Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to another blog entry at this site:
Here’s a tip: if absolutely no one agrees with you, you’re wrong. And before you trot out Rosa Parks again, even she had plenty of people on her side in her day.
I don’t have PLENTY of people on my side, X. I have EVERYONE on my side.
I have freakin’ Jack Bogle on my side! It was from Jack that I learned about the errors in the Old School SWR studies. Jack Bogle was John Walter Russell’s favorite investing expert. Bogle is on my side, not yours.
Jack is AFRAID to tell millions of middle-class investors that, oopsie, he made a little mistake that cost them their retirements. He is just like all the rest of us. We are ALL afraid. I was afraid prior to the morning of May 13, 2002, just like Jack is today.
That’s my edge here. We all want the same thing. We are all in this together. Our nation’s laws reflect our common beliefs and our laws come down 100 percent on the side of permitting honest posting at every board and blog on the internet on safe withdrawal rates and scores of other critically important investment-related topics.
It’s all just a question of HOW and WHEN we make the transition from Buy-and-Hold to Valuation-Informed Indexing. The question of whether or not we are going to do this was settled back in 1981. The question today is HOW and WHEN.
I have offered to do everything in my power short of committing a felony myself to help the transition go as easy as possible for all of my Buy-and-Hold friends. I have asked for nothing in return for making that pledge. I have said that that pledge will always remain on the table, that there is nothing ever a tiny bit time-sensitve about it.
It would be pretty darn hard to imagine a kinder and more generous offer than that. No?
Sooner or later, you Goons will accept that offer. Or Jack will. Or Motley Fool will. Or some political blogger will. Or some academic researcher will. Or the New York Times will. Or some investment advisor who wants to become a multi-millionaire will. It is obviously going to happen sooner or later. Something that benefits every person on the planet and that is backed by 33 years of peer-reviewed research and a Nobel Prize is sooner or later going to happen. I mean, come freakin’ on.
It could happen in someone else’s name. That is possible.
But even if it happens in someone else’s name, once it happens the Ban on Honest Posting becomes untenable. So then all the work that I have done at this site gets out. And then my name becomes part of it. Even a small part of this is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. So it is not like I am going to go without huge rewards even if this comes out under someone else’s name.
And, given the level of fear that we have seen, it is more likely to come out in my name than in someone else’s. That obviously pays off even bigger for me.
Are you able to imagine any scenario in which I do not see personal rewards from this greater than the personal rewards experienced by only a handful of the most fortunate people in all of U.S. history? I sure am not. We are talking Bill Gates-type personal rewards. Steve Jobs-type personal rewards. Paul McCartney-type personal rewards. Giancarlo Stanton-type personal rewards.
I am happy to do this by the close of business today. Because that is in the best interests of Rob Bennett and the millions of middle-class investors and the entire blogger community and the Wall Street Con Men and you Goons and all the academic researchers and on and on and on. If you can persuade Jack and the other powerful people behind this 33-year cover-up to close the deal today, I am in, X. I don’t have to think it over for two seconds.
If you cannot close the deal today, my best bet is to wait for tomorrow. No?
And if you can’t close the deal tomorrow, my best bet is to wait for the day after tomorrow. No?
I ain’t freakin’ walking away from a $500 million payday. Would you?
If you don’t want to close to deal until we see the next crash, then you don’t want to close the deal until the next crash. I HATE that idea. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
It’s not my call, is it?
So I will wait.
It’s not like I have any other choices.
We all have to deal the cards we are dealt. These are the cards that I have been dealt. There are some AMAZINGLY great cards in my hand. And there’s this really nasty Goon card mixed in with the amazingly great ones. WhaChaGonDo, you know? I didn’t ask for these cards, either the amazingly great ones or the awful, nasty Goon one. I have played them to the best of my ability, that’s all. I will continue to do that.
And I will also of course always continue to wish you all the best of luck with all your future life endeavors regardless of what investing strategies you elect to pursue.
I sure hope that works for you.
Because I sure cannot see any merit to spending even two seconds considering any other options.
My best wishes to you and yours.
Hang in there, man. It gets better. A LOT better.
Rob
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