s wealth, we
owe it to ourselves (and our heirs) to become more financially savvy.
Yet, most of us feel largely unprepared for the task. Three-quarters of
women interviewed—no matter their level of education—told researchers
they wished they had learned more about financial matters. And they confess
to sending their children out largely unprepared as well.
Financial independence is achieved through two distinct disciplines: saving
and investing. Equally as important and equally elusive, both are necessary
ingredients to expand wealth. And that is our objective: to maximize wealth
accumulation to reach your individual and family’s long-term objectives. To
that end, we will endeavor together to raise your saving and investing aware-
ness. We will develop an understanding of how to successfully invest in

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2023
N. Tengler, The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38373-1_1
2 N. Tengler

the markets through the identification and implementation of 12 Intelligent

Investing Rules that will increase confidence in buying and selling stocks.
In the end, we will inevitably raise our investing IQ and, therefore, our
likelihood of achieving financial independence.

Cultivate the Habit of Saving

Many of us—whether we engage in the practice or not—understand very
clearly how to save money. Whether we do so or not is a matter of disci-
pline or, in some cases, a lack of income. The vast majority of Americans are
capable of saving. They simply lack discipline. For many years, my lack of
saving placed me at the head of that undisciplined mass of spenders. Having
grown up in a home where my single mom worked two jobs, I learned to
work, scrimp, and save from a very early age. By the time I hit my late twen-
ties, I was ready to spend. Then, the children came and the myriad expenses
of growing them up: soccer cleats, baseball gloves, swim goggles, golf clubs,
piano lessons, more swim goggles, and then one day: college. Spending had
become a habit; any instinct I once had for saving was long ago repressed by
the habit (and enjoyment) of spending. I had saving amnesia and, worse, I
found myself making excuses about why I didn’t save. What was the point
of stashing a few hundred dollars each month? I convinced myself it would
make no difference.
INSET: Two women aged 35 save $400 per month. One deposits her savings
into a money market account at her local bank. The second woman sends the
$400 to her brokerage account and invests the money immediately. Assuming a
3.30% interest rate (which was the prevailing money market rate in January
2023) and ignoring the fact that rates rise and fall the saver would enjoy a
balance of $135,752.15 after twenty years. The investor, however, will enjoy a
much higher balance. To calculate we assume the long-term average rate for the
stock market at 9.0% over the last 100 + years. At the end of twenty years the
woman who saved to invest would have accumulated $257,782, almost double
the balance of the saver.
Then, at some point, I re-discovered the literary classic A Tree Grows
in Brooklyn. Francie Nolan’s dirt-poor, immigrant grandmother provided a
lesson in saving that shamed me back into the game. She counseled Francie’s
mother to save whatever she could manage—even pennies each day, “The
money will grow.” Soon, “there will be a small fortune.” The practice of
saving begets more saving and becomes a habit, and eventually, we find
 1 Wealth Accumulation is an Attitude: Investing … 3

ourselves looking for opportunities not to spend when spending isn’t neces-
sary. I am not offering a draconian alternative to living (my shoe collection
would confirm that) but rather an attitude that balances the opportunity to
set aside a little something for the future against the desire to consume today.
The study of behavioral economics explores the psychological challenges
individuals face when it comes to saving. Numerous studies have been
conducted and numerous papers written to explain the problem that many of
us have with saving money for our futures. One of the most vocal and prolific
researchers in behavioral finance is Dr. Shlomo Benartzi, professor at UCLA
Anderson School of Management and chief behavioral economist for Allianz
Global Investors Center for Behavioral Finance.1 His work shows that “only
1 out of 10 Americans are saving enough for their retirement.” (Let that sink
in!) Dr. Benartzi concludes that one of the three main factors that prevent
us from saving is immediate gratification—the desire to spend today. He is
right, of course. Many of us spend today because we spend too little time
considering future needs. Add to that the magnitude of saving often required
to meet future goals is so great we simply choose to ignore the problem.
Many years ago, when I was juggling family and career, a colleague of mine
suggested I find ways to solve my logistical problems with money. His argu-
ment was that I had more money than time. That is not to say I had an
abundance of money, but I had almost no free time. Hiring someone to help
with house cleaning or yard work released me from the frenetic pace I was
keeping and gave me more time with my family. Of course, there will always
be times when spending will be the right solution. But had I retained saving
as a habit I would have found ways to spend less, to avoid opportunities
to spend unnecessarily. If my attitude had been one of saving a predeter-
mined amount, I might have then supplemented my penchant for consumer
brands with generics. I would have pumped my own gas instead of driving
through the full-service lane or had my children clean the house and mow
the lawns (as they eventually did) rather than paying to do so. Rooting out
wasteful spending—which I did in the office—would have saved hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of dollars each month, money I could have tucked away
for future investment. Ultimately, after Francie Nolan’s grandmother gave me
a figurative slap upside the head—I did just that.
Soon I had set aside enough money to invest in a series of goals our family
had established.

1 Benartzi, Shlomo “Do You Know Why You Aren’t Saving Enough for Your Future?” Allianz Global
Investors, http:www.allianzusa.com/investments/investing-insights/behavioral-finance/.html
4 N. Tengler

Saving, Even a Little Matters

If you are like me (and apparently 90 percent of other Americans), you spend
more money than you need to. As an intelligent woman, you don’t need me
to advise you on debt management or how to construct a monthly budget;
rather, I am simply reminding you of the need to save to invest. And the
need to save as much as you possibly can. One of the most common fallacies
I encounter comes from women who believe it is too late to save and invest.
Whatever your age or stage in life you still have time to save and work toward
financial independence.
Real-life case study: Meet Stephanie Mucha. A few years back I wrote
about Stephanie Mucha in my column for USA TODAY . I didn’t know Ms.
Mucha but her story inspired me, and I hope, will inspire you.
“Stephanie Mucha died in December 2018 at age 101. Her first investment
was made with her husband: 50 shares of Medtronic at $5.11 a share. They held
the stock for 26 years, along the way accumulating shares, reinvesting dividends
and enjoying the occasional stock split until the value of their $255 investment
totaled $459,000.
Still, it wasn’t until five years after her husband’s death in 1985 and Stephanie
was 57 that she began managing her portfolio. She weathered bear markets and
bull markets, and because she retired from nursing in 1993, she added to her
investment portfolio on a fixed income. Before she died, Stephanie gave away $5
million.” ( Source: USA Today, August 13, 2019, Nancy Tengler Special to
USA TODAY).
Stephanie Mucha was like most women I meet. She was disciplined and delib-
erate and smart. We may not have the opportunity to live past 100 years of age
like Stephanie, but we can still invest—even on a fixed income. We will dig a
little deeper later in this chapter to explore the premise that saving alone is not
enough, saving to invest is the only strategy to achieve wealth.

