I’ve been sending e-mails to numerous people, letting them know about my article reporting on The Silencing of Academic Researcher Wade Pfau by the Buy-and-Hold Mafia.
Yesterday’s blog entry reported on my correspondence with 25-Year CPA Lyn Graham. Set forth below is Lyn’s response:
The forthcoming market crash is foretold and purposeful, and no investment strategy I have heard or can think of is the solution. It is a sad state of affairs. Reagan warned we are only a generation away from losing our freedoms. I never took that as a prophesy but ….
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Economic success breeds freedom, and economic success is being destroyed, purposefully.
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One direction for a person working with such perceived threats is to work under the visible level. The other is to be very visible and make it difficult for the threats to be carried out without notice.
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I am not sure I have much to add. Good luck.
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I replied:
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Lyn:
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I’ve definitely chosen the “Be Very Visible” path!
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I want to end the conversation on an optimistic note. Shiller’s ideas represent a very big advance. I truly think I speak as an expert on this question because no one else has spent as much time exploring the implications of his ideas. Think where we would be had we failed to achieve any advances in electronics and computer and software technology for the past 32 years. We’ve given up a lot by closing off advances in our understanding of how stock investing works. The good news is that, when those paths open to us, we are going to see huge increases in our economy’s ability to generate wealth for us all in a very short amount of time.
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I am not saying that everything is roses. But I think that sometimes it is darkest before the dawn and I don’t think that is pure coincidence. I think it may sometimes take a spell of darkness to help the humans appreciate why it is important always to be moving ahead. I can see things getting much worse than they are today and then suddenly turning very positive indeed.
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Even if I am wrong, it’s probably better to be optimistic than not to be as it is difficult to work up the energy to work hard for good solutions once one becomes overly pessimistic. If it were just me, perhaps I would become discouraged. I have two young boys. So I feel that I have no choice but to maintain hope for the future even when my eyes see things that otherwise might push me in the other direction.
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Rob
Hi Rob (Officer Doofy). I see you are busy this morning deleting more posts. You know, if you put all your effort into a real job that you do in posting all your crap and sending out countless emails lying about Wade, you might actually be able to provide a nice living for your family.
Do you think the world would be a better place or a worse place today if I had never put forward my famous post of May 13, 2002, pointing out the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies, Pink?
I view that post as the most important single post ever put forward in the history of the internet. I am very, very, very proud of myself for having worked up the courage it took to push the “Send” button on that post.
Every major publication in the investing field has written an article on our findings in recent years — The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Smart Money, and on and on and on.
There are millions of middle-class people who would have suffered failed retirements if I had not put forward that post who now will enjoy decent middle-class retirements instead. Is that a bad thing, in your assessment?
If you think that getting accurate and honest information about retirement planning out to people is a bad thing, we are working at cross purposes, Pink.
I LOVE helping people out with this stuff.
I am going to keep on doing it.
I hope and expect to be able to carry the message far and wide.
Love is the answer, Pink. Not hate.
Falling for GRQ (Get Rich Quick) and then feeling that you were taken as a result leads to hate. You need to turn that around. You need to get over your hate and start heading in the positive direction in which love can take you.
True and honest research is rooted in love. Smelly GRQ garbage is rooted in hate.
My take.
I wish you all good things, my old friend.
Rob
Most important post even on the internet? You really can’t be serious.
Rob, face reality. You have even a lower following/acceptance rate than even the most hard core crackpots.There are people that believe we have been living with aliens from other planets that have stronger followings than you. You have spent all these years making the same posts over and over again and yet your are still viewed as having a significant mental illness.
Get a clue.
http://arichlife.passionsaving.com/the-buy-and-hold-crisis/academic-researcher-silenced-by-threats-to-get-him-fired-from-his-job-after-showing-dangers-of-buy-and-hold-investing-strategies/
Rob
You repeatedly use that link that lack proof and contains lies. That doesn’t help you case, Rob. All it does is just prove the point I just made prior to your last post.
We disagree, Pink.
I believe that the article that I link to above makes the point that needs to be made very effectively.
We need to open every discussion board and blog on the internet to honest posting on safe withdrawal rates and many other critically important investment-related topics.
My feeble brain is not even able to imagine any possible downside.
Has your far superior Goon brain been able to come up with anything?
