Set forth below is the text of an e-mail that I sent on December 19, 2018, to Annie Lowrey, author of the book Give People Money:
Annie:
My name is Rob Bennett. Thanks for your friendly “say hi on annie@theatlantic.com” message at Twiiter. I see it as one of the big pluses of the internet that it permits communication with the authors of articles. But most people seem to discourage contacts (I understand why, but still…) I was reading something else at the Atlantic and ended up at your Twitter feed and saw that message and felt that I had to send you a note.
I have added your book “Give People Money” to my Wish List at Amazon. I cannot promise to read it just because I rarely find time to read books anymore. But I love the topic and I am sure that it would answer some of my questions about it (or at least cause me to think harder). I very much approve of the concept. I have reservations, though, that I know a lot of people share that it would undermine people’s self-respect for them to cover their costs of living through means other than their own work effort. I have a friend who is active in the Catholic Worker Movement. We had a long conversation about the guaranteed income concept. He was enthusiastic about it (and he is a very smart and kind person — my favorite type!).
I have attached an article (“Buy-and-Hold Is Dangerous” that I wrote on my own pet issue. I completely understand if you are not able to read it. People either are interested in this topic or they are not. And the article is long. I can promise, though, that it tells a story that you have not heard before and one that is likely to have great impact on millions of ordinary people. I am a reporter too and I see this as the biggest story that I have ever come upon. On the one hand, that makes it irresistible to me because I want to be the one to help people re this matter. On the other hand, it makes it very hard to get the word out because people wonder why they haven’t heard about the matter before. Whachagonnado?
Read it if you like but only if it pulls you in within about three paragraphs. If you do take the time, please let me know your reaction. That would be super.
My best and warmest wishes to you.
Rob
I am sure Annie made this a priority read and that this is another major advancement for VII. In fact, this puts Rob Bennett at the one yard line of the Big Black Mountain stadium. Once across the goal line, dollar bills will come showering down, leaving a pile of crisp Benjamin’s that add up to $500 million big one’s. This one email finally did it.
I have a funny feeling that it won’t land me in a prison cell in the days following the next price crash, Anonymous. That puts me a nice 500 million miles up on any of you Goons.
Re the rest, we will all just have to wait a bit to see how things play out. I entertain high hopes because I have seen my country do so many great things during my 62 years of walking this big old goofy planet. But time will tell the tale.
My best and warmest wishes to you and yours, dear friend.
Benjamin
I have a funny feeling that you goon prison fantasy is pure B.S.
Okay, Anonymous.
I do wish you all good things, in any event.
Rob
I have a funny feeling you will be doing the same thing you are doing now, with the same lack of results.
I don’t exactly have any choice, do I?
What would you have me do, pretend that I believe that Greany included a valuation adjustment in his retirement study? Then, in the event that stocks continue to perform as they have for the past 150 years, I go to prison too. Um — no thanks, you know?
No one knows the future. I have a choice between saying that I believe that valuations will continue to affect long-term returns and to have you Goons continue your Campaign of Terror against me and against any site that permits honest posting or saying that I believe that it is not necessary to practice price discipline when buying stocks and risk getting sent to prison for financial fraud in the days following the next price crash.
I’m going with Door Number One, Anonymous. Call me madcap. But I enjoy being able to sleep at night. I enjoy being able to take a look at the man in the mirror and to not feel a need to run and hide.
I wish you all the best that this life has to offer a person. But there are limits, you know? I mean, please give me a freakin’ break.
Mirror Man Rob
“I don’t exactly have any choice, do I?”
Of course you have a choice. You can get a job and earn money. That’s better than making up stories and expecting free money.
Getting paid for exposing the biggest case of financial fraud in the history of the United States is not collecting free money, Anonymous.
Jack Bogle had doubts about Buy-and-Hold. He wrote in his book that reversion to the mean is an iron law of stock investing. The safe withdrawal rate cannot possibly be the same number at all valuation levels if reversion to the mean is an iron law of stock investing. But did Bogle stand up to you Goons and insist that honest posting on safe withdrawal rates be permitted at every investing site on the internet? He did not. That’s why I earned the $500 million and he did not.