By the Way, Women Control Trillions of Dollars

In the first edition of this book, I cited a 2010 study conducted by the
Boston Consulting Group, titled “Leveling the Playing Field.”2 The study
found that women tend to be long-term in focus, and very concerned about
potential life-stage events (like sending their children to college or saving for

2 Damisch, Peter, Monish Kumar, AnnaZakrzewski, and Natalia Zhiglinskaya (July 2010) “Leveling
the Playing Field, Upgrading the Wealth Management Experience for Women.” The Boston
Consulting Group, www.bcg.perspectives.com
 1 Wealth Accumulation is an Attitude: Investing … 5

their own retirement) that affected their investment focus. Our priorities and
goals are clear: we want to provide for our families’ future financial needs.
Consequently, we make excellent savers. Yet, there is an even more compelling
reason for us to engage in financial activities. The Boston Consulting Group
conducted another study in 2020, “Managing the Next Decade of Women’s
Wealth.”3
The authors identified three primary factors that have and will continue
to influence women’s wealth. The most important item, in my view, is that
women are accumulating wealth at the astonishing rate of $5 trillion annually.
By 2023, the study projects that women will control $93 trillion in assets
globally.
Yet there is a troubling result in the BCG study.
We know from numerous studies we will discuss in Chapter 4 that women
make better investors than men largely because we tend to do more research
and we don’t churn our portfolios; we generally take a long-term view. What
troubled me was the conclusion “because women tend to avoid uncertainty
risk…they are also more likely to keep a higher percentage of their assets
liquid.” This outsized commitment to cash (especially in high inflationary
environments like 2022) creates a significant drag on total return over time.
And because we live longer than men, the performance drag compounds over
our longer lifespan making this risk-averse strategy riskier than investing well.
Intelligent investing rule number one: The biggest risk to women’s portfo-
lios is that we frequently don’t take enough risk.
Stocks rise in two-thirds of the years since records have been kept begin-
ning in the 1800s. Hoarding cash dramatically drags down total return over
the long-term. The great investor, John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard
Group, authored an article in the January/February edition of the Finan-
cial Analysts Journal entitled “The Arithmetic of “All-In Investments”4 about
the implications of fees and “cash drag.” By owning merely 5% cash in your
investment portfolio (rather than investing that cash in equities), annual total
return is lower by 0.30%. When compounded over a 20-year holding period
assuming an average annual return on stocks of 9.0%, an initial $100,000
portfolio would give up $30,057 in growth.
Even more deleterious to returns is trying to time the market. Strategas
Research Partners analyzed stock returns as measured by the S&P 500 from

3 Zakrzewski, Anna Kedra Newsom, Michael Kahlich, Maximilian Klein, Andrea Real Mattar, and
Stephan Knobel (April 2020) “Managing the Next Decade of Women’s Wealth.” The Boston
Consulting Group, www.bcg.com/publications
4 Bogle, John C. “The Arithmetic of “All-In” Investment Expenses.” (January/February 2014)
Financial Analysts Journal, 3.
6 N. Tengler

Fig. 1.1 S&P 500 compound annual growth rate (January 1, 1995–February 28, 2023)
(Source Strategas)

January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2022. For the investor who remains fully
invested in the market over that 27-year period, the average annual return is
8.0%. By missing just the five best days, the annualized return drops to 6.2%.
(Think; a cost to your initial $100,000 portfolio of $291,393. Missing the
30 best days over that 27 years results in an annualized total return of 1.3%
or a cost in dollar terms of $657,078. Staying put during bear markets is
important to achieving returns in stocks. Peter Lynch, one of the greatest
growth investors of all time once said: “The real key to making money in
stocks is not to get scared out of them.” (Fig. 1.1).
I will say it again. Because women live longer, we need to engage in the
investing process. And, learn the importance of taking enough risk.

#59.0–A Case Study of, Well, Me

If, like me, you find you are a statistic—the average age of a widow in the U.S.
is 59 years old according to the U.S. Census Bureau—you likely have a lot of life
ahead. And, if the average age is 59 (this statistic is pre-COVID) there are a lot
of younger widows with greater responsibilities than I had—say kids at home—
and many more years to provide for themselves and their families. These women
weighed heavily on my heart as I stumbled through the process of bringing order
to life after loss.
One year After My husband’s Death I Wrote the Following.
“So, here I am. After thirty-four years of marriage, two children, multiple
careers and a retirement and yet another career, I am a widow. I don’t feel old
enough to be a widow. And, worse, I don’t want to be a widow. For the last three
years we focused our energy on fighting his cancer. He fought nobly and, valiantly,
 1 Wealth Accumulation is an Attitude: Investing … 7

actually. But in the end, he lost. Which means I lost and our kids lost a father
and future grandfather to their children. He is gone and we are left to make sense
of the future as a truncated family.
As for me, I am left to work through the financial aspects, the piles of medical
bills, the fights between Medicare and our insurance provider and a medical
provider who just wants to get paid. Then there is the looming question: what
to do with the big house that was selected with enough room for kids and grand-
kids at Christmas—now a constant reminder of an unknown future and a money
pit as well. The second home: keep it or sell it? The mini horse in the backyard
that was a gift from a friend—also lost to cancer—meant to be a companion to
our family horse, (dead, too, at age 32 after a bout of colic) what to do with
him? I must also face the tedium of sorting through the myriad account name
changes and transfers and stock and real estate valuations for some obscure estate
tax reason which results in hours on hold and bad advice from an untrained client
service representative in some far-off country reading from a script.”
Whether you are widowed or divorced you will find yourself in the position of
doing a two-person job alone. There will be plenty of unpleasant tasks to perform.
Best not to add “learn how to invest” to the list. Two-thirds of widows fire their
financial advisors after their spouse dies, an expensive and disruptive activity.
Engage now. Put yourself into the investing mix. You will be happy you did.

P.S. Post- or Pre-Spouse don’t Let Your Financial

Future Become a Post-Script
There were approximately 11.8 million widows in America in 2021; each
day approximately 2800 women lose their spouse which means each year
over one million women become widowed. Women outlive men by five years,
on average according to the latest CDC figures. Because we live longer (and
are often on our own), we simply need more money which means we need
knowledge to either invest the money ourselves or direct our investment
adviser to meet our objectives and risk profile.
INSET: During the 2022 bear market my firm was contacted by a number of
wealthy individuals who had not heard from their adviser. They were panicked
watching the value of their portfolio plummet with no communication from the
caretaker of those assets. Some reported calling their adviser only to be told the
adviser was scheduling appointments three months out. Despite record volatility
and significant declines in both stocks and bonds many found their adviser missing
in action—no communication and no portfolio adjustments. Of course, there are
8 N. Tengler

many excellent advisers and I hope you are working with one but this is a good
place to remind: it’s your money and your adviser works for you.
Divorce carries different challenges and statistics. Women, on average,
divorce when they are 30. Imagine that! 16.9 of 1000 married women divorce
annually (according to the most recent stats). That rate is nearly double the
number of divorces in 1960 though down from the all-time high of 22.6
per 1000 reached in the 1980s. It is hard to make sense of all the numbers
because they are sliced in so many ways. Suffice to say that almost 50% of
all marriages in the US will end in divorces or separation. I have never met a
woman who expected her marriage to end in divorce. Not one. And yet, one
in two marriages fails. How do we prepare for that? And why would we? No
one marries with the expectation that they will soon be unmarried but that
is exactly what the statistics show.