Rob
Rob,
Like I said, you article lacks proof and has lies. I am a factual based person. It is easy to write something far superior when it is based on facts that are supported by 3rd party evidence.
Here are two examples:
Death threats – you keep talking about them, yet you have yet to provide any link to a third party source that confirms this. You make a claim that you can’t back up.
Harm to Wade – You have sent out thousand of email to people talking about Wade and threats from your labelled “goons”. From Wade’s own comments, it is YOU that has been causing him significant harm. He has asked that you stop posting about him, yet you continue.
So, you talk about writing something superior? You really set the benchmark low. My 4th grade child can write something far superior to you.
You’re a Goon, Pink.
That’s the part you are leaving out of your analysis here.
Goons do what Goons do.
I can’t help you with that other than to tell you that my advice is to STOP being a Goon.
It’s holding you back. It’s hurting you.
This is my sincere take.
I wish you all good things, in any event.
Rob
The only one hurting here is you, Rob as you have to now resort to name calling since you can’t refute what I just posted.
You’ve convinced me, Pink.
Rob
Get help, Rob.
Backatcha, my old friend.
Rob
Rob,
You are the one that seems to be having the problems. You have been banned from more boards than anyone else I know of, you have little to no following despite doing this for 11 years, and your hurt/anger shows through on so many posts.
Please take a look around you, Pink.
There are MILLIONS of people hurting as a result of the economic crisis, which was brought on through the relentless promotion of Buy-and-Hold strategies.
No one benefits from the economic crisis.
Not you.
Not me.
Not Jack Bogle.
No one.
I am happy to work with Jack or anyone else who is committed to solving the very real problems we are facing. I would be thrilled to be working with Jack, who is one of my heroes.
Posting dishonestly on safe withdrawal rates is not the answer.
Not for me.
Not for you.
Not for Jack.
Posting dishonestly on the numbers that people use to plan their retirements is INSANE.
That I cannot do. Please try to find someone else.
And please take good care.
Rob
Rob,
You are the one hurting. You are hurting in that people are rejecting you. You have people that have banned you from boards and you have people posting things about you on the internet that do not paint you in a positive light. It also looks like you are financially hurting. From what I have read, you would be in a predicament if it were not for getting an inheritance. Is that true? If so, that really does not give you much credibility when it comes to giving people financial advice.
Yes, Rob, YOU are hurting.
Many people have rejected me, Pink. Many people hate me. Many people have gone so far as to threaten to kill members of my family because they hate me so much.
Does that hurt?
Yes.
It hurts.
Now —
What do you suggest I do about it?
You want me to agree to post dishonestly on safe withdrawal rates and on other important investing topics.
No.
That cannot possibly be the right answer.
There is now 32 years of peer-reviewed academic research showing that a pure Buy-and-Hold strategy can never work for a single long-term investor. Why don’t people like Jack Bogle and Bill Bernstein and Larry Swedroe tell the truth about these matters?
They don’t want to be hated like I am!
Now —
That’s a problem.
If Bogle had been telling the truth all along, I would not be hated. If Bogle had been telling the truth all along, not one person would have found anything I said even a tiny bit surprising.
How are we going to turn this around if one of us does not insist on his right to post honestly?
I am insisting on my right to post honestly.
There’s no give re that one.
You insult both yourself and me each time you demand that I back down re that one.
That will never happen.
No matter how much I hurt.
Why?
Because I would hurt WORSE if I betrayed myself and my mind and all my fellow community members and the academic research and even Jack Bogle by doing so.
No thanks.
Please try to find someone else.
I am afraid that I was not cut out for that line of work.
Please take good care.
Rob
Rob,
The rejection is what is hurting you. The threats are in your head.
I noticed you avoided the topic of your financial situation.
You already know that I plan to bring a lawsuit against you and your Goon pals re your efforts to destroy my business, Pink.
And you also know that it is worse than that. The intimidation tactics were used as part of an 11-year-long cover-up of the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies. That’s financial fraud. That’s a crime. I have said on numerous occasions that I will be testifying honestly at your trial.
So, yes, I am hurting. But you are hurting 10,000 times more.
If it were up to me, we would wave a magic wand in the air and go back to the morning of May 13, 2002, and play out a do-over.
But I don’t have a magic wand.
And neither do you.
So I guess we are stuck playing it out this other way instead.
