Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:
<I>Since you think you know everything and have it all figured out, we will let you just go ahead and solve all your problems on your own. Don’t expect us to give you cheap shares. Don’t expect us to let you come on other boards to sell your hocum. Don’t expect anyone to give you any windfall payments or settlement payments. You just go out there and figure out how to get money on your own. No one owes you one red cent, so stop asking everyone else to do something for you.
Good luck.</I>
I stopped expecting anything positive from you Goons on the afternoon of May 13, 2002, Anonymous.
But I do believe that you should follow the published rules of the sites at which you post. And that you should follow the laws of the United States. And that all community members, Buy-and-Holders and Valuation-Informed Indexers alike, should call you out on it when you fail to do so.
And that it reflects poorly on Buy-and-Hold that you engage in the behavior that you do in “defense” of it. If Buy-and-Hold were something real, other Buy-and-Holders would be horrified to see the manner in which you “defend” it. I would certainly never want to see anyone defend Valuation-Informed Indexing in that manner.
That’s where I’m coming from re this one, in any event.
Rob
If the stated rules of the site included one that indicated that Robert “Hocus” Bennett is not allowed then would you support them?
To gain my support, the site would need to say WHY Rob Bennett is not permitted to participate. If the site stated that “we do not want to see anyone posting honestly re the last 43 years of peer-reviewed research in this field,” it would take the fraud element out of things. I wouldn’t;t personally post at such a site because I am a research-based guy. But I don’t have any problem with people who want that sort of thing having a place to go that makes them happy. I have a big problem with a ban on research-based posting that is not explicitly stated. That’s deception. And I saw that the Motley Fool board that a lot of people can be taken in by that deception because we all have a Get Rich Quick urge within us that causes us to find appeal in that sort of thing.
Rob
No one needs a reason to ban you or anyone else from their website. If I don’t want you in my house I can tell you that you cannot come over. I can even threaten to call the police if you show up. You need to respect the rights of others.
I disagree. When a site owner bans someone solely because that person mentioned what the last 43 years of peer-reviewed research tells us all about what works in stock investing, it is a very strong sign that that site owner does not have the interests of his readers at heart. It helps him to turn a quick buck for him to get behind a pure Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold strategy. But there are things in this world more important than turning a quick buck, in my assessment. Caring what happens to your friends’ retirement accounts is one of them.
Should the tobacco companies have the right to run huge ad campaigns that smoking will help you to live a long, healthy life and to prohibit anyone from mentioning the research showing that smoking causes cancer? I say “no.” I think that the people being pitched have a right to hear about the dangers of smoking. I feel the same way about Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold stock investing “strategies.” I believe that Shiller’s Nobel-prize-winning research is legitimate research. Sue me.
My best wishes to you and yours, Sensible.
Rob
You choose to ignore the REAL reasons for getting kicked off of all those boards. The problem is not with everyone else. It is with you.
I’m bad. Really, really bad.
That’s pretty much it, isn’t it?
Rob
Well, your wife left you because you wouldn’t get a job and people can’t tolerate you on discussion boards. Do you think that makes you a good guy or a bad guy? We should ask those people that felt they had to choice but to make those decisions.
If we had known all along what Shiller showed in his Nobel-prize-winning research, there never would have been a Buy-and-Hold strategy and irrational exuberance would never have gotten so out of control that hearing the realities spoken would upset people.
It’s not like it’s going to get better if we all just keep it zipped re what the research says. The only way out of this mess is to open every discussion board and blog to honest posting re the last 43 years of peer-reviewed research. It’s not optional, it’s 100 percent imperative.
Should we be sympathetic to the investors who fell for the Buy-and-Hold stuff (no market timing now!) and cannot bear to hear that their stock portfolio is worth only 50 percent of what they have been led to believe it is worth? Of course. Obviously. But we shouldn’t continue to keep it zipped. People need to hear both sides of the story. Continuing the cover-up is just going to make things that much worse.
That’s where I’m coming from re this thing, Anonymous. My best wishes to you.
Rob
You can choose to live in a make believe world and stay broke, or you can join all of us in the real world and try to at least salvage some kind of modest retirement. You choose.
My choice is to continue to say that I believe that the retirement study posted at John Greaney’s web site lacks an adjustment for the valuation level that applies on the day the retirement begins. I had developed friendships with a number of my fellow community members at the Motley Fool board during the three years in which I was working up the courage to point out the error in the study.
I naturally wish you all good things.
Rob
I am not sure what you think you will accomplish by playing the same games as you have for the last 20 years. Do you think rational people are suddenly going to join you in your little fantasy just to make you feel better? Do you think they are just going to hand over money to you? Do you think your ex-wife will suddenly come to some conclusion that SHE messed up when she took on 5 jobs and that it was okay for you to just sit at home playing on the computer? Why would all those normal and rational people suddenly lose their minds to be part of your fantasy?
I want to be able to sleep at night. I sincerely believe that the Greaney study lacks a valuation adjustment.
My best wishes to you.
Rob