COVID-19 Likely Made the Longevity Numbers

Even More Compelling for Women
Kathi Balasek, a grief literacy communication coach and speaker, cites the
Brookings Institution who reports “79,711 men between the ages of 45 and
64 died of COVID-19 during the first 18 months of the pandemic, nearly
twice the number of women who succumbed to the virus (45,587). That’s
184 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.”
I sincerely hope that you are not one of the statistics. But for those who are
widowed or divorced or unmarried understanding and participating in your
investment plan is critical to future financial success.
Engagement is the best offense.
 2
Saving to Invest is the Best Strategy

Spending is the Anti-Saving

Indulge me with a confession about the time I paid $1099.00 for a sweater
in September of 1988. That was a great deal of money back then; it is a great
deal of money now, especially for a sweater. Just two weeks after my first child
was born, I engaged in two major transactions in one week: a purchase and
an investment.
The purchase: I was scheduled to make a presentation to a new, $100
million client. None of my work clothes fit yet and I was not going to be
caught dead in a maternity outfit after the fact—especially the maternity
clothes available to working women in the late 1980s. I gathered up my new
baby, diaper bag, blankets, and pacifier—the whole chaotic collection—and
rushed to the mall. I bought almost the first thing I found: a knee length
sweater that draped discreetly over the extra pounds and looked surpris-
ingly professional. When the clerk commented on the soft cashmere, no bells
went off. I didn’t live in a cashmere world, had never worn cashmere, and
clearly had no idea of the expense or the impracticality. My only concern?
It fit. Cradling my now restless baby in one arm, diaper bag slung over one
shoulder, my purse over the other, I signed the receipt without examining it,
dashed back home, and packed for my flight later that evening. Consumed
with home life, I didn’t give the sweater another thought. Dressing for the
meeting the following afternoon, I removed the tag and saw the price for
the first time: $1099. One thousand ninety-nine dollars! Plus tax. Due at my

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 9

Switzerland AG 2023
N. Tengler, The Women’s Guide to Successful Investing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38373-1_2
10 N. Tengler

client’s office in 15 minutes with nothing else to wear and despite the over-
whelming, choking realization of my stunning stupidity I now owned that
reckless purchase.
Thirty-four years later, the sweater still hangs in my closet. It is wrinkled
and bally as only cashmere can be and sports a few moth holes. That conspic-
uous purchase is a reminder of a time when spending rather than saving
became a potentially ruinous habit.
Buying a $1,099 sweater—as outrageous as it was—represented only part
of the expense equation; it is important to understand that there was a real
cost and also an opportunity cost of my perilous sweater purchase. To calculate
the real, out-of-pocket expense of that poor choice I would have to consider
the dollar amount spent ($1,099) plus tax of approximately $80 and credit
card interest of close to $220—I didn’t have the heart nor the means to pay it
off at once. Perhaps the most important cost, however, was the opportunity
cost. Think of opportunity cost in dating parlance as the one who got away.
It is the cost of not doing something else or at the very least not doing the
right thing. In addition to the actual cost of the sweater, the opportunity cost
of my decision to purchase the sweater was the foregone accumulation and
compounding of interest had I saved the money, or the appreciation poten-
tially earned if I had taken the sweater money and invested in my second
transaction that week—a stock (discussed below). The real and opportunity
cost of that foolish and impulsive purchase still echoes.

Saving to Invest is the Wisest Strategy

The second element required to achieve financial independence involves
investing. As soon as I say, “Nobody gets rich saving—you must invest,” I
will likely receive dozens of emails disputing my claim and describing Great
Aunt Edith who lived in the family home with her cats, took in sewing, and
left her nieces and nephews $1 million upon her death at the ripe old age of
98 years. Let’s stipulate for purposes of my illustration that some people really
can become wealthy by saving alone—if they save ferociously and live long
enough. The vast majority, however, become wealthy or retire comfortably or
put their five children through college debt-free by a combination of the two
activities: saving and investing.
 2 Saving to Invest is the Best Strategy 11

Investing is not gambling. Nor is it a scientific mystery inaccessible to

average individuals. Investing is a long-term discipline that will generate
excellent returns for patient investors. It is no coincidence that all the great
investors, those celebrated by the financial media and professionals, are
long-term, disciplined investors who establish and stick with their investing
discipline in good markets and bad. My objective is to aid you in determining
how to establish an appropriate discipline that you will feel comfortable
employing during good markets and difficult markets. Markets like the finan-
cial crisis in 2008–2009, or the COVID-19 bear market or the punishing
2022 bear market.
To illustrate the value of long-term investing let’s consider my second
transaction during that fateful week thirty-four years ago.
In a largely symbolic gesture, I purchased one share of IBM stock for our
son. I thought it would be fun to hang the certificate on his wall and use
it as an object lesson to teach him about things financial. Before I could get
the share framed, I misplaced it and so the lesson was, for the most part,
lost. But because I lost the share, I forgot all about it and consequently left
the investment (correctly) alone. Each quarter for the next 34 years (yep, still
own it) the dividend paid by the company was reinvested into fractional
shares of the IBM stock. That approximately $100 investment returned just
under 1,090 percent through the end of 2022. On an annualized basis that
purchase has returned 7.5 percent every year. Not bad! Even for a lagging
old-economy stock.
During that period, there have been at least four bear markets which
frightened many investors mistakenly into cash all the while our little share of
IBM plumped and expanded like bread dough. Though market corrections
and bear market periods punched down the dough a few times, fueled by the
yeast of earnings (which produce stock price growth and dividend payments)
our $100 purchase has grown at a pace far exceeding the rate of inflation and
the return on savings or money market accounts. Even more impressive was
the return on stocks in general as measured by the S&P 500. Over that same
time period, the broad market index returned 2,995 percent (with dividends
reinvested) or an annualized return of 10.6 percent. This includes every bear
market that has tried to scare investors out of the market.
12 N. Tengler

Source FactSet (September 30, 1988–December 31, 2022)

