I have in recent weeks been reporting on my e-mail correspondence with Academic Researcher Wade Pfau. Wade posted a comment to the blog entry that I posted early this morning. The text is set forth below:
Hi Rob,
I forgot that I was still saying things like this even 2 weeks after the initial incident.
This was more than a year ago now, but I am thinking that I was just trying to explain politely to you that I’d rather have you quit writing about me, or at least stop using my name. I suppose that I figured the only way you might understand why is if I explained it in terms of your favorite conspiracy theories.
I will make one more attempt at a reality check for you. You go on and on about how I allegedly lack personal integrity because I allowed the Goons to threaten me into silence.
The reality is that though I may have for a brief moment got a bit too caught up in YOUR drama, I do not have any fears about the Goons.
The reality is that you are causing me 1000x more career damage than the Goons ever could have by filling Google with so much nonsense about me, and sharing embarrassing private details such as my overly ambitious journal submission strategies, etc. Those in particular are highly private. People don’t publicly share where they submit articles to unless those articles are accepted. You’ve violated my trust in so many countless ways and yet you still proclaim to be my friend.
And the further reality is that if I *did* lack personal integrity, I could have made this all stop just by saying the meaningless sentence you want so desperately to hear: “I think the errors in the traditional safe withdrawal rate studies must be corrected by using Rob’s analytically valid method.”
But I don’t believe that. I do not believe you have offered a valid correction to the safe withdrawal rate question. And I believe that retirement income strategies go much further than the question of a safe withdrawal rate. And so that is why I’ve had to endure your ongoing harassment for months on end now.
Usually I can figure out the Rob-logic behind what you are thinking, but I really don’t know how you think you come out of this whole episode looking like the good guy. I guess it is because you think you are saving my soul and putting me back on the path of righteousness, or something, huh? If only you had the power to do a little bit of self reflection…
Now that the whole email history is on display, we have the reminder of how angry you got at the very beginning when I referred to you as dogmatic. Yet, look at the way you’ve treated me for disagreeing with you on something which you don’t even understand. You quote numbers from JWR’s statistical work, but I’m not sure if you can even distinguish a mean from a median. So how can you be sure his work is right? I don’t know either, as I never did get around to digging into it, and I doubt I ever will now. But I’m not sure how a properly calculated lower confidence bound for a 2000 retiree could have been higher than zero.
Rob, suppose the stock market does drop 65% as you are expecting. It might happen, who knows.
Step 1: Stock Market Drops 65%
Step 2: ??
Step 3: Rob wins $500 million settlement from the Goons, the Goons are sent to prison, the investing public learns about and adopts VII.
What is Step 2? There isn’t one. You will still be in the same position as you’ve been in for the last 10 years. Why didn’t something happen for you after the 2008 financial crisis? You are like the guy who keeps predicting new ends for the world as each previous prediction date passes by.
That is why I’m telling you, from one human being to another, that it is time to move on. You are a smart guy, and you could use your talents for something productive. While warning people about the 4% rule is helpful, the way that you go about doing it is rather “catastrophically unproductive” as one wise fellow said to you years ago. I provide a loud voice that is critical of the 4% rule, and so spending your days assassinating my character is counterproductive to your underlying cause. So perhaps you can start fresh with a new issue of social import that carries less baggage for you. What happened in the past is a sunk cost, but you still have a chance to turn things around and start afresh today. And you can do all of this while still being honest and true to yourself.
You are a sad, strange man. It is clear that Wade deeply regrets ever getting involved with you. Why can’t you leave the guy alone?
It is clear that Wade deeply regrets ever getting involved with you.
Here are some words Wade wrote in the days before the Greaney Goons threatened to get him fired from his job for committing the terrible “crime” of saying honestly what he believed about the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies and about the dangers of Buy-and-Hold in general:
1) “I cite you and John Walter Russell as the earliest advocates of [New School safe withdrawal rate research]”
2) “Yes, Virginia, Valuation-Informed Indexing Works!”
3) “Valuation-Informed Indexing beats Buy-and-Hold in 102 of the 110 rolling 30-year time-periods in the historical record”
4) “This paper…suggests that the traditional approach to retirement planning is counterproductive and possibly damaging”
5) “The market timer enjoys a far less risky strategy”
6) “Any data mining I am doing favors Buy-and-Hold….The findings for market timing are so robust that it hardly matters how we do it.”