It’s the same with Bill Bernstein. And with Larry Swedroe. And with Carl Richards. And with Michael Kitces. And with Bill Shulthies. And with Wade Pfau. And with scores and scores of others. All of these people have made clear in their writings that they understand that there is 38 years of peer-reviewed research showing that valuations affect long-term returns. But have they stood up to you Goons to the extent needed to open every discussion board and blog to honest posting re the last 38 years of peer-reviewed research in this field. They have not.
When I open up every site to honest posting all of those people and thousands of others will be able to share with us all what they truly believe about how stock investing works. We will see the biggest economic advance in our nation’s history. Did I have to take a lot of hits to make it happen. I sure did. You know what? Every hit that I take convinces me that much more that someone has to be willing to take these hits and thereby get the job done. When Wade Pfau agreed to post dishonestly to get you Goons off his back, he made it worse for all the rest of us. He made everyone else who has given thought to posting honestly that much more afraid to take the leap. I am playing it the other way. I am showing everyone else that it can be done. If everyone else had played it the way that I am playing it going back to 1981, we wouldn’t be in the mess that we are in today. If everyone had played it the way that I am playing it since 1981, you Goons wouldn’t be looking forward to prison terms today. Pretty darn cool alternative scenario, huh?
I post honestly or I post not. I do not believe that John Greaney included a valuation adjustment in the retirement study that he posted to his web site. I didn’t believe that on the morning of May 13, 2002, and I don’t believe it today and I won’t believe it 17 billion years from today in the event that I am still kicking that long.
Deal with it.
My best and warmest wishes to you and yours.
500 Million-Dollar Man Rob (and Well Deserving of It Too!)
“Getting paid for exposing the biggest case of financial fraud in the history of the United States is not collecting free money, Anonymous.”
Since it is all made up, here is what you do. Go to the closet and get out the monopoly game. Take out the Monopoly money and pay yourself, because all you have earned is play money.
Seriously, all you needed to do is get a real job that pays a salary. Instead, you wasted a good part of your life.
Okay, Anonymous.
I do wish you all good things, in any event.
I hope that that helps at least a tiny bit.
Monopoly Money Rob
“Deal with it.”
De with it? Why? I am not the one with the failed retirement. You are the one with your hand out waiting for free money for nothing.
Makes sense.
Truly outstanding!
Failed Retirement Man Rob, Money-for-Nothing Man Rob
“Makes sense.”
If only you made sense.
I think it makes all the sense in the world to stay on the right side of the felony line, Anonymous. I live in the United States and I love the United States. So I follow the laws of the United States.
I don’t see a valuation adjustment in Greaney’s retirement study. And thousands of other people who have looked at it over the course of the past 17 years haven’t been able to find one either. So I tell people who are thinking about planning their retirements according to what the study says that it lacks a valuation adjustment. It makes perfect sense to do that if you care about your fellow community members.
Death threats don’t make sense. Demands for unjustified board bannings don’t make sense. Thousands of acts of defamation don’t make sense. Threats to get academic researchers fired from their jobs don’t make sense. When things get to a point where the only way you can think of to defend the investment strategy that you follow is to engage in criminal acts, it’s time to start looking into some new investment strategies.
That’s my sincere take re these terribly important matters, in any event.
My best and warmest wishes to you and yours.
Sensible Rob
Making up stories about felonies doesn’t make sense. Making up death threats doesn’t make sense. Making up job threats doesn’t make sense.
Banning misbehavior from boards makes sense.
Okay, Anonymous.
I do wish you all the best that this life has to offer a person in any event.
Take good care, man.
Misbehaving (For 17 Years Now!) Rob
At least you have been paid what you are worth.
I wish you all good things, Anonymous.
Rob
I am going to Disney World this summer, Rob. Can I look you up when I get to Fantasyland?
This is Buy-and-Hold, folks.
Rob