“This Is Bigger Than Watergate. What Do You Think Most People Care More About — Who Is President or Whether Their Retirement Goes Bust or Not?

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

“ If my work did not have great value, Wade Pfau would never have concluded that: “Yes, Virginia, Valuation-Informed Indexing works!”

If my work did not have great value, we never would have seen thousands of our fellow community members put their lives on the line by saying that they love my stuff and that they believe that I should be permitted to post honestly.

If my work did not have great value, Rob Arnott would not have said that my stuff checks out and that he hoped that I would stick to my guns.

If my work did not have great value, John Bogle would never have advanced a post in which he acknowledged that he could see circumstances in which market timing would produce good results (he had earlier said that he did not think market timing could work).

If my work did not have great value, you Goons would never have committed a single criminal act to keep people from being exposed to it.”

None of that is work. It is a bunch of made up crap. Why didn’t you do something to make money?

I am a journalist and I am involved today in the most important journalism project of my lifetime. This is bigger than Watergate. Do you know how much money the Washington Post has made as a result of Watergate. It put them on the map as one of the most important papers in the United States and they have been making money from having that reputation ever since.

Well, this is bigger. Watergate brought down a President. What do you think most people care more about — who is President or whether their retirement goes bust or not? The vast majority care more about their retirement surviving. This is Issue #1 for most people. And we have had leading figures in the field show that they very much want to tell the truth about the matters but they are too afraid of what you Goons will do to them if they do so to do it. John Bogle is a giant in this field. He put up a post at Bogleheads saying that he could see how market timing could work in some circumstances. This is a guy who has said on hundreds of occasions that market timing doesn’t work. In ordinary circumstances, that would be front-page news in every newspaper in the country. But Bogle was too scared of Lindauer to say it on more than one occasion. So the cover-up remained in place even with the leading advocate of Buy-and-Hold implicitly acknowledging that it is all a big pile of smelly garbage.

An investment strategy that cannot get the numbers that people use to plan their retirements right is an investment strategy that needs to be buried 30 feet in the ground where it can do no further harm to humans and other living things. Fair enoughh?

That’s certainly my sincere take re this terribly important matter.

I’m with Bogle. We should all be looking at the peer-reviewed research for guidance. Both the peer-reviewed research from 1980 and before AND the peer-reviewed research from 1981 forward. That’s Valuation-Informed Indexing. It sure ain’t Buy-and-Hold. It’s the OPPOSITE of Buy-and-Hold. The entire point of looking at the peer-reviewed research is to AVOID the trap of falling for Get Rich Quick approaches.

Stay the Course! (in a meaningful way, NOT in the Buy-and-Hold way)

Rob