7) “I always find your writing to be interesting and intriguing”
8) “I was trying to pay tribute to your accomplishments in what I knew would be a hostile environment”
9) “Bogle in many cases said things not all that different from what you said”
10) “My comment before [suggesting that Rob Bennett had been dogmatic in his posting] was completely misguided and I apologize to him”
11) “I like your term ‘historical surviving withdrawal rate’ as a more accurate description of what traditional studies like Trinity show”
12) “Given How Well Valuations Help to Explain Withdrawals Rates, I Think There Is a Lot of Potential for This Topic”
13) “I was a little nervous about contacting you in case you thought I was trying to steal your thunder”
14) “I hope we can stay in touch. I would like to do a Valuation-Informed Indexing study.”
15) “As You Say in Your Podcast, Valuation-Informed Indexing Should Beat Buy-and-Hold About 90 Percent of the Time, and I Am Getting Results That Support This”
16) “I Definitely Need to Cite [You] as the Founder of Valuation-Informed Indexing…. Shiller Pointed Out the Predictive Power of P/E10 But Never Discussed How to Incorporate It Into Asset Allocation”
17) “Two Papers by FIsher and Statman Are Still All I Can Find That Provide Evidence Against Long-Term Market Timing”
18) “You Deserve Much of the Credit [For My Research Findings] As the Whole Idea of Valuation-Informed Indexing Belongs to You”
19) “No Matter What I Try, Valuations-Based Strategies Tend to Produce the Same or Greater Returns at Lower Risk Than Fixed Allocations”
20) “Though I Was Only Trying to Do an Old-School Safe Withdrawal Rate Study, All That I Ended Up Doing Was Showing in a Different Way What You Had Been Saying All Along — The SWR Changes With Valuations”
21) “Now That I Am Accounting for Risk, I Am Even More Amazed by How Well Valuation-Informed Indexing Works… Why Haven’t Academics Already Published Research About This?”
22) “I Would Not Be Surprised If the Market Timer Had to Go All the Way to 200/0 to Get a Strategy With the Same Risk as 100 Percent Stocks”
23) “Valuation-Informed Indexing Always Provides More Returns for Often Less Risk”
24) “Maybe Your ‘New School’ Term Will Get Some More Traction After All…. I Realize Now That I Should Cite Something of Yours About Safe Withdrawal Rates When Preparing the Final Draft.”
25) “I Think My Paper Is Not Challenging Modern Portfolio Theory…But Often You End Up Persuading Me to Your Points”
There is great power in the idea of using academic research to guide our investment decisions, Diversified. I applaud the Buy-and-Holders for coming up with that idea and for promoting it so heavily for may years now. There is one risk attached to that idea. The risk is that you might make a mistake at some point. Given the power of telling people to follow the research when making investment decisions, it is obviously critical that all mistakes be promptly corrected. This one was not promptly corrected. That’s why we are in an economic crisis today.
There is not one Buy-and-Holder alive who does not deep in his or her heart want to see the mistake corrected or who does not want to see the economic crisis brought to an end or who does not want to soon be enjoying the greatest period of economic growth ever seen in our history. For these Buy-and-Holders to see their dreams realized, we need to be able to talk openly about these matters. We know that, when people are able to discuss these matters in a civil and reasoned way, they enjoy them immensely and learn a great deal from participating in them. So we need to make that possible.
I ask you to reserve judgment on how Wade feels about me or on how the millions of middle-class investors affected by Wade’s decisions feels about me until we see the fruits of the discussions we will be having once we achieve our (OUR, not MY) goal of opening the internet to honest posting on safe withdrawal rates and many other critically important investment-related topics. I am 100 percent confident that you will not hear one voice of dissent that our decision to open the internet to honest posting brought on the most important advance in our understanding of how stock investing works in the real world ever achieved in history.
I wish you well in all your future endeavors, Diversified. Please take good care.
Rob
A whole lot of words and not a bit of truth to any of them. Wade’s job was never threatened by “the goons”. Wade has stated that you are doing a lot of damage to his career.