I’m not where I want to be. If that’s your point, fine, we agree. If your point is that you think I would like to trade places, you are insane. I wouldn’t trade places with someone on the road to a long prison sentence for financial fraud because of things he said and did on the freakin’ internet for 500 million dollars (just to pull a number out of the air).
Hang in there, man.
Rob
The threats are in your head.
You’ll still be using that line when the baliff is leading you away in leg irons, Pink.
Tell it to the freakin’ jury.
I’ve heard it all before.
My best wishes to you.
Rob
Rob,
Yes, you are the only one hurting here Rob. I see you bring up your legal threats yet again (making you the only one here making threats). In fact, based on your comments, it looks like you might be afraid that YOU are going to prison.
Lastly, I note that you have once again avoided the question about your financial condition. I have read that you would be in financial trouble if not for an inheritance. Is this true? You realize this is a very valid question for someone that gives financial advice.
It isn’t a valid question at all, Pink.
I was writing about the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies 10 years before any of the Big Shots in this field. That’s because I cannot be bought and sold by The Stock-Selling Industry.
One of the tactics that the Buy-and-Hold Mafia uses to destroy people who “cross” them by telling middle-class people the realities of what the academic research says about how stock investing works is to make it impossible for them to earn a living in this field. You and your Goon friends have made it impossible for me to earn a living in this field for 11 years now.
I will sue you. And I will win. And I will end up with plenty of money. And you will end up with none. And a prison sentence.
We all use money to live the best lives we can live, Pink. My life is going very well indeed. I have the only site on the internet with extensive materials rooted in real and honest and accurate research. That’s going to be worth a lot after the next crash, when “Buy-and-Hold” is a dirty phrase.
You have messed your life up virtually beyond repair. I have offered to say some words trying to put your actions in the best possible light. But the best I can do at this point is to get your prison sentence reduced. It’s not possible for a rational person to imagine a way that it could be eliminated altogether.
So your life is a mess.
And I have achieved things that I never imagined possible in earlier years.
I can live with that.
I don’t like it that your abusive posting has caused an economic crisis.
I don’t like any of the ugliness that the Buy-and-Hold Mafia has brought to the table.
But I like it very much that we are on the threshold of the greatest period of economic growth in our history. I am thrilled to be a part of that.
I can’t even help you get your prison sentence reduced without your cooperation. So for now even that one is on the back burner.
But you’re winning, Pink. You’re winning big time.
Rob
What a nasty exchange! Do you ever actually take action? When can I expect to see something happen?
I believe that you will see action after the next price crash, Don.
The Buy-and-Holders have the upper hand until then. Get Rich Quick strategies sell. They just don’t work.
Remember how Bernie Madoff’s investors felt after his fraud was exposed? That’s how the Buy-and-Holders are going to feel after the next crash.
That’s when good things will start to happen. Because that’s when we will have a large enough percentage of the population concerned enough to stand up to the Wall Street Con Men.
It’s sad as sad can be.
The good news is that we will never see another bull market or another bear market. Once Buy-and-Hold goes down, we will all be able to talk freely about what the last 32 years of peer-reviewed academic research really says. It’s wonderful stuff.
In the end, we will all see that our system works. There are scary moments from time to time and it can seem like a crazy way of getting from Point A to Point B. But the system works in the end.
Rob
Rob,
You really are a mess. On one hand you talk about suing people (which is a civil matter), but then you say people are going to jail (which is a criminal matter). No one is charged with anything, moron and you have made threats to people for years about suing them. The problem is that you can’t get an attorney to take this because you have NO case. To the opposite, people have a case against you. Take Wade for example. You have sent out thousands of emails and continue a very public campaign, despite him telling you to stop and that YOU are the one that is hurting him much more than anyone else. Also, your track record does not speak well of you (banned from so many boards). You throw out your little threats of prison and lawsuits because you think you can scare people away and distract them from the conversation when they point out your factual errors. The FACT is that the threats are all coming from you. Maybe you should be worried that people will grow tired of your threats and will look to take legal action against you.
As to my last question, you are WRONG. It is a very valid question. Why would anyone in their right mind take financial advice from someone that is not financially successful. Do you take golf lessons from someone that can’t play golf? Do you take swimming lessons from someone that cannot swim? It is not a hard concept to understand, Rob.