The time period examined represents my actual experience. But the passage
of time is essential to investing; even if your timing is not perfect and you
purchase shares before a market correction or a prolonged period of unim-
pressive returns (as I unwittingly did: IBM traded sideways, providing almost
no appreciation for the first ten years), you will be asking yourself only one
question: why didn’t I buy more? That approximately $100 investment in a
share of IBM is worth exponentially more but had I contributed $100 per
month to my IBM holdings, and assuming our annualized return over the
25-year period of 7.5 percent, my investment would be worth just shy of
an eye-popping $180,000. The powerful combination of saving to invest is
undeniable.
So, there are two important facts to consider when we make financial deci-
sions. The first is that there is an opportunity cost to spending. Think of
spending as the anti-saving. Had I invested that $1,099 in IBM stock as I
did for my son, I would have a nice little nest egg set aside instead of a
ragged, moth-eaten sweater. My opportunity cost is the money I didn’t earn
on a potential investment. The second factor is that while saving alone is
immensely better than not saving at all, saving to invest is far superior.
One more thing about investing in stocks. I understand that the market
melt-down of 2008, or the rapid and devastating bear market of 2020 or
the recent, prolonged bear market of 2022 has placed a number of would-be
investors on the sidelines. I understand that our aversion to loss can over-
power our desire for return. Market routs are the reason why so many people
feel investing is like gambling. The losses investors experienced in their port-
folios were real and devastating and, to many, excessively arbitrary. For some,
 2 Saving to Invest is the Best Strategy 13

they were much more than paper losses if the money was needed immedi-
ately, and stocks had to be sold at the bottom. Others simply lost their nerve
and sold into the weakness and the breakneck speed of the stock market’s
decline wiped out years, even decades, of savings in a matter of months. This
happens during every bear market. Just pick one in the last few decades. If
we save to provide for our future—a financially secure future—investing in
the stock market can feel a bit too much like spinning a roulette wheel. Is it
possible to invest despite the unsettling fear that grips us during declines?
Can we develop the discipline to continue investing during markets like
2022—a once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy great companies on sale—
while suppressing the urge to bail out? To learn not to zig when we should
zag?

Establishing an Investment Discipline that Meets

Your Risk Tolerance is Critical
This will be our challenge: To develop an investment discipline that ensures
you will generate long-term capital appreciation and through practice develop
the investing muscle memory to follow your discipline even when it is hard to
do. We will endeavor to develop a base of knowledge (not technical mumbo
jumbo) that will provide the courage to follow your plan despite the disso-
nance of cyclical economic and market trends. By the time you finish this
book, you will understand your risk tolerance and you will have developed
an investing discipline that suits your goals and those you have established
for your family. You will, in short, know exactly where you are going and
how to get there. We will establish twelve Intelligent Investing Rules that will
guide your actions and reinforce your decisions during good markets and
bad.
Intelligent Investing Rule number two: Having any investment discipline
is better than having no discipline at all; once your investment strategy is estab-
lished, never deviate. (But if you fall off the wagon, don’t give up, get right back
on and stay the course.)

Real-Life Case Study: You don’t Have to Make a Lot

of Money to, Well, Make a Lot of Money. Meet Ronald
Read

Ronald Read was also the subject of my column in USA Today. A favorite,
actually.
14 N. Tengler

“Ronald Read worked as a janitor at J.C. Penney and as a gas station atten-
dant for most of his adult life. When he died in 2014 at age 92, he had
amassed an $8 million fortune. How? He bought blue-chip companies who pay
a dividend, and, importantly grow the dividend—what I like to call stocks to
own for a lifetime. And Read had the discipline to hold those stocks and add
to them during the many corrections and bear markets he endured over his
lifetime.”
Ronald Read’s approach to investing was disciplined in two ways. He invested
year in and year out despite the market’s ups and downs. And he bought
large companies with growing dividends which he presumably reinvested in the
shares.

An Example of Staying the Course

When the pundits tell you it is different this time, remember that there is
one tried and true investing tenet: things are rarely different. It is accurate,
however, that companies and their products cycle in and out of favor. It is also
true that some formerly very good companies have mismanaged their way
out of business: Polaroid and Eastman Kodak come to mind. But most of the
time, good companies—and especially great companies—stumble, get back
on their feet, regroup, and power forward. We are interested in buying great
companies managed by great management teams with the talent and financial
wherewithal to overcome any inevitable problems. Starbucks (stock ticker:
SBUX) is one such company and a growth stock that stumbled dramatically
after too rapid growth going into the financial crisis of 2008. And a company
I bought too soon.
Buying early is one of the occupational hazards of being an investor. When
a growth company disappoints investors, the sentiment quickly changes from
love (price appreciation) to hate (price depreciation) to indifference (price
stagnation and potential further depreciation). For our purposes, we will call
these great growth companies that have fallen out of favor Fallen Angel
growth stocks.
It is important to remember that growth investors can sell out of a holding
much faster than value hunters will buy in. In fact, because growth investors
are often momentum driven, they may exit an entire position in a stock if
they so much as sniff trouble. When the earnings miss or a new product
or distribution glitch manifests, they run—don’t walk—for the exits. At the
same sign of trouble that causes growth investors to flee and the stock price
Another random document with
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 When the Kingsbridge manager turned toward the local bench, he
found Henry Cope standing near it.
“Well,” said the grocer, “what did old Riley have t’ say? Tried ter
browbeat ye, didn’t he?”
“Oh,” said Hutchinson, “he reasserted his claim to Hazelton, and
said we’d surely lose this game out of the count if we persisted in
pitching the man. You can see, Cope, that it’s no bluff; the meeting is
called for to-morrow night. I’ve got Ringling, a new pitcher, here, and
he’s clever. Don’t you think we’d better use him?”
“I notified you,” said the grocer irritably, “that Locke would pitch
this game, and he’ll pitch it. Put him in.”
“All right,” growled Hutchinson, in exasperation, “have your own
way.” As he sat down on the bench, he added to himself: “You pig-
headed old fool!”
So it was Locke who went on the slab when the umpire called
“play,” and Bancroft promptly sent Harney jogging forth to the pan
with his pet bat on his shoulder. Tom was given a rousing cheer by
his admirers.
“You know what to do to ’em, Lefty,” yelled a man on the
bleachers. “You’re the boy fer us. We’re backin’ you.”
Harney drove his spikes into the dry ground and squared himself,
his bat held high and ready. His posture was that of a man who
welcomed speed, and rather preferred that the ball should be up
around his shoulders; therefore, Locke opened with one across his
knees on the inside corner. True, Harney hit it promptly, but he only
batted a weak grounder into the diamond, and Labelle, grabbing it
quickly, whipped him out at first by a wide margin.
“Just as easy as ever!” whooped a delighted Kingsbridger. “Pick
off the next one, Tommy, old top.”
Trollop held his bat low, so Locke kept the ball high and close,
causing it to jump, and the Bancroft center fielder slashed at three
without making even a foul.
“Some pitchin’, Lefty, some pitchin’!” was the cry.
 Wop Grady, his face knotted and puckered, as usual, slammed at
the first one handed him, and hoisted a high foul, which Oulds
smothered close to the wire netting that protected the people in the
stand; and Kingsbridge gave Locke a cheer that resembled a
cowboy yell more than anything else.
Every eye seemed to be turned on Bancroft’s new pitcher as he
teetered awkwardly out upon the diamond. The ball was thrown to
him, and he whipped three or four scorchers to Harney, at first,
before Labelle was ready to bat; but not until he toed the slab to
pitch to the batter did he put his remarkable delivery on exhibition.
Suddenly he swung far backward, pivoting on his left foot and
shooting his right arm and right leg into the air, while his left hand
carried the ball far, far over until it seemed that he was trying to
touch the ground with it. Up he came and forward on to his right foot,
his pitching hand sweeping through the air to send the ball burning
across a corner of the pan.
“Nom de tonnerre! ” gasped Labelle, his eyes bulging, his bat
hanging poised.
“Strike!” cried the umpire.
 CHAPTER XL
PINWHEEL MURTEL