Good stuff, Diversified.
Rob
Now that the whole email history is on display, we have the reminder of how angry you got at the very beginning when I referred to you as dogmatic. Yet, look at the way you’ve treated me for disagreeing with you on something which you don’t even understand.
Wade has learned what many of us already knew. If you cross Rob “hocus” Bennett he will take it extremely personally and respond with a torrent of abusive comments which will most likely continue for years.
For evidence see the continued bile directed towards John Greaney and Mel Lindauer.
“Here are some words Wade wrote in the days before the Greaney Goons threatened to get him fired from his job for committing the terrible “crime” of saying honestly what he believed about the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies and about the dangers of Buy-and-Hold in general:”
I think these words were uttered before he realized you were completely insane. You totally took that Wade guy for a ride. What a sweet well meaning softie/sucker/rube.
If you cross Rob “hocus” Bennett he will take it extremely personally and respond with a torrent of abusive comments which will most likely continue for years.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Evidence.
I wish you all good things.
Rob
I think these words were uttered before he realized you were completely insane.
That would appear to be the case, What.
You totally took that Wade guy for a ride. What a sweet well meaning softie/sucker/rube.
My take is that I learned a lot from him and he learned a lot from me. My take is that our relationship was a win/win/win/win/win.
Please take care
Rob
Hahah, the funny thing is he would probably revert all those wins to losses…and based on your current situation its not clear if you have any wins at all!
Rob ‘Lose/Lose/Lose/Lose/Lose/Lose’ Bennett.
I don’t agree, What.
The Goons have obviously caused me to suffer huge financial losses. I expect to recover those losses through lawsuits I will bring against the Goons themselves and against the various web sites that have permitted them to post after learning about the tactics they have employed to terrorize our board and blog communities.
I don’t think that standing with one’s fellow community members can ever be characterized as a “lose.” We have done amazing work together. We have learned more about the realities of how stock investing works in these past 10 years than any group of people has ever learned in any earlier 10-year period. We have been blessed.
What we have learned will change the world for the good forever. The ugliness that the Goons brought to the table will be quickly forgotten once we put it behind us.
It is the forces of hate that always lose in the end, my old friend. Those who live for hate destroy themselves.
And love conquers all in the end. There are dark nights of the soul when we think that that may never be the case. We all have had to suffer those agonies from time to time. Yet the story always ends in the same way. We have bad in us and the bad in us is real. But we also have good in us and the good is able to conquer the bad if we direct our human energies to making that happen.
I wish you all good things.
Rob
I expect to recover those losses through lawsuits I will bring against the Goons themselves and against the various web sites that have permitted them to post after learning about the tactics they have employed to terrorize our board and blog communities.
You have not been able to convince a lawyer to take this case. There will be no lawsuit, there will be no recovery of your imaginary losses.
You have not been able to convince a lawyer to take this case.
I have found several who have expressed the view that there is a strong case. I have not found one who was willing to take the case on a contingency basis. I would like to bring the case either on a contingency basis or as a pro bono case.
There will be no lawsuit, there will be no recovery of your imaginary losses.
I hope you are wrong, Evidence. I think a successful lawsuit would send all the right signals. We need to show that money can be made reporting honestly on what the last 30 years of academic research says about stock investing. Once we show that money can be made offering honest and accurate and realistic investing advice, we enter a new world, a world in which middle-class investors will be able to retire many years sooner and a world in which people of intelligence and integrity will feel much better about seeking employment in the investing advice field.
My best wishes to you and yours.
Rob
I have found several who have expressed the view that there is a strong case.
If they really meant that they would take the case on a contingency basis.
I’m not so sure, Evidence.
Say that you believe that there’s an 80 percent chance that you will win a case. And say that the case will require one year of man hours. Would you be willing to bet one year of man hours that your belief will pan out?
Some might do that. Some might not.
I met with one lawyer who said that was his issue. He suggested that I try larger firms. He said that a small firm could not afford to take the risk.
If you hear of a good lawyer willing to take the case on contingency, please let me know. I think a lot of people will elect to have nothing more to do with the Goons once the litigation is filed.
