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 can log into Empower and get most of my score from their scorecard, “Net Worth” section, any time of the day (some accounts do not sync up). My (incomplete) score is just under $1,086,000 as of right now. I’d have to log into a few other websites to get the full number. This number is much higher than $0 and I still plan to work for another 19 years.
I don’t think you understand how investing works.
I make an adjustment for irrational exuberance and you don’t. I would say that you are the one who doesn’t understand how stock investing works. You invest as if the last 43 years of peer-reviewed research in this field doesn’t exist.
Rob
The stock market is crashing. I am confused. Why aren’t people blaming buy and hold? Why am I and all the other buy and holders not broke? Why isn’t everyone over here seeking out Rob Bennett’s help to save them from disaster? Why aren’t people all begging for Rob’s new book?
It is actually the market timers that are causing this crash. Buy and Holders aren’t selling. They are just buying more shares! Time to get some more!!!!!
Before the world was opened up to widespread discussion of the link between smoking and lung cancer, people who got lung cancer didn’t;t blame smoking. They didn’t;t know. We live in a better world today because people know about this link. And fewer people smoke!
We have the research showing that valuations affect long-term returns. Intellectually, we know how stock investing works, We have known for 43 years now. We need to give ourselves permission to talk about it. Then we won;t see these horrible Buy-and-Hold Crises anymore. Then we will be able to stabilize our stock market. And our economic system. And our political system.
The words “valuations affect long-term returns” signify something. We all need to be talking about what those words signify. They signify that the old way of thinking about stocks, that valuation-based market timing is not 100 percent required for every investor, no longer applies. That we all need to act in our own best interest and that doing so means tuning out the Buy-and-Hold garbage pushed so relentlessly by our Wall Street Con Man friends.
A CAPE value in the 30s doesn’t just happen. We all played a role in permitting that CAPE value to come into play. We all need to look inside to come to understand the Get Rich Quick/Buy-and-Hold impulse that has been making stock investing a thrill ride for as long as the stock market has been in existence (something it no longer needs to be in the post-Shiller era). It’s not all about turning a quick buck. What happens in the long run to the human lives affected matters too.
My sincere take.
Rob
It is actually the market timers that are causing this crash. Buy and Holders aren’t selling. They are just buying more shares! Time to get some more!!!!!
If you buy more shares when prices drop, that’s valuation-based market timing. Buy-and-Holders are price indifferent. They stay at the same stock allocation regardless of the price level. That’s the entire problem. That’s why we see bull markets and bear markets and economic collapses. We need to be telling people to tune out the smelly Buy-and-Hold garbage pushed so relentlessly by our Wall Street Con Man friends and to increase their stock allocation when prices are low while decreasing it when prices are high, That’s the common-sense, research-based Valuation-Informed Indexing strategy, That’s the strategy that permits honest reporting of the safe withdrawal rates so that aspiring early retirees can engage in effective financial planning.
My best wishes, etc,
Rob
We have all talked about the research, Rob. We just don’t agree with you. Deal with it and move on.
10 percent of the population of investors agree with me. I want to see that percentage grow over time. For that to happen, I need to get every site opened to honest posting re the last 43 years of peer-reviewed research in this field. There is no other way that it could ever happen. I mean, come on.
Rob