T he great Bancroft crowd laughed. They had come to Kingsbridge

to see their new southpaw show the Kinks something about
pitching. Incidentally they had made arrangements to take home with
them various sums of money which the foolish Kingsbridgers had
wagered on their team.
Bangs whipped the ball back, and Craddock again went through
with that remarkable delivery, looking, as one man expressed it, “as
though he was all arms ’n’ legs.” Again the ball bit a corner off the
plate, and Labelle, fascinated by the pitcher’s gyrations, swung too
late.
The only delay was that caused by the movements of Craddock
preliminary to pitching, and he did not waste a single “teaser” on the
Kinks’ first hitter. The third one was high, with a sharp slant on it, and
the little Canadian whiffed out.
“There’s pitchin’ fur ye!” yelled a Bancrofter. “What d’ye think o’
that?”
“Nom de tonnerre! ” said Labelle again, as he retired to the bench.
“Where he come from, de circus?”
Stark, following, fouled three times, but eventually the Bancrofter
twirler outguessed him, and sent him, fanned, to take his place
beside Labelle.
“Whut’s he got?” asked Reddy Crandall, pawing among the bats.
“Curves and speed,” answered Larry, in a low tone. “Don’t get to
watching his delivery and forget to watch the ball. Go to him! He can
be hit.”
 But Reddy could not hit him that time, and the Bancroft crowd
howled as their new projector fanned the third man in succession.
There were some who began to prophesy that the Kinks would be
shut out without a hit on their own field. There are always wise heads
who make foolish prophecies early in every game.
The second inning opened with Bancroft’s left-handed hitters
coming up, and Locke, knowing they had been practicing against a
left-handed pitcher, worked with the utmost care and judgment, his
change of speed being most effective, as it caused two of the four
men who faced him to bump weak grounders into the diamond, to
their complete undoing.
With two down, Bernsteine, standing well back from the plate, with
a long bat grasped near the end, stepped into a “roundhouse,” and
lined out a pretty single. It did no good, however, for Lisotte banged
a grasser into the clinging paws of Labelle, and Bernsteine was out
at second on a force.
“You all hit him, boys,” cried a Bancroft man. “You’ll straighten ’em
out by and by, and lose the balls over in the slashings at the foot of
Bald Mountain. He’s due to get his bumps.”
Craddock continued his remarkable work, and, one after the other,
Anastace, Hinkey, and Lace were mowed down, even as their
comrades had fallen in the first round.
The Bullies were urged to fall on Locke, and Bangs led off with a
long drive to center, which Sockamore retrieved on the fly. Craddock
did not seem to be strong with the club, and he made a laughable
exhibition by seeking to hit the low ones on the inside corner, where
Locke kept the ball for a strike-out. Harney got one to his fancy,
through a momentary lapse on the part of Locke, but, by tall hustling
out in the left garden, Reddy Crandall picked the globule out of the
air.
“You’re hittin’ him now,” declared the encouraging Bancroft fan.
“Keep it up; they can’t get ’em all. You’ll put the blanket on him yet.”
The delight of the visitors may be imagined as Craddock finished
Kingsbridge’s list by handing the last three men upon it the same
medicine he had given the first six. Three innings had passed, nine
men had faced him, and not one of them had even hit the ball into
the diamond. It began to seem that the man who had prophesied no
hits and no runs for the Kinks might not be such a fool, after all.
Locke’s manner was almost trancelike as he toed the slab at the
beginning of the fourth. His first ball was wide, but Trollop caught the
second one on the seam and pounded it for two sacks, bringing the
Bancroft rooters up, roaring. They continued to roar, as Grady
bunted and sacrificed Trollop to third, where, with only one out, he
was in position to score on the squeeze play if the Bullies saw fit to
try it.
They did try it, but, knowing what was coming, Locke pitched to
Mace high and close, and Mace bumped a little pop fly straight into
Lefty’s hands. Holding the ball a moment, Locke smiled at Trollop,
who made ludicrous efforts to stop and turn back toward third. The
roaring of the Bancrofters died away in a disappointed groan as they
saw the ball tossed to Fred Lace for the third put-out.
“Oh, this is something of a game!” crowed Stark, capering toward
the bench. “It’s about time we came to life and touched that gangling
port-sider up a few. Stop watching his contortions, Labelle. This is no
vaudeville performance; you’re here to play baseball. Try to hit him,
anyhow.”
“You bet!” growled the Canadian. “I hit de ball dis time; you watch.”
Nevertheless, although he slashed viciously, he did not graze the
first one.
Suddenly Reddy Crandall, who had spent his time on the bench
staring at the long-geared pitcher, struck his thigh a resounding slap.
“I’ve got him!” he declared excitedly. “I’ve spotted that guy! I know
him now! Craddock, hey? No wonder them Bancrofters come up to
this town to-day loaded with bettin’ money. Craddock! Why, that’s
‘Pinwheel’ Murtel, of the National League, as good a man as Matty
himself, only he’s got a rotten disposition, an’ no manager can
handle him. He’s been blacklisted and outlawed time after time, but
he’s such a wonder they always fix it up somehow, an’ take him back
when he wants to come. That’s Murtel, I’ll bet my life on it. Fellers,
we’ll never score to-day with him pitchin’.”
Stark, standing near, had ceased to swing the two bats he had
picked up, listening to the excited words of Crandall. He had never
seen the famous and eccentric Pinwheel Murtel, but he had heard a
great deal about the man, as, doubtless, had every other baseball
player in the country.
“By Jove!” he muttered, having turned to stare at the lengthy
twirler. “I believe you’re right, Reddy.”
“I know I’m right,” said Crandall. “I’ve been trying to figure out who
the man was, and I’ve got him at last. At his best, he can walk any
three of us without a man down and then keep us from scoring. This
game is as good as settled, and a lot of Kingsbridge sports have lost
some good money to-day.”
“Nonsense, Crandall!” said Locke swiftly. “Even if the man is
Pinwheel Murtel, he isn’t invincible.”
“There goes Pete ag’in,” said Reddy, as Labelle fanned out the
second time. “Nobody’s even touched him.”
“What of it? The best pitchers in the business can be hit.”
“But not by batters in our class.”
“Yes, sometimes they can be hit by batters in our class.
Mathewson has been batted and beaten by a scrub country team, at
least once, according to his own confession; and other top-notch
pitchers have met the same treatment, much to their surprise.
“We’re going to fight this game through to the last ditch, I hope,
whether that man is Murtel or not. There’s no knowing what may
happen. At any rate, if I can hold them down, and you fellows keep
on giving me the support you have, they may not get any runs. We’re
not going to quit, are we, just because we’ve found out that
Craddock is Murtel?”
“No,” rasped Jim Sockamore, the Indian, “we won’t quit! You’re
right, Lefty; mebbe well beat that bunch yet, if we support you.”
 It was plain, however, that Crandall’s discovery had taken the
courage out of him, and it seemed to fade away entirely as Stark,
also, fanned. Reddy stood up to the plate with his heart in his shoes
and swung apathetically, being sliced down without waste of energy
on the part of the pitcher.
 CHAPTER XLI
GONE WRONG