Rob
He suggested that I try larger firms.
Did you?
I believe that I called one larger firm, Evidence. It’s hard to get in to talk to decision-makers in large firms. The fellow I spoke to at the large firm indicated that that firm wasn’t interested in a contingency arrangement either. So I decided to let that aspect of things go for a bit.
It’s possible that, if I spent all my time trying to find lawyers to take the case, I would find lawyers willing to take the case on a contingency basis. That may be.
But I’ll tell you how I look at this. I didn’t get into this to bring lawsuits. I am a reporter. So the most important thing to me is to tell the story properly. The lawsuits are an add-on. They are not the meat.
The real problem is the Social Taboo we have adopted against talking honestly about the dangers of Buy-and-Hold. Overcome that, and everything is groovy. No economic crisis. We all get to retire years earlier. Lots of book sales. Good stuff piled on top of good stuff piled on top of good stuff.
So that is the key for me. I want to overturn that Social Taboo.
Will successful lawsuits help? Sure. One of the ways a society expresses its priorities is through the outcomes it dictates for various types of lawsuits. So the lawsuits are a piece of the puzzle here. But they are not the key piece. I have a lot of important work on my plate and spending too much time on lawsuits today might pull me away from other work that needs to be completed. So I am reluctant to direct too much energies to the lawsuits at this time.
If I overturn that social taboo, there are going to be top-notch lawyers sending me their cards on a daily basis. The lawsuits will take care of themselves. If I don’t overturn that social taboo, I am probably not going to get to first base on anything. So that is my focus.
The primary reason why I mention the lawsuits is that I want people who are running a risk of being named in them to know of the possibility. I don’t want someday down the road to be naming someone in a lawsuit and to hear him say “Oh, I never expected this to happen!” People need to know that the lawsuit possibility is very much a live possibility. So long as I have made an effort to let people know that, I will feel comfortable naming people who ignored the notices. I need to do that to be able to sleep with a clear conscience.
The lawsuits will happen. But the thing that must happen for all sorts of good things to happen is the overcoming of the Social Taboo on talking frankly and openly and boldly about this stuff. That one is a biggie. That’s the one I spend most of my time thinking about.
I hope that helps you understand a little bit better where I am coming from re the lawsuits and related matters.
Rob
I have a lot of important work on my plate and spending too much time on lawsuits today might pull me away from other work that needs to be completed.
Like a three month long regurgitation of a year old email exchange?
And over 14,000 posts at the Goon board.
That is a pretty funny sort of “important work” “that needs to be completed”.
But in all these years you have only managed to contact one larger law firm, despite having a lawyer (who might know something about this) suggest that to you.
Like a three month long regurgitation of a year old email exchange?
Of course, Evidence.
Each of the blog entries that I have put forward relating to my correspondence with Wade is more important than any of my earlier blog entries. Their combined significance is beyond calculation.
The Buy-and-Holders did a wonderful thing when they argued that we all should root our investment decisions in the academic research. That was one of the most important breakthroughs ever. We are close today to getting to the point where we can begin enjoying the fruits of that huge breakthrough.
It obviously did not help for us to root our strategies in the academic research when the academic research was in error. So there obviously were no fruits to be had until Shiller discovered in 1981 the error that had been made in earlier years.
And since 1981 there have been intense pressures applied to keep people from talking about the error and from trying to get it corrected. So most of the academic research done over the past 30 years is analytically invalid. There are obviously no fruits that follow from following analytically invalid research.
Wade showed us the way out. He published research showing that Valuation-Informed Indexing has been far superior to Buy-and-Hold going back as far as we have data. So we now for the first time in history have a truly research-backed investment strategy. We are a blessed people.
We are today on the 99-yard line. The only thing holding us back is the widespread belief in the Buy-and-Hold marketing slogan that “timing doesn’t work.” People understand why long-term timing always must work. Everyone knows that not taking prices into consideration when making a buy decision is insane. The only problem we have is that many of us put our confidence in the experts in this field and most of the experts either endorse Buy-and-Hold or don’t speak out in clear and firm and certain terms about its dangers.
