I’ve posted Entry #82 to my weekly Beyond Buy-and-Hold column at the Out of Your Rut site. It’s called It’s Because Investing Is So Important That We Get It So Wrong.
Juicy Excerpt: I can’t tell you how many times I have had people direct this sort of message to me. They tell me “it’s not your message that people object to, Rob, it’s your style.” Or “You can say whatever you want, you just need to use a different tone.” What people mean when they say that my style or tone is wrong is that I report numbers accurately. I don’t say “it is my opinion that stocks may not do well.” I say (when it is so) “there has never yet been a time in U.S.. history when stocks have provided good long-term returns starting from these valuation levels.”
what says
That is not what they mean. They really mean you are an unlikable donkey who wouldn’t succeed in convincing anyone of anything.
Rob says
Yeah, Yeah.
Rob
what says
Well, let’s look at the numbers then.
Number of people who believe ‘valuations matter’ and act accordingly > 0
Number of people who can stand Rob = 0
Seems pretty clear cut (well, besides the imaginary ‘thousands of community members’ who support Rob but never post at his site).
Rob says
The people who put up the posts saying they love me and they love honest posting are not imaginary, What. They are real. They count.
You are right that lots of people are today feeling confusion and shame and fear.
I hate that. I want to change it.
You know what would help us change it?
We need to open every board and blog on the internet to honest posting on SWRs and lots of other important investment-related topics.
Things would change over time. People would ask questions and get comfortable with the new ideas in their own time and eventually come around.
So long as the Buy-and-Holders advance death threats against anyone who thinks for himself, people are not going to learn.
People who favor using death threats to keep people ignorant are like people who laughed at those who invented fire and the wheel and the airplane and the heart transplants and the computer.
Buy-and-Hold didn’t start out being about willful ignorance. Read A Random Walk Down Wall Street. There’s genuine pride and genuine excitement and genuine warmth and genuine love there.
Where did that spirit go?
Too sad.
Rob
kimber says
“The people who put up the posts saying they love me and they love honest posting are not imaginary.”
I can’t find any of these posts. Can you point me to them?
Rob says
Take a look to the left of the page you are reading, Kimber.
Rob
what says
Most of what I see in the links to the left is the same sad story of you pissing off everyone who you deal with, even if they agree with you to some extent. For instance, J.D. Roth and Bill Scholar.
A lot of the other links are to people writing about how much they dislike you personally.
Some are quite weird, like an interview with a guy who runs a website about power drinks?
Others are emails from a few people thanking you for your site but they don’t seem to comment here much.
Rob says
You might want to schedule a visit to the eye doctor, What.
Holy moly!
Please take care, my long-time abusive-posting friend.
Rob
kahr9 says
Perhaps it would be helpful if you specifically identified which of those links you think are the strongest endorsements of you.
Rob says
I am grateful for every human soul who has taken time out of his or her day to help us all learn what we need to learn about saving and investing. I love them all. I hope that there will come a time when you will be able to open your heart to the good that is all about you, kahr.
Please take care.
Rob
kimber says
Can’t answer Kahr’s question, can you?
Rob says
Please look to the left side of the page, Kimber.
That’s the answer.
Those are the ones that touched my heart the most and made me the most proud of the work we have been doing together for 10 years now.
Rob