L ocke muttered a single word of disgust as he rose from the bench

and walked toward the pitcher’s slab. On the way he stopped
suddenly, staring for an instant toward some teams and automobiles
down beyond the far end of the third-base bleachers. Then he
walked onward, but some of the flush was gone from his face.
Hutchinson, sitting silent on the bench, had done little toward
directing his players. Should the game go against Kingsbridge, as he
believed it would, he was prepared to answer criticism by saying that
Henry Cope’s interference had made it impossible for him to rely on
his own judgment and generalship.
Long before Crandall named the Bancroft pitcher, Hutch was wise
to the man. He had likewise observed that Locke did not seem as
efficient as usual, although good support had prevented the Bullies
from hammering out runs.
“When the break comes,” thought the rascally manager, “it’s
dollars to doughnuts they’ll get his goat for fair.”
The Kingsbridge pitcher looked ill as he found the slab at the
beginning of the fifth; his face was pale and set, and there was
something like a glare in his eyes. He seemed to be in haste to hand
Pat McGovern a pass, pitching one ball after another without
pausing to steady down, though both Oulds and Stark begged him to
take more time; and not one of the four he threw for Pat even grazed
a corner.
Following this, he bored Bernsteine in the ribs, and two men were
on the sacks, with no one down. Remembering the first game Locke
had pitched on that field, the Kingsbridge crowd declined to be
frightened.
 “He’ll steady down in a moment,” they said. “Just watch him.”
But in a moment McGovern and Bernsteine each moved up a sack
on a weirdly wild pitch to Lisotte.
Hutchinson turned quickly to Ringling.
“Shake the kinks out of your arm, Ring,” he directed. “Hurry up
about it.”
Oulds had called Locke, meeting him a few steps in front of the
pan.
“What’s biting you now, son?” he growled, heedless of the howling
Bancrofters, who were demanding that the umpire should keep the
game going. “You’ve got the wabbles; I don’t believe you can see the
rubber.”
He wondered at the look in Tom’s eyes. Locke moistened his dry
lips.
“Yes, yes, Oulds,” he said huskily; “I’m all right now.”
“Well, you don’t look it,” retorted Hunchy. “Be you havin’ a fit, or
what? You’ve got to stop heavin’ the ball as fast as you can git holt of
it. Take your time, now. Don’t let Lisotte bunt; prob’ly he’ll try it. If
they start scorin’, they’re li’ble to win the game right here.”
“I tell you I’m all right now,” declared Locke savagely. “Give me the
ball.”
“He’s havin’ a reg’ler fit,” muttered the catcher, surrendering the
sphere and backing toward his position behind the pan.
Lisotte squared himself again; the coachers talked excitedly, the
Bancroft crowd rooted for runs; Kingsbridge was silent. Bernsteine
took a long lead off second, and McGovern danced back and forth at
third. Locke was taking time at last, apparently trying hard to throw
off the feverish wildness that had put him into “a hole.”
Swift, high, and close came the ball to Lisotte, difficult indeed to
bunt safely. But the little Canuck did not try to bunt; instead, as if he
knew just what was due, he met the sphere with a snappy swing,
driving it humming into the field between center and right.
 McGovern danced gayly to the scoring station, Bernsteine
following with a rush. There was a wild riot on the Bancroft
bleachers, men leaping up and down, flinging their hats into the air
and yelling themselves purple in the face; for, with two runs scored,
no one out, Locke apparently all to the bad, and Pinwheel Murtel in
Big League form, it seemed that the game had been clinched for the
Bullies.
Since coming on the field, Tom Locke had been looking for Janet
Harting; somehow he was confident she would attend this game. It is
likely that thoughts of her had disturbed him and prevented him from
concentrating upon the work of pitching, although he had not been
aware of it.
Walking out to take his position at the beginning of the fifth,
however, his searching eyes discovered her blue parasol, and,
beneath it, Janet, sitting at the side of Benton King in the same
carriage in which he had first beheld her. As Locke looked, King
seemed to be returning his gaze. The pitcher saw Bent lean toward
the girl and say something, whereupon both laughed. For the time
being Tom lost his head, greatly to the advantage of the rejoicing
Bancrofters.
He knew it; no one on that field knew it better. And nothing could
have served better to sober him and bring him to his senses than
that wicked, timely line drive by Lisotte. He saw Ringling warming up
and Hutchinson talking to Henry Cope, who plainly was not feeling
right. Of course, the manager was asking permission—or demanding
it—to remove him immediately from the game.
“I’m a fool!” thought Tom. “I have played right into that rascal’s
hand.”
 CHAPTER XLII
A SUDDEN SHIFT

