“A Market in Which Errors in Retirement Studies Are Not Corrected Is Not a Functioning Market.”

Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:

“In the housing market, sellers make the case for why the price should be high and buyers make the case for why the price should be low. For a transaction to be completed, there has to be a meeting of minds somewhere in the middle. So both the buyer and seller have an incentive to hear out the other guy. So the market is able to function.”

That sounds just like the stock market. People make a case for when they want to sell and people make a case for when they want to buy. Why should someone with a failed retirement be telling a successful person what to do?

It’s not even a tiny bit like the stock market. If someone engages in fraud in the real estate market, they are exposed and people do not buy houses from that person. I pointed out the error in the retirement study posted at John Greaney’s web site 19 years ago (it lacks an adjustment for the valuation level that applies on the day the retirement begins) but it has not been corrected to this day, Huh? what the f?

A market in which errors in retirement studies are not corrected is not a functioning market. Such a market is not capable of getting prices right, which is the core job of any market.

My sincere take.

Rob