I’ve been sending e-mails to various people letting them know about my article on the tactics used by Buy-and-Holders to intimidate Academic Researcher Wade Pfau into not publishing further research showing the superiority of Valuation-Informed Indexing investing strategies over Buy-and-Hold investing strategies. I recently received a response from Brad Borden, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School, saying: “This is interesting. I’m curious, however, to know why you chose to contact me.” My response is set forth below:
Brad:
Evidence Based Investing says
And did he reply to this?
Rob says
He did not, Evidence.
Rob
Evidence Based Investing says
Sorry for the long explanation. I feel that you merit as clear an answer as I am able to provide.
Unfortunately your ability to provide a clear answer is somewhat limited.
Rob says
I disagree, Evidence.
I know better than anyone else why I contacted the fellow and I explained in my e-mail to him why I did so.
Please take good care, my Buy-and-Hold friend.
Rob
Rob says
This exchange shows why it is a bad idea to have The Stock-Selling Industry committed to “defense” of a pure Get Rich Quick approach while also using the claim that “the academic research supports what we say” as its key marketing slogan in a time-period 30 years after the academic research showed that there is zero chance that a pure Get Rich Quick approach can ever work for even a single long-term investor. The bs piles on top of the bs until the pile is so large that it is not possible for a reasonable person to see beyond the huge, smelly pile.
Not this boy!
Rob
Trebor Martin says
Your ideas do not generate intensely emotional reactions; your boorish behavior does.
Rob says
Do you think it was boorish of me to be the first to point out the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies, Trebor?
Do you think it would have been better if I had kept my mouth shut?
Rob
Trebor Martin says
You have never pointed out any errors in the safe withdrawal rate studies; you have simple exhibited your ignorance of the subject
Rob says
Good point, Trebor.
Rob
what says
“Do you think it would have been better if I had kept my mouth shut?”
Well, yes.
1) You are completely unable to effectively communicate your ideas. You are a complete failure. So, even if you do have a good idea, your efforts will never succeed.
2) You probably would have made better decisions about your own career and family responsibilities so you would have been better off also.
Rob says
I’m grateful to you for answering the question, What.
We disagree.
It took guts for me to go forward with what I knew about safe withdrawal rates. I was scared too. And, yes, as you point out, my business has suffered as a result of the attacks on me. But on the content side, I have accomplished things I never even dimly imagined possible in the years before I put forward that fateful post.
One of the articles I have planned for the coming year is one in which I will offer brief descriptions of 101 powerful investing insights that I was able to develop as a result of things I learned because of the discussions that followed from my posting of the May 13, 2002, post. 101 powerful insights! Including the two most important of all: (1) What we need to do to overcome the economic crisis; and (2) How we can reduce the risk of stock investing by 70 percent. Even I cannot believe that and I’ve had a front-row seat for the entire show.
I regret all the bad stuff that we have been put through. It breaks my heart. But the bad stuff, as bad as it has been, does not come close to matching the wonderful, life-enhancing stuff that has been developed as a result of my fateful decision to push the “Send” button on those words from the morning of May 13, 2002.
I don’t apologize for it.
I extend the hand of friendship to all my Buy-and-Hold friends. That I can do. I can say that I respect you all and admire you all and value you all and like you all. That I can do with a clear conscience. I cannot betray the 101 insights with a clear conscience. And I cannot betray the millions of people whose lives will be enriched by the 101 insights with a clear conscience.
I’ll tell you a little secret, What. I would be betraying you too if I took that dark path. Your life will be richer when we all make it to the other side of The Big Black Mountain. I intend to see to it. So it’s not just all the others who I betray if I agree to post dishonestly on safe withdrawal rates. It’s you too, my long-time Goon friend. No can do, you know? I cannot stick it to a bud like you after all the good times we have had together, can I?
Hang in there. We will figure it out. We will work our way from this dark place where we find ourselves today to the much brighter place where deep in our hearts each and every one of us wants to be in the future. We are making progress. Slow progress. Painfully slow progress. But progress all the same. Do you remember when I couldn’t get a comment posted at any personal finance blog on the internet? Things are changing, my man.
Pray!
That’s my recommendation. I don’t pray as my first course of action. I figure that God helps those who help themselves. So it’s better to take some sort of action. But when you have taken all the actions you can think of, why not pray? It certainly cannot hurt. It might help. After ten years of this, why not pray? That idea sure makes sense to this boy’s ears.
And you have to have a little faith in your fellow man too. People mess up. It’s been happening since the beginning of time. People also fix their mess-ups. That too has been going on since the beginning of time. Lots of our fellow community members have doubts re that part of the story because they haven’t seen much in the fix-up department yet. We’re saving the best for last, man! Yeah, that’s it! We’re saving the best for last!
It’s going to be all right.
So says The All-Powerful and All-Knowing Farmer Hocus.
Who thought that this crazy stuff would last 2 days, 3 days at most. Oops! I wasn’t supposed to mention that part. Whachagondo?
Hang in there, What. It’s all good on the other side. We’ll get there. There will be a day when some smart person will figure out the magic words and all kinds of unmovable doors will swing open. That’s how it happens. People forget that we have found ourselves in tight corners one or two times in our past.
It’s better that I didn’t keep my mouth shut.
I’m sure!
I think.
Rob