Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently posted to the discussion thread for another blog entry at this site:
How did that windfall plan work you for you? How many checks have come in so far?
There have not been any financial checks. But there is compensation in the form of good feeling every night when I go to sleep and can reflect that I worked up the courage to point out the error in the Greaney retirement study and that I have been arguing for 23 years that as a nation of people we need to open every site to honest posting re the peer-reviewed research, that we need to advance in our understanding of how stock investing works from where it stood in the pre-Shiller years.
I don’t like the nasty stuff. Not one bit. I have spoken out in opposition to it on thousands of occasions. But what’s the alternative to posting honestly re the research (which is what brings on the nasty stuff)? To say that I now believe that the Greaney study contains a valuation adjustment after all? Is that going to solve the problem?
That’s what caused the problem. The normal things is to discuss research once it is published. Pretending that Shiller’s research doesn’t exist is what causes the problem. Buy-and-Hold is what sells. Valuation-Informed Indexing is what works. If we want to avoid future Buy-and-Hold Crises, we need to make the shift from what sells to what works. Or so Rob Bennett sincerely believes, in any event. you know?
I have not received financial compensation for pointing out the error in the Graney retirement study. THAT’S THE PROBLEM. Discovering errors in retirement studies is a good thing. We should celebrate people working up the courage to point out such errors. The compensation that I received is knowing in my heart that I did not sell out my fellow community members. I would like to receive financial compensation as well. That would be ideal. But never for one second have I considered giving up the good feelings that comes from standing up for my fellow community members in exchange for obtaining the financial compensation available to those who pretend that Shiller’s research does not exist. Yucko, you know?
It’s not all about turning a quick buck. Not in my view. You need to give some consideration to what happens to the people who hear the dangerous advice and are taken in by it. That’s how it is done in every field other than the investment advice field. The way it is done in every other field is what works, in my sincere opinion.
I hope that helps a tiny bit.
Rob
Everyone else has discussed Shiller’s work. You have not. Instead, you are giving out just your opinion, which is actually different than what Shiller said. You then take it a step further by trying to shut down what everyone else says. If you cannot control the message, you will either block it or refuse to even enter into a REAL discussion with everyone else.
Please tell me how Shiller’s research showing that valuations affect long-term returns has changed how you invest in stocks, Anonymous. He was awarded a Nobel prize for that research. So it must change our understanding of how stock investing works in important ways. What changes have you made as a result of what you learned from it?
Rob