Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to another blog entry at this site:
And yet you became, as you proudly proclaim, “the most hated man on the internet”. One doesn’t gain such a title without generous amounts of antisocial behavior, no?
My stuff causes great pain to large numbers of people, Anonymous. That is a stone cold fact.
I am a journalist. The job as a journalist is to tell the truth, not to be popular.
Woodward and Bernstein are recognized as two of the most important journalists of my lifetime. Do you think that their stuff always made people feel good? It did not. Nixon won reelection in a landslide in 1972. There were millions of people who wanted to believe in him and who didn’t want to believe that members of his Administration had committed crimes. There was a time when Woodward and Bernstein were two of only three journalists working the Watergate story (the other was a guy at the New York Times). Lots of people saw no profit in bringing people down with all this obstruction of justice stuff. Still, they soldiered on. They did their job.
Valuation-Informed Indexing is a huge advance. It turns stock investing into a virtually risk-free endeavor. If people were capable of being objective about this, there wouldn’t be one person opposed to the advance. The only problem we have is that Buy-and-Hold came first. Because that’s so, lots of people experience hurt feelings when they hear what the last 33 years of peer-reviewed research says. They scream out “Make that stop! I cannot bear to hear that!”
But is that really how they feel deep down inside?
I don’t think so. I believe that Bogle was sincere when he said that using the peer-reviewed research as a guide is a good idea. I am just following his lead, taking his ideas where they go if you do not refuse to follow them once following them puts you in circumstances where you are required to acknowledge a mistake.
It is true that I became for a time the most hated blogger on the internet. I don’t think that I am quite that today. Views have softened since the 2008 crash. But there are still people who dislike me. There are people who love me to death. That’s been so going back to Day One. But there are also still people who feel a strong dislike for me. I don’t think that Mike Piper was lying when he told me that he had readers telling him that they would abandon his blog if he did not ban me there. I think that really happened. I think that that’s an important fact that people need to know.
Is it anti-social behavior to report accurately and honestly what the last 33 years of peer-reviewed research says re what works in stock investing in the long term? I sure don’t think so. I think it is the most pro-social thing that a person could possibly do. We are the luckiest generation of investors who ever walked Planet Earth. If we gave ourselves permission to post honestly, we could overnight reduce stock investing risk by nearly 70 percent while increasing our returns enough for us all to retire five to ten years sooner than we ever before imagined possible. That’s anti-social? Huh?
It depends on how you use the word.
My behavior is “anti-social” if you define the word as “upsetting large numbers of people in a serious way.” That’s not a crazy definition of “anti-social.” And I am guilty of that. Large numbers of people really are upset by my stuff in a deep and serious way. I can acknowledge that much.
But they wouldn’t be upset AT ALL if they could appreciate the full story. If they could see how much richer their lives would be (in every sense of the word) if we they came to understand the implications of the past 33 years of peer-reviewed research, I would be the most popular poster on the internet. I want to bring things around to that place. I want people to see me as a teacher and a friend and a helper, not some nasty guy who is making them feel bad by telling them that their retirement plans are going to fail.
How do we get to that place?
We don’t get there by me shutting up or by me agreeing to write one-sentence responses to the questions that people direct to me or by me agreeing to only post once per week or once per day or once per thread even when my fellow community members ask me ten questions about VII in the posts that I put to some threads.
We need to find some way to get the word about Valuation-Informed Indexing out to the millions of middle-class investors who very, very, very much need to know about it.
If doing that means that for a time I become the most hated blogger on Planet Internet, then so be it, you know? I don’t like it. But these are the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I didn’t create these circumstances. I need to deal with them to the best of my ability. It’s been 33 years now that we have been covering up the greatest advance in the history of investing analysis. I cannot believe that it is a good idea for me to permit that to become 34 years because I am not willing to accept whatever abuse gets laid on me because I am the first to speak plainly and boldly and honestly about what the last 33 years of peer-reviewed research tells us.
In my definition of “anti-social,” there would have to be some INTENT to upset people. I have zero such intent. My intent is to HELP people live richer lives. 100 percent. So, no, I don’t think that it takes anti-social behavior for one to become the most hated blogger on the internet. In most cases, it would. But in the odd circumstances that apply in the investing realm today, posting honestly about the biggest advance in the history of personal finance will make you the most hated blogger on the internet even if your sole intent is to help millions of people live richer lives.
