A Rich Life

The Old Ideas on Saving & Investing Don't Work -- Here's What Does

“The Research That I Did With Wade Pfau Shows Millions How to Retire Five to Ten Years Sooner Than Is Possible With Buy-and-Hold Strategies. If Each of 100 Million People Has Been Willing to Spend Just $1 for Each Year of Financial Freedom Provided to Them By That Research, That Would Have Been $500 Million in My Pocket.”

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Set forth below is the text of a comment that I recently put to a blog entry at this site:

You haven’t suffered $500 million worth of damages.

I’ve suffered far more than $500 million in losses as a result of the Campaign of Terror, Evidence.

The research that I did with Wade is Nobel Prize-level work. It shows millions of middle-class investors how to reduce the risk of stock investing by 70 percent and how to retire five to ten years sooner than they ever imagined possible following Buy-and-Hold strategies.

If each of 100 million people were willing to spend just $1 for each year by which they could retire early, that’s more than $500 million in my pocket as a result of just a single article.

I of course did a lot more than publish that single article over the past 11 years.

Obama spent trillions trying to get us out of the economic crisis. My work showed us how to avoid the crisis in the first place. Those insights obviously have a value in the trillions.

And my effort to open the internet up to honest posting on investing topics would permit hundreds or even thousands of academic researchers to do honest work for the first time. There is no price that can be put on the ability for these people to win back their personal integrity.

I am willing to settle for $500 million so long as this amount is paid prior to the next crash. It makes sense for me to do all I can to keep us out of the Second Great Depression. But never am I going to pretend that the value of the work I have put forward during the past 11 years is not much, much higher than the $500 million figure for which I am prepared to settle so long as the amount is paid in time to prevent the next big deepening of the economic crisis.

I wish you all good things, old friend.

Rob

“I’m Ready for the Lawsuits to Begin Today. Give It Your Best Shot. If the Wall Street Con Men Have Sufficient Pull That They Can Get Someone Sent to Prison for the ‘Crime’ of Having Discovered the Errors in the Old School Safe Withdrawal Rate Studies, It’s Not Like There Is Anything That I Can Do About It.”

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

There are limits to what one can be expected to put up with before taking action against such malicious, groundless, and willful defamation.

I’m ready for the lawsuits to begin today, Banned.

Give it your best shot.

If the Wall Street Con Men have sufficient pull that they can get someone sent to prison for the “crime” of having discovered the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies, then the Wall Street Con Men have sufficient pull that they can get someone sent to prison for the “crime” of having discovered the errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies. It’s not like there is anything that I can do about it.

I have said numerous times that I would prefer the death penalty to agreeing to post dishonestly on the numbers that my friends use to plan their retirements. So you know all you need to know to know how to proceed.

So proceed. I certainly cannot stop you.

If you do NOT proceed, I certainly will report that you made the threat and failed to follow through. You can count on that much.

The more threats you fail to honor, the less people will be afraid of you.

I think it would be fair to say that we are all in the process of watching the Buy-and-Hold Mafia die before our very eyes.

Good.

I think that’s wonderful.

I think it would be fair to say that these are the sorts of individuals that Dylan had in mind when he wrote his song “Masters of War.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ElaYPo8B90

Rob, the Fellow Who Will Stand Over the Grave of the Buy-and-Hold Mafia Until He Is Sure That It Is Dead

“The Prison Sentences That Will Be Announced If Bogle Gives His Speech Today Will Obviously Be Many Fewer and Much Shorter in Duration Than the Prison Sentences That Will Be Announced If Bogle Gives His Speech Following the Next Price Crash.”

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

Quick question, Rob. In your land of make believe, how many people will be going to jail?

I cannot say how many will go to prison, Pink.

The vast majority of people who believe in Buy-and-Hold are suffering from cognitive dissonance. I could hardly say otherwise. I was a Buy-and-Holder myself on the morning of May 13, 2002. So was John Walter Russell. So was Wade Pfau when I first connected with him.

For the behavior of a Buy-and-Holder to become a criminal act of financial fraud, it has to involve some sort of outrageous act that our society is not willing to say is justified by the confusion suffered by those experiencing cognitive dissonance. Putting forward death threats or supporting people who put forward death threats obviously fit the bill. Putting forward tens of thousands of acts of defamation obviously fits the bill. Demanding that someone be banned from a board solely because he posted honestly on SWRs obviously fits the bill. Banning someone from a site because he exposes the flaws of your investment advice fits the bill. Threatening an academic researcher fits the bill.