My e-mail correspondence with Wade shows us why that is. It’s not that the experts are dumb or that they aren’t aware of the 30 years of research showing that there is zero chance that Buy-and-Hold can ever work for a single long-term investor. It’s that they are scared! They want to make a living in this field and the pressures applied to those who report honestly on what the data says are ferocious.
This is what people need to know for us all to make the transition from Buy-and-Hold to Valuation-Informed Indexing. Wade’s story is the story that people need to hear to become convinced to join us in our effort to bury Buy-and-Hold 30 feet in the ground, where it can do no further harm to humans and other living things.
I hope you are as excited about seeing the wonderful places to which we soon will all be going as I am.
Please take good care, my old friend.
Rob
And over 14,000 posts at the Goon board. That is a pretty funny sort of “important work” “that needs to be completed”.
I’m going to tell you a little secret, Evidence. Please don’t let this one get around.
The Goons are human too!
No, really.
It’s hard to see it at times. There have been moments when I have had serious doubts. But I am pretty sure.
Now —
If the Goons are human, the Goons on some level of consciousness would like to know how to invest effectively. That follows, right?
They have not been cooperating with our efforts to move things forward. Perhaps you’ve noticed.
We have a puzzle before us. The Goons would benefit from our efforts as much as all the rest of us. But they are fighting like the dickens not to have those efforts succeed. What’s that all about?
To tell this story properly, I need to know the answer to that one, Evidence. That’s why I post on an almost daily basis at the Goon Central board.
The place smells something awful. You don’t have to mention it. I have personal experience. Lots of it.
Someone has to go down into The Place that Smells and make an effort to figure out what the heck drives the Goons.
No?
I think someone has to do this dirty job. I didn’t seek out the job. I was volunteered. You know how that sort of thing goes.
It all works out well for all of us in the end, my old friend. That’s what matters.
Take care.
Rob
But in all these years you have only managed to contact one larger law firm, despite having a lawyer (who might know something about this) suggest that to you.
I addressed the lawyer question up above.
I’ve acknowledged that, if I spent more time on that aspect of the question, the lawsuit side of things might proceed more quickly. I don’t know for sure that that’s so. But it could be so.
The reason why I don’t do that is that I give a higher priority to other aspects of the question. I’ll give you one example.
One of the articles I want to get up at the “The Buy-and-Hold Crisis” section of the site would be a question-and-answer thing relating to everything that has happened over the first ten years. That might be helpful for newcomers. It would obviously be a long article. So it will take some time to prepare it.
Say that next Summer we see the next price crash. People lose another 65 percent of their accumulated wealth of a lifetime, they cut back on spending even more, and we go into the Second Great Depression.
It’s going to be pretty darn important at that time to have that Q&A article ready, isn’t it? The hearts of a lot of Buy-and-Holders may melt when we go into the Second Great Depression. So there may be a lot of people who are suddenly open to hearing what the academic research really says about stock investing.
It may be of critical importance that we quickly get those people the materials they need to make sense of all this. Once we are in a Second Great Depression, there is a good chance that our political system will fall. I am confident that you understand why seeing that happen would not be a good thing for any of us. So it’s going to be kinda important that we get accurate and honest information on how stock investing really works out to people at that time. Quickly!
Things will go a lot more quickly if the materials needed were prepared in advance. So I spend a good bit of my time nowadays getting those materials prepared in advance of when they will be needed. That approach makes sense to me.
Lawsuits?
There are going to be lawsuits. There obviously are going to be lawsuits. Theoretically, the Goons might put $500 million in a paper bag and leave it on my doorstep with a note saying “Sorry” and I suppose that would more or less cover it. But I don’t see the odds of us seeing that one play out as being all that super great. Do you?
Lawsuits are obviously going to be necessary to get done what we need to get done. But which is more important, lawsuits or insuring that our political system does not fall? It’s the latter that is more important. So that’s where I spend most of my time.
The lawsuits are easy peasy once the important stuff is addressed. Valuation-Informed Indexing shows millions of middle-class people how to retire five to ten years sooner than they imagined was possible during the Buy-and-Hold years. How many people do you think there are going to be saying that I am not entitled to a payment of $500 million from those who helped the Goons for helping them out with that little thing? I think it is fair to say that that’s a number closely approaching zero.