That’s my sincere take re this matter in any event, Anonymous.
I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors regardless of what investing strategies you elect to pursue.
Rob
Heywood Jablome says
Rob Bennett is anti-social? Really?
Rob says
The job is to be anti-social, Heywood.
All of us humans are drawn to Pretend Money/Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold.
The honest investment advisor points out the downside of going pure GRQ/BH. The honest investment advisor shows people how much better off they will be in the long run by taking what the peer-reviewed research shows into consideration.
The idea is not to win a popularity context. The idea is to help people retire early.
In the long run, you’ll win a popularity contest anyhow. But you can’t help people if all you think about is being popular. It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.
Rob
Anonymous says
RED ALERT….RED ALERT
Michael Kitces has an article out on SWR’s and it seems that not only that 4% is a good SWR, you might end up building more wealth with a 4% SWR.
https://www.kitces.com/blog/the-ratcheting-safe-withdrawal-rate-a-more-dominant-version-of-the-4-rule/
Does this mean he is committing fraud???
You better set him straight, Rob.
Rob says
That’s a super article, Anonymous. The ratcheting concepts makes perfect sense and in some circumstances could be a powerful tool for helping the retiree to make more efficient use of his assets.
Michael is wrong to make 4 percent the default withdrawal percentage. The withdrawal percentage obviously changes depending on the valuation level that applies at the beginning of the retirement. At moderate valuation levels, it will be something close to 4. At high valuation levels, it can be 2 or less. At low valuations, it can go as high as 9.
But it makes perfect sense to ratchet up the initial withdrawal rate after time passes and the portfolio does not take a big hit. It is early hits that cause retirement failures. If you happen to enjoy a number of years without a big hit, your retirement has grown more safe and you can safely move to a somewhat higher withdrawal rate.
This is very cool stuff.
Michael is committing fraud only in his failure to focus on the valuation issue, the issue that Buy-and-Holders do not like to see people discuss. He is adding great value with his exploration of the ratcheting issue, in my assessment.
Thanks much for letting us all know about this important article. I will write next week’s Value Walk column about it.
Rob
Anonymous says
“Michael is committing fraud only in his failure to focus on the valuation issue”
Wow, so he is one of the good ones — just a *little* fraud, eh?
He might get off with only, what, five years at hard labor, King Rob?
Anonymous says
5 years is not enough. Throw the book at him, Rob.
Rob says
Michael is certainly one of the good ones, Anonymous. That comes through clearly in my extensive e-mail correspondence with him, which I reported on at this blog. Michael is a hero to the middle class because of the hugely important work that he has done in this field, in my assessment.
I don’t know whether he will get a prison sentence or whether he will be sued by investors who are done harm because of his failure to speak openly and honestly about what he knows re valuations. The millions of middle-class investors who will be suffering losses of a big portion of their life savings in the next price crash will determine that. It’s not for me to say.
To the extent that I have any input on the matter, I will of course be arguing for people to be as understanding of Michael’s bad decisions as possible. I will be doing the same for you Goons, as you know. If I am going to work to help you Goons out, I think it would be fair to say that it would be insane for me not to help Michael out. I have a lot more sympathy for Michael than I have for you Goons. He has done a lot more good for people than you Goons ever have. No?
Please remember that I cannot help anyone if I lose credibility re these matters by posting dishonestly myself. One of the reasons why I am so firm on that point is that I want to be in a position to help people like Michael, for whom I have the greatest respect. I don’t have the greatest respect for you Goons. But I do want to help you. I do believe that you got into something much bigger than you planned to get into and I do not believe that the great harm that you have done was entirely your fault. When you hear me repeat once again that I will not be committing any felonies under the laws of the United States, please remember that my refusal to commit felonies may well help get your prison sentence reduced a bit in coming days.
Anyway, Michael is an imperfect creature, like all of us (I too advocated Buy-and-Hold strategies once upon a time). He has also done a lot of amazing work that we will all be reaping the benefits of for many, many years to come.
That’s my sincere take re the matter, in any event.
My best and warmest wishes to you.
Rob
Rob says
5 years is not enough. Throw the book at him, Rob.
My intent is to extend the hand of kindness to him just as I have extended it to you Goons, Anonymous.
I recorded a RobCast back in 2009 with the title “Love Is the Answer.”
That one hit it on the head.
I am sure.
Rob