Not every person who is guilty of financial fraud in an objective sense is going to be prosecuted. Prosecutors need to make judgment calls. They will listen to public opinion in doing so. This is why I stress the importance of you Goons coming clean prior to the next price crash. People will be very angry following the next crash. Behavior that would be viewed as acceptable prior to the next crash will not be viewed as acceptable following the next crash.

There is no way to say precisely what is going to happen. We have never experienced anything like this before. We are in entirely uncharted waters re this matter.

My job is to keep the country from tearing itself apart. That’s one of the reasons why I want to keep the prison sentences as limited as possible. Our focus should be on the good news. We are the luckiest generation of investors who ever walked the face of Planet Earth. When people see how lucky we are, their anger will dissipate. The more we all focus on the good stuff, the better off we all are.

This is why I need to do everything I can to see that the prison sentences are announced as soon as possible. The prison sentences that will be announced if Bogle gives his speech today will obviously be many fewer and much shorter in duration than the prison sentences that will be announced if Bogle gives his speech following the next price crash. So we all need to be working together to see that Bogle gives his speech as soon as is humanly possible. Jack will obviously feel compelled to say some words once the prison sentences are announced. So getting some prison sentences announced quickly would be a huge plus for every single person caught up in these matters (and that’s everyone alive on Planet Earth today).

I guess that the one thing that I can say with certainty is that the number of prison sentences there will be increases with each day that as a society we delay correction of the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies.

I hope that helps a bit, Pink.

Rob, the Fellow Rooting for Prompt Announcement of the Prison Sentences (and for a Quick Shift in Focus From Prison Sentences to All the Wonderful Stuff We Have Learned About How Stock Investing Works Over the Past 11 Years)

Greaney Goon to Rob: “Your Communication Is Often Abrasive and Your Behavior Is Horrible. You Make Outrageous Claims As to What You Have Accomplished Despite Contrary Evidence and Then Compare Yourself to Well-Known Historical Figures.”

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Set forth below is the text of a comment that one of the Greaney Goons put to another blog entry at this site:

Rob,

Here are just a few reason why your website is not successful:

You can’t back up your statements with facts (linking to your own comments are not facts)

When faced with facts that are documented by others that you do not agree with, you ignore them or delete the posts.

Your communication is often abrasive and your behavior is horrible.

You make silly unfounded threats, such as lawsuits and prison time, which make people conclude that you are a crackpot.

You make outrageous claims as to what you say you have accomplished, despite contrary evidence and then compare yourself to well known historical figures.

Everything to you is a made up conspiracy theory, when the fact remains that you have been shunned due to your behavior. There are people posting everyday that have disagreements and banning does not take place. Your behavior led people to have no other choice but to ban you.

You lack any personal success or track record.

You make long winded replies repeating the same nonsense over and over again, yet ignore any response.

You have caused extensive harm to many people, but most notably, Wade. You lack any morals or ethics in which your personal campaign trumps the ability of Wade to have a normal life on the Internet.

“J.D. Roth Never Told the Truth About What the Last 32 Years of Peer-Reviewed Academic Research Says About What Works in Stock Investing. Thus, He Never Earned the Undying Hate of The Buy-and-Hold Mafia. I Have. In Spades.”

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Set forth below is the text of a comment that I put to another blog entry at this site:

J.D. Roth started his Get Rich Slowly blog in April 2006

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/archives/

At first there was almost no traffic. Most blog posts had no comments. But he continued to provide quality content and over time his audience grew. The income he received from his blog enabled him to cut back his regular job and then give it up completely.

Over time he grew the blog to a point where he could sell it for what seems to have been a large sum of money.

The message is clear. Provide a quality product and you will build an audience.

Your blog seems to have started around the same time.

http://arichlife.passionsaving.com/2005/10/

But you have never grown your audience.

J.D. didn’t have the Buy-and-Hold Mafia working full time trying to hold him back, Evidence.

He didn’t have people directing death threats at him and at any of his fellow bloggers who happened to link to him. He didn’t have people demanding that he be banned from any sites at which he posted comments or guest blog entries. He didn’t have people advancing tens of thousands of acts of defamation against him. He didn’t have people threatening any academic researchers who produced wonderful research with him that they would be fired from their jobs if they ever again dared to do honest work.

In short — J.D. never told the truth about what the last 32 years of peer-reviewed academic research says about what works in stock investing. Thus, he never earned the undying hate of The Buy-and-Hold Mafia. I have. In spades.