So there will be lots of people lending a hand to my effort to find lawyers to bring the various lawsuits when the appropriate time for that sort of thing arrives.
Today I have more pressing matters on my plate.
Time’s a wasting!
Rob
Someone has to go down into The Place that Smells and make an effort to figure out what the heck drives the Goons.
14,000+ posts and you still haven’t worked out what drives the Goons. I guess we should just chalk that up to one more thing that you aren’t much good at.
Perhaps.
The way I see it is that I have given it my very best effort, Evidence.
I can do no more and I can do no less.
Please take good care.
Rob
The way I see it is that I have given it my very best effort
And that is the problem Rob. Your “best effort” has proven to be catastrophically unproductive in a whole range of areas. And yet you persist.
Many people try to learn from their mistakes and try something different. You just keep beating the same dead horse.
If you think that learning how to reduce the risk of stock investing by 80 percent is “catastrophically unproductive,” you and I are coming at this from very different perspectives, Evidence.
Everyone benefits when we reduce the risk of stock investing by 80 percent. Democrats and Republicans. Young and old. Women and men. Buy-and-Holders and Valuation-Informed Indexers. No exceptions.
We are as a society trying to make the transition from Buy-and-Hold to Valuation-Informed Indexing. The Buy-and-Holders feel threatened by the need to make the transition. They are wrong to feel that way.
My sense is that the primary concern is the many thousands of lawsuits that will be brought against those who have advocated Buy-and-Hold strategies. How many lawsuits would have been brought had we made the transition in May 2002? Not one. So I have done more to help The Stock-Selling Industry come out of this smelling like roses than any other human being alive on Planet Earth today.
How many lawsuits will be brought if we go into the Second Great Depression because we failed to make the transition in time? The number will be a big multiple of the number that would be brought if we made the transition today. So again I am the best friend to the industry alive on Planet Earth.
You need to analyze this in two steps. One, is there any way to avoid having to make this transition? Obviously, there is not. And, two, given that the transition must be made, what is the best possible timing for all concerned? The obvious answer is that it is best for all concerned to make the transition as quickly as possible.
You Goons are hoping that we can avoid making the transition. That cannot happen. I have looked at the numbers. I know. You should look at the numbers. Then you would know too.
There are things that can be done to help with the lawsuit matter. One thing is that legislation could be passed providing compensation to those who were harmed but limiting that compensation to the extent necessary to permit the rebuilding of The Stock-Selling Industry. That legislation will be 20 times harder to write after we go into the Second Great Depression, Evidence. There is no benefit to going into the Second Great Depression. It is a lose/lose/lose.
Those are my sincere thoughts on these important matters, in any event.
I of course wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Rob
If you think that learning how to reduce the risk of stock investing by 80 percent is “catastrophically unproductive,” you and I are coming at this from very different perspectives, Evidence.
You haven’t learned how to reduce the risk of stock investing by 80 percent.
All you have done is imagined a fantasy world where stock volatility is massively reduced but the return remains the same.
Bill Bernstein has explained why this is not possible.
You choose not to listen.
Good point, Evidence.
That’s helpful.
Rob
Very interesting! If there were hundreds of millions of dollars on the table and an 80% chance of winning then just about any law firm out there would take the case.
Rob – they probably just realized you were a nutcase so just said nice things but in the end got you to go away.
If there were hundreds of millions of dollars on the table and an 80% chance of winning then just about any law firm out there would take the case.
If they were aware of all the facts, I agree that there would be many who would take it.
The small-firm guy invited me to his office and we talked it over for several hours. So he knew all the facts. He wanted to take it. But for him the risk was just too great. Sure, he might make millions. But, if a small firm guy puts in a year of work and ends up with nothing to show for it, he might be out of business. So the risk was too great for this fellow.
It’s a good bet for a large firm. I didn’t get through to a decision-maker at the one I called. The guy who answered the phone didn’t see the opportunity. I agree that there’s a good chance that a large firm would take it if I got through to a decision maker.
I think it will be fair to say that it won’t be hard getting fixed up with decision makers after we go into the Second Great Depression and there are millions of people looking to bring lawsuits against those who work in the industry that did this to us. That part of this thing will take care of itself.