H e hoped Cope would not yield. Perhaps the damage was done
already, but he would try to redeem himself if they did not bench
him.
Hutchinson was saying:
“What’s the use to keep him in, man alive? He’s lost the game
already.”
“If he’s lost the game,” returned the obstinate grocer, “what’s the
use to take him out? I don’t see no sense in that. Let him pitch some
more. He braced up t’other time; mebbe he will ag’in.”
Speechless with exasperation, Hutchinson turned back and
reseated himself on the bench. Seeing this, and understanding that
Locke would continue yet a while on the firing line, Stark ran to him,
grasped him with both hands, and spoke in swift, yet steady, tones:
“Pull yourself together, Lefty; you’ve got to do it, and you can.
Bangs is easy, and that man Murtel can’t hit a balloon. Put the ball
over, and take chances with them; we’re behind you. Don’t hurry,
and keep your head.”
Tom gave the disturbed captain a reassuring smile.
“I know I ought to be sent to the stable,” he said; “but I’ll do my
level best now. Watch me.”
Bingo Bangs was not much of a hitter, and the crowd saw Lefty
whip the ball through a single groove three times in succession, and
three times the Bullies’ catcher hammered the air. After the third
strike, the ball having been returned by Oulds, Locke caught a quick
signal from the backstop, and wheeled, to flash the sphere like a
shot into the hands of Labelle, who had dodged past the runner.
 Labelle nailed Lisotte, and the two Canadians exchanged
courtesies in choice patois. This second swift putout awoke some of
the saddened Kingsbridgers, their sudden yells of satisfaction
mingling with the groans of the Bancrofters.
“Now we’re all right!” cried Larry Stark. “Take a fall out of old
Pinwheel, Lefty. We’ll make a game of this yet.”
Locke’s nerves were growing steadier. He had forced himself to
dismiss every thought of the girl who had treated him so shabbily,
and the man, her companion, who had flung him an insult and
escaped a thrashing. Until the last inning was over he would
concentrate his energies upon the work in hand.
As before, the Bancroft pitcher’s efforts to connect with Locke’s
slants were laughable; he could not touch the ball, even to foul it.
“Hold them down now, Craddock,” begged Fancy Dyke from the
bleachers. “They shut us out last time we was here; let’s return the
compliment to-day.”
Murtel grinned; thus far he had seen nothing that would lead him
to doubt his ability to hold the Kinks runless. Nor was he ruffled when
Anastace got a scratch hit from him in the last of the fifth; for the
three following batters were like putty in his hands.
On the part of Kingsbridge there was uncertainty and anxiety as
Locke returned to the slab, for now the head of Bancroft’s list, the
best hitters of the team, were coming up to face him, and they were
full of confidence. There were times, it seemed, when Lefty was
sadly erratic, and were he to slump again in this game the faith of his
admirers would be much impaired.
Never had Tom Locke put more brains into his pitching. He had a
speed ball that smoked, and his curves broke as sharply keen as a
razor’s edge; furthermore, he “mixed them up” cleverly, his change of
pace proving most baffling, and his slow ball always seeming to
come loafing over just when the hitter was looking for a whistler.
Harney snarled his annoyance after fanning; Trollop almost broke
his back bumping one of the slow ones into the clutches of Labelle;
Grady lifted a miserable foul back of first for Hinkey to gobble.
 Hutchinson had temporarily deserted the bench, and the Kinks
came trotting in. Observing this, Locke grabbed Stark, and
whispered something in his ear, Larry listening and nodding.
“It won’t hurt to try it,” said the captain. “Here, Oulds.”
It was the catcher’s turn to lead off. He listened to Stark’s
repetition of Locke’s suggestion; then he stepped out to the plate,
slipped his hands up on the bat a bit as Murtel pitched, and bunted
the first ball.
The Bullies were taken by surprise. The ball rolled slowly down
just inside the third-base line, and Oulds, leaping away like a streak,
actually turned that bunt into a safe base hit, to the complaints of the
Bancroft spectators and the whooping merriment of the
Kingsbridgers.
Locke was promptly in position, and he followed with a bunt
toward first. Even as the bunt was made the bat seemed to fall from
his hands, and he was off like a shot toward the initial sack, leaping
over the rolling ball as he went. Only by the liveliest kind of hustling
did Murtel get the sphere up and snap it humming past the runner in
time to get an assist on Harney’s put-out.
Oulds was on second. Labelle, grinning, hopped into the batter’s
box, and astonished the spectators of the game, and the Bancroft
players, as well, by contributing the third bunt, which was so wholly
unexpected that he reached first by a narrow margin. And now the
Kingsbridge crowd was making all the noise, the Bancrofters
seeming stricken dumb with apprehension.
Murtel was angry, a fact he could not hide. For the first time he
seemed, with deliberate intent, to keep the first ball pitched beyond
the reach of the batter. Oulds, of course, had anchored temporarily
at third, and Labelle, taking a chance, tried to steal on that pitch.
Bangs made a line throw, but Lisotte, seeing Oulds dash off third,
cut it down, only to discover that the tricky Kingsbridge catcher had
bluffed. The Frenchman failed in an attempt to pin the runner before
he could dive back to the sack.
 Locke had taken Crandall’s place on the coaching line back of
third, giving Reddy a chance to get his bat, as he was the hitter who
followed Stark; and it was the play to keep the ball rolling as fast as
possible. Tom was laughing and full of ginger, his words of
instruction to the runners sometimes sounding clear above the
uproar of the excited crowd.
“Keep it up! Keep it up!” he called. “Get off those cushions! Take a
lead, and score! Look out!” Murtel had made an attempt to catch
Labelle by a quick throw, but the little Canadian slid under
McGovern’s arm.
 CHAPTER XLIII
A GAME WORTH WINNING