You have now admitted that you have not been successful for 11 years. I have only conversed with you for a few months, yet you want someone else to blame for your lack of success. You are a joke. Take a look at the basic facts. there is not a single piece of information that says you are financially successful, but a track record of abrasive interactions that have banned you from so many boards. I see no track record of any success and you want to blame me (someone you have only conversed with for a few months) for your 11 years of failure?
Rob – It really isn’t that hard to figure things out.
I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors, Pink.
Rob
That is hard to believe, Rob after all of your threats.
There’s no threat in me saying that I am going to sue you, Pink. It is a statement of intent.
I have gone to lawyers. Why do you think I did that?
I understand that it is odd that the suit has not been filed yet. But that aspect of the matter is out of my control.
Say that there had never been a time when the academic research had seemed to show that Buy-and-Hold could work. Then we would have been good internet buddies, right?
Well, that’s not the way things played out.
There was a time when smart people believed that Buy-and-Hold could work.
There is now a mountain of research showing that that is NOT so. You didn’t know about that research on the morning of May 13, 2002. I did. It hurt your feelings when you came to see that I knew things about stock investing that you did not know.
Not my fault, right?
And no biggie on your end either so long as it went no further than that.
But in the past 11 years it has gone far, far, far beyond that.
My discovery of the errors in the Old School SWR studies has been conformed by a host of the biggest names in the field. And I have done work that has taken the core insight that permitted me to make that discovery to truly amazing places. This is a money field. So those discoveries are worth huge amounts of money to the person who makes them — we are talking many hundreds of millions. And I am the one who made them.
Do you seriously not think I would sue to recover my damages?
I am obviously going to sue you.
The criminal case is a separate matter. That would have to be brought by the appropriate officials. But, again, do you seriously think that criminal charges are not going to be brought following the next crash? Did you pay any attention whatsoever to the Bernie Madoff matter? We are talking about a case of financial fraud 500 times bigger than the Madoff matter. And you think that no charges are going to be brought? Huh? I don’t believe you.
Yes, it’s odd that the charges are not being brought today. I agree with you re that one.
But you know what? There were people who knew about the Madoff fraud long before it was made public. There was a guy who wrote to the SEC about it. They ignored him. People often don’t demand that action be taken re Get Rick Quick schemes until the schemes crash and they have lost their money and are mad about it. It’s the nature of the beast.
Now —
If you don’t want to hear me make these statements of intent, stop reading the darn blog, you know? No one is forcing you. I intend to sue you for a lot of money. But I am not forcing you to read the blog. If you don’t like hearing about the lawsuits, don’t read about them, for heaven’s sake.
If you settle this matter today, before the next crash, there’s a good chance that we can reduce your prison sentence. A good thing for you, right? That opportunity is gone once prices crash. So I am being your true friend in trying to persuade you to do what you need to do to make that happen. No?
No threats here, Pink.
What you have here is a true friend.
I will sue you when the time comes.
But I will always keep the hand of kindness extended.
If you grab it, good for you and me both.
If you elect not to grab it, well, that’s your call, no? I don’t like it. But I accept the reality. What else can I do?
No threats. It’s a money thing. You engaged in illegal tactics that caused me to lose a very large sum of money and I intend to obtain a recovery from you. Re the criminal matter, it has little to do with me. To the extent that I play a role, it is going to be to try to get your sentence reduced. So, again, no threat.
That’s the story here.
My best wishes to you and yours, my old friend.
Rob
If I didn’t wish you the very best, why the heck would I be trying to get your prison sentence reduced?
I mean, come on.
Rob
Rob,
Just more threats from you again as well as continued lies. You do it all to try and scare people, but you notice that it is not working. You also do it to avoid answering questions. By the way, do you have ANY financial credentials (certifications, degrees, etc.)?
Rob,
Is any of this true:
http://retireearlyhomepage.com/rob_bennett_know.html
If so, that won’t look good for you in court. In fact, that is just one link of so many on the internet.
By the way, do you have ANY financial credentials (certifications, degrees, etc.)?
I possess too much love for my readers to agree to sell them out for a lousy buck, Pink.
That’s the most important certification there is in the Buy-and-Hold Era.
That’s the one that all of them there “experts” that brought on this economic crisis lack.
The hand of kindness is extended. It’s not a time-sensitive offer.
Rob
that won’t look good for you in court
A jury will decide the matter, Pink. Not you and not me.
My best to you and yours.