The thing I am worried about is whether we will be able to pull out once we go into the Second Great Depression. I want to be sure to be able to say that I did everything in my power to stop us from falling into the Second Great Depression in the first place.
Please take good care, What.
Rob
I didn’t get through to a decision-maker at the one I called.
So you gave up. I don’t think you have what it takes to move this situation forward.
There’s only one of me, Evidence. And there are only so many hours in the day.
My intent is to focus on the high priority items. If we win the big ones, I am highly confident that the relatively little ones will easily fall into place all by themselves.
Fair enough?
Rob
You should probably spend less of your day wasting time fooling around on the Internet. That might free up some time to do something productive.
What high priority items are you focused on? It is hard to see any.
I guess if the lawsuit thing is so little you will spend less time writing about it? You probably wasted more time blibber blabbing about it on your blog than it takes to call a dozen law firms.
Your priorities are mysterious indeed. Mysterious…and indicative of a mental condition.
What high priority items are you focused on? It is hard to see any.
Please take a look at the blog entry to which you have posted a comment, What.
Rob
I guess if the lawsuit thing is so little you will spend less time writing about it?
I need in good conscience to mention it from time to time so that those who post in “defense” of Lindauer and Greaney or who ban honest posting at their sites or who permit Lindauerheads or Greaney Goons to post at their sites are on notice as to what is coming down the road.
Outside of that, I rarely mention it. The substantive matters are of far greater importance to those of us seeking to bring the Buy-and-Hold Crisis to an end.
Please take care.
Rob
My intent is to focus on the high priority items.
Like 14,000+ posts at the Goon board.
And 200 Robcasts that receive virtually no feedback.
And about 100 each of “Investing–The New Rules”, “Valuation-Informed Indexing” and “Beyond Buy-and-Hold” which usually receive no comments and are really just random assortments of the stuff you have been producing for years.
And your vendetta against Wade.
But no contact with the Trinity authors.
And no discussion board at this site.
And no second book.
And no lawsuit.
And no real attempt to get a lawsuit.
What you claim as “high priority” is nonsense.
And your vendetta against Wade.
I have a vendetta against Wade, Evidence.
I am the one who says his research belongs on the front page of the New York Times.
I am the one who told him about Valuation-Informed Indexing.
It was by reading my posts at the Vanguard Diehards board that he learned about the errors in the Old School SWR studies.
I am the one who says he should get a Nobel prize for his work.
I am the one who has had the courage to speak up against the threat of the Greaney Goons to send defamatory e-mails to his employer because he “crossed” Greaney by posting honestly on SWRs.
And I am the one with a vendetta against Wade Pfau.
That makes a lot of sense, my old friend.
It’s good to see all the pieces of the puzzle finally beginning to snap into place.
Take care.
Rob
That is all in the past.
Now you say that Wade has gone to the dark side and describe him as shameful and insane and you flood twitter with abusive tweets about him.
That is all in the past.
It is not, Evidence.
Wade has published the most important research ever published in this field. Wade has shown that Valuation-Informed Indexing always provides much higher returns than Buy-and-Hold at greatly reduced risk. That research will be helping millions of middle-class investors for many, many years to come.
Nothing Wade has done in more recent days changes that. The research is still breakthrough research.
Rob
Now you say that Wade has gone to the dark side and describe him as shameful and insane and you flood twitter with abusive tweets about him.
Wade’s primary area of study is retirement, Evidence. He acknowledges that the Old School SWR studies get the numbers wildly wrong. When threatened, he said that there is no need for these studies to be corrected.
Those are facts that I have reported.
I’d obviously like to be able to report facts that reflect more favorably on my friend Wade. I don’t control his behavior any more than I control yours. Perhaps you’ve noticed!
Rob
Wade has shown that Valuation-Informed Indexing always provides much higher returns than Buy-and-Hold at greatly reduced risk.
That is not true, in fact his research shows that VII does not improve returns.
Once again your ability to understand financial studies is illustrated.
Good point, Evidence.
Rob
“Those are facts that I have reported.”
Mixing up facts with fantasy again I see.
You’ve saved the best wine for last, What.
Don’t let the bad guys get you down, old friend.
Rob