L ocke had forgotten the blue parasol and its owner; he had no
fleeting thought for Benton King; he was heart and soul in the
game.
With one out, it seemed an excellent time for Kingsbridge to keep
up the bunting, and attempt to score on it by the “squeeze,” so
Bancroft’s infield drew closer and the outfielders quickly came in.
At the plate, Stark gave a secret signal, changing the style of play,
and then he set the local crowd frantic by meeting Murtel’s high one
on the trade mark. With the outfielders playing in their usual places,
that line drive would have been good for a clean single, but while
they were chasing it down, Larry dug all the way round to third,
Oulds and Labelle romping over the rubber with the runs that tied the
score.
The whole Kingsbridge team was laughing, now, while Murtel,
enraged over being outguessed and deceived, was almost frenzied.
“It’s a great top piece you have, Lefty, old pal,” cried Larry Stark.
“That was the trick to get ’em going. Look at Pinwheel champ the
bit.”
But Hutchinson was back on the bench now, and he directed
Crandall to hit the ball out. Reddy, trying to respond manfully,
boosted an infield fly, and Stark was forced to remain on the sack
while it was caught. Had Anastace, coming next, taken a daring
chance and bunted, it is possible that the Bullies might have been
thrown into confusion again; but he had orders from Hutchinson to
hit, and in trying to do so he succumbed to Murtel’s strategy, expiring
in the box.
 “Oh, this is some game, believe me!” shouted a Kingsbridger.
“Hold ’em where they are, Lefty. You’ve got the stuff to do it. We
depend on you.”
The Bancrofters who had wagered money on the tussle were not
as cocksure as they had been, and doubtless more than one,
Manager Riley included, regretted that matters had not been
privately arranged in advance so that it would not be necessary to
rely almost wholly on the prowess their new left-handed pitcher.
Surely their regrets became still more acute when, in the seventh,
Locke showed no let-up in form, and was not even ruffled when
McGovern reached first on an infield error, the other three batters to
face him going the way of all flesh.
“Oh, you Lefty!” was once more the rejoicing cry of the palpitating
Kingsbridgers.
Murtel came back with a shut-out, although Hinkey led off with a
scratch hit.
“Hold ’em, Lefty—hold ’em!” was the beseeching cry.
Bangs and Murtel faded like morning dew before a burning sun,
but Harney got into a speedy one and banged it for two hassocks,
setting the shaking Bancrofters off again in a tremendous uproar.
Nevertheless, the lucky batter remained at second, where Stark and
Labelle kept him dancing back and forth while Locke took Trollop’s
measure and put him away until the next game should be played.
With no one batting ahead of him, Locke advanced to the pan in
the last of the eighth without instructions. The first ball was too close,
but the second came slanting over, and he bunted. Again it was the
unexpected, and never had a prettier bunt been pulled off.
Nevertheless, it was only Tom’s wonderful knack of starting at high
speed with the first jump and covering the ground like a streak that
enabled him to reach the sack a gasping breath ahead of the ball.
“Safe!” cried the umpire.
The Bullies started to kick, nearly every man on the team taking
part in it. The crowd hooted and hissed, but it was only the nerve of
the umpire in pulling his watch which finally sent the Bancroft
players, growling, back to their positions. There was so much money
wagered on the game that they could not afford to lose it through
forfeiture; but henceforth they badgered the umpire on almost every
decision, even scoffing when he declared in their favor.
Labelle sacrificed Locke to second. Stark, thirsting for a hit,
hoisted a fly to center. Then, just as the visitors were breathing
easier, Crandall smashed a drive into right field.
Locke was on the way to third even before bat and ball met.
Sockamore, coaching, seeing Tom coming like the wind, took a
desperate chance, and, with a furious flourish of his arms, signaled
for him to keep on. Out in right field Mace got the sphere and poised
himself for a throw to the pan.
There was a choking hush. Staring, breathless, suffering with
suspense, the watchers waited.
“Slide!” yelled Sockamore, with a shriek like the blast of a
locomotive whistle.
Spikes first, Locke slid. The whistling ball spanked into Bangs’
clutches and he lunged to make the tag. But Tom’s feet had slipped
across the rubber, and the downward motion of the umpire’s open,
outspread hand declared him safe.
Again the Bullies protested, and again the umpire was compelled
to produce his watch. With difficulty the excited crowd was kept off
the field.
Laughing, Stark had helped Locke to rise, and made a show of
brushing some of the dust from him.
“It’s your game that wins to-day, if you can hold them down now,”
declared Larry. “It was bunting when they weren’t expecting it that
did the trick. Oh, say, there’ll be some sore heads in Bancroft to-
night!”
Henry Cope came bursting out of the crowd back of the bench to
shake hands with Locke.
 “Sufferin’ Moses, whut a game!” he exclaimed. “If I ain’t under the
doctor’s care ter-morrer it’ll be queer. Keep ’em right where they be,
an’ we’ve won.”
“Lots of good that will do us when the game is counted out of the
series,” sneered Hutchinson.
“Even if they count it out,” returned the grocer, “folks round this
town’re goin’ to have a heap o’ Bancroft’s money t’ spend.”
Reddy Crandall did not score. He had done his part well, and he
uttered no complaint when Anastace failed to hit.
The Bullies had not given up. Savage, sarcastic, insolent, they
fought it out in the first of the ninth, bearing themselves, until the last
man was down, as if they still believed they would win. Locke,
however, had them at his mercy, refusing to prolong the agony by
letting a hitter reach first.
With some difficulty he fought off the delighted Kingsbridgers who
swarmed, cheering, around him, and would have lifted him to their
shoulders. When he finally managed to break clear of the throng he
thought suddenly of Janet, and looked round for her.
Benton King was driving toward the gate by which teams and
autos were admitted to the field. She had lowered her parasol, and,
before disappearing through the gate, she turned to gaze backward,
as if looking for some one in the midst of the still-cheering crowd that
covered the diamond.
 CHAPTER XLIV
FACING HIS ACCUSERS

S easonable July weather caused discomfort for the seven

persons assembled in the dingy office of Rufus Kilgore for the
purpose of attending the meeting called to consider Manager Mike
Riley’s claims. Riley himself, in his shirt sleeves, sat with his back
toward one of the wide-open windows, a handkerchief tucked round
his neck inside his collar, grumbling and smoking. Anson Graham,
president of the league, a serious, middle-aged man, with block-
trimmed whiskers, who had the look of one who might be just, but
would rarely temper his justice with mercy, was talking to Kilgore, the
secretary of the organization, who occupied the chair at the desk.
David Farman and William Jones, representing Fryeburg and
Lakeport, respectively, were aimlessly discussing various topics,
such as the weather, crop prospects, and the ardent desire that the
usual number of boarders from the city might be netted by the
blandishments of advertisements which pictured the part of the
country in which they were interested as a summer Eden. Benton
King, appearing restless, talked in low tones to the ever-icy Bob
Hutchinson.
“Confound it!” growled Riley, looking at his watch. “Where’s Hen
Cope ’n’ that man Hazelton? It’s one minute of time fur the meetin’ to
begin, ’n’ they oughter be here.”
“Perhaps they won’t come,” said the lawyer. “Cope is a mule, and
he may try to block proceedings by staying away.”
“But he can’t do that,” rasped Mike. “We can go ahead without
him. It’s time. Hadn’t you better call the meetin’ to order, Mr.
Graham?”
At this moment, footsteps were heard on the stairs, and the door
opened, to admit the puffing Kingsbridge grocer, who paused to
remove his hat, mop his shining, moist dome, and look the
assemblage over.
“Good evenin’, ever’body,” he said pleasantly. “On time, ain’t I?”
“Just about, an’ that’s all,” answered Riley. “Where’s th’ slip’ry guy
that’s caused all this trouble?”
“You mean Locke? Ain’t he here?”
“I mean Hazelton, ’n’ he ain’t here.”
“That’s strange,” said Cope, plainly a trifle disturbed. “He lef’
Kingsbridge on the early train this mornin’, sayin’ that he’d meet me
here to-night. I thought sure I’d find him waitin’.”
“Left town, hey?” cried Riley. “Left town this mornin’! Well, I swear!
So help me, he’s skipped!”
He was not the only one through whose head had passed the
same thought, but Henry Cope immediately raised an agitated
protest against such an idea, asserting his belief that the absent man
would put in an appearance. They were induced to wait a while,
although it was likely that Cope was the only one who was not
satisfied that time was being wasted. In his heart, even the grocer
began to doubt.
As the minutes ticked away, Cope looked anxious, Riley smoked
and growled, Hutchinson remained cool, and Benton King fidgeted.
Finally Anson Graham said:
“Gentlemen, it is now ten minutes past the time set for this
meeting to be called, and I think we had better proceed without
further delay; for it seems that the party accused does not intend to
appear in his own defense. If you will please come to order, the
secretary will read the protest of Manager Riley which led to—”
Breathless and anxious, Henry Cope had been listening to the
sound of hurried footsteps on the stairs, and now, as the door was
thrust open and the tardy one stepped in, he gave an exclamation of
great relief and satisfaction.