Rob
So, you don’t have any credentials and you don’t want to discuss your own personal track record.
I noticed you have been threatening many, many people with litigation every time they ask you questions you don’t like.
I noticed you avoided my last question. Is any of this true?:
http://retireearlyhomepage.com/rob_bennett_know.html
I reject out of hand your suggestion that honesty is not the most important credential of all, Pink.
Ask the people who were taken in by Madoff whether honesty matters.
Or ask the millions of people who have lost jobs in this economic crisis whether they would prefer it that the Wall Street Con Men talk straight to them.
Honesty matters.
I am sure.
Rob
The idea of generating peer-reviewed academic research and then reporting honestly what that research says is the best idea in the history of investing analysis.
The idea of generating peer-reviewed academic research and then banning the honest reporting of what that research says is the worst idea in the history of investing analysis.
My take.
Rob
I noticed you have been threatening many, many people with litigation
There are many people who will be going to prison as a result of the 11-year cover-up of the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies. That much is certainly so.
But guess what?
The sooner we lift the ban on honest posting, the fewer people go to prison and the shorter the sentences are for those who go.
Now please guess who has been the strongest voice in our community urging that the ban on honest posting be brought to a full and complete stop going back to the morning of May 13, 2002.
It shouldn’t take three guesses for you to come up with a name, Pink.
There are Post Archives.
Rob
Rob,
You are throwing a temper tantrum because you were kicked off 15 websites. Boo hoo.
Rob,
Is any of this true?
http://retireearlyhomepage.com/rob_bennett_know.html
I’m not throwing a temper tantrum, Pink.
I am the person who discovered the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies. Millions of middle-class people need to know about these errors. You have spent 11 years of your life participating in a vicious smear campaign against me and the thousands of fine people who have spoken in support of my right to post honestly because you want to cover up those errors. That’s financial fraud. I don’t want to be involved in any way, shape or form. I am willing to do what I can to see if we can get your prison sentence reduced a bit. But I am not a miracle worker.
My best wishes to you and yours.
Rob
Rob,
I have not been here for 11 years. Only a few months. In that time, I have read plenty and see that you have been making silly comments like these for the past 11 years.
Rob,
Still waiting for your comments on this:
http://retireearlyhomepage.com/rob_bennett_know.html
I of course don’t believe you about the “I’ve only been here a few months” b.s., Pink.
Rob
Still waiting for your comments on this
The article you are pointing to comes from a site owned by John Greaney.
Rob
Its only been a few months Rob. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Rob,
I didn’t ask who owned the site. I asked you if any of it was true.
Hey! It’s possible that one or two things said about me in an article at a John Greaney site are true, Pink.
You can never know for certain, right?
Rob
What points are true and what points are false?
I don’t truly know, Pink.
I haven’t been able to identify any true ones. My guess, though, is that, if I spent enough time on the project, I might be able to come up with one.
You never know, right?
Hey! If I study all the comments you have contributed to this thread closely, I can identify one or two sincere viewpoints expressed. It takes a lot of effort and I need to put on hip boots to get through all the muck to get the job done, but it IS possible to find one or two real items.
I wish you well, man. I think it would be fair to say that Buy-and-Hold has done a MAJOR number on you!
Rob
Rob,
You are just evading an answer. You have read it, so you know what is true and what is not.
Please put me down as saying it is “100 percent false” then, Pink.
I am certain that that is not off by more than a percentage point or two.
Some people just cannot bear it when their friends try to extend the hand of charity to them.
Holy moly!
Rob
So, Rob, you understand that if links could show otherwise, your credibility would be shot, right?
Do you think you might want to reconsider your answer?
John Greaney learned of the errors in his safe withdrawal rate study on the morning of May 13, 2002, Pink.
He has not corrected the study to this day.
That one fact tells any reasonable party all that he or she needs to know about how to assess any statement put forward in John Greaney’s name from May 13, 2002, forward.
It is my intent to continue to post honestly on SWRs and other matters.
I wish you well.
Rob
Rob,
Stop evading.
For so long as you define “telling the truth about the numbers that our fellow community members use to plan their retirements” as “evading,” I will continue to “evade,” Pink.
I have hopes of becoming known far and wide as the greatest “evader” in the history of investing analysis.
If there is anything that you can think of that might help spread the word about my “evasions,” I would be truly grateful.
My best to you.
Rob