Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for one of my columns at the Value Walk site:
Respectful behavior is what is required, Rob.
I have the greatest respect possible for the PEOPLE who advocate Buy-and-Hold, Sammy. I sing their praises all the time. Every Buy-and-Holder whom I have ever met is smart and it appears to me that just about all of them are top-notch people in a more general sense too. The Buy-and-Holders have made huge contributions to our understanding of how stock investing works. I have learned many, many important things from them. I rank Jack Bogle, the king of Buy-and-Hold, as the second most important investment adviser of all time.
I do NOT endorse the strategy. I believe that the strategy needs to be updated to reflect the 36 years of peer-reviewed research showing that valuations affect long-term returns. I believe that the failure to update the strategy has put millions of middle-class retirements at risk of failure and has served as the primary cause of our economic crisis. I advocate Valuation-Informed Indexing, which is Buy-and-Hold updated to incorporate the findings of the last 36 years of peer-reviewed research in this field.
What does that add up to, Sammy? I LOVE the people. I consider them friends. I want to interact in a friendly way with them. But I do not want to pretend in any way that I believe that it is okay not to consider valuations when developing investing strategies. I believe strongly that valuations must always be considered by the long-term investor (since valuations affect long-term returns).
It is my view that I SHOW my respect for my Buy-and-Hold friends by pointing out to them things that I believe they got wrong. I would want my friends to help me out by pointing out my mistakes. So I do for my Buy-and-Hold friends what I would like them to do for me if the tables were turned. So my view is that my behavior is 100 percent respectful.
Is your of what constitutes respectful behavior different from that in some way?
Rob
Laugh says
It’s interesting that you totally missed the point. You may ‘have respect’ but your behavior is completely disrespectful and self destructive.
Rob says
Because I say that Buy-and-Hold was discredited by Shiller’s research, right?
Rob