J.D. has achieved a lot of success. Do you know what it means following the next price crash, when our economy falls into the Second Great Depression?

It means zero. J.D.’s money won’t be worth anything if our economic system collapses and then our political system collapses.

My success is a lasting success.

All I need is for a few patriotic people in this field to join together to protect each other from you Goons and I will have the #1 site on the internet.

I’m looking for lasting success, not a quick buck that disappears with the next price crash.
‘
I like J.D. very much and I think he has done wonderful work. But I think he made a mistake when he did not stand up to you Goons.

I think he will see that following the next crash. But at that time millions of middle-class investors will have seen their hopes of someday being able to retire disappear. That makes me very sad.

I love J.D. and I love his site.

But I wouldn’t trade what I have built here for 50 sites of the quality of J.D.’s site.

The most important issue before us all today is the economic crisis. My site shows us how to overcome the crisis and enter the greatest period of economic growth ever seen in our history. Countless good things follow when we do that. Nothing good follows if we fail to do it.

And we cannot do it without working up the courage to stand up to you Goons and your Wall Street Con Men friends.

I wish you well, Evidence.

Rob, the J.D. Roth Fan (But the Even Bigger Fan of the Idea of Ending the Economic Crisis and Moving to the Greatest Period of Economic Growth Ever Seen in Our History)

Rob Bennett’s Response to a Goon Claim that “We See Time and Again by Countless Studies That Market Timing Has Been a Failure” — “Please Show Me the URL of ONE.”

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

We see time and again by countless studies that market timing has been a failure.

Please show me the URL of one.

Wade has a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton. He spent a good deal of time trying to find ONE legitimate study showing that long-term timing is not required. He found nothing.

This so shocked him that he did not trust his own finding. He went to the Bogleheads Forum and asked if anyone there was aware of a single study showing that there is no need to engage in long-term timing. Not one member of that community had ever heard of a single such study.

Not John Bogle.

Not Bill Bernstein.

Not Larry Swedroe.

Not RIck Ferri.

Not anyone.

Rob, the Fellow Who Sees a Subtle Difference Between There Being “Countless” Studies Showing Something and There Being “Zero” Studies Showing That Something

“Have You Asked My Good Friend Jack Bogle to Comment On That Study [the Bennett/Pfau Research Showing That Long-Term Timing Is Always Required]? How Could Learning Something Hurt You or Jack?”

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

We see time and again by countless studies that market timing has been a failure. The market is unpredictable and we can see that is the case for you as well. Look how long you have been telling everyone about a market crash and we see that you have been wrong. If you really were able to predict the market, you would be one of the wealthiest people alive today. Stop peddling you get rich quick scheme.

Every word of your comment is false, Pink.

Wade Pfau and I published peer-reviewed academic research SHOWING in very compelling terms that it is false. Your response was to threaten to send defamatory e-mails to Wade’s employer in an effort to get him fired from his job if he continued publishing research showing the dangers of Buy-and-Hold strategies.

Have you asked my good friend Jack Bogle to comment on that study?

If not, why not?

If you are afraid to show the study to Jack Bogle, why are you afraid?

How can learning something ever hurt you?

How can learning something ever hurt Jack?

If you are afraid to show the study to Jack and to listen to his reaction, all of the words you have heard promoting Buy-and-Hold have not been enough to make you confident inside that this strategy will work in the long term.

That’s not good, Pink.

True and legitimate and scientific research inspires confidence.

Mumbo-jumbo marketing garbage obviously does not.

Rob, the Fellow Who Dislikes Mumbo-Jumbo Marketing Garbage As Much As He Likes True and Legitimate and Scientific Research

“The Problem Here Is Not My Tone, Which Suggests a Massive Cover-Up. The Problem Here Is the Massive Cover-Up. We Are Looking at the Most Massive Case of Financial Fraud Ever Experienced in Our Nation’s History.”

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

So Rob is there any chance you are going to take his advice and start behaving and communicating like an adult? It seems he is about the 100th person to tell you that you need to modulate your behavior.

You are correct that many people have offered me similar advice, Trebor.

No, there is zero chance that I am going to change the tone I use.

Please read carefully what Robert says. He refers to my “Sensational/scandalist” tone. He says that does not win people over.

He is right.

So why do I stick with that tone?

To understand the answer, you have to ask yourself WHY such a tone does not win people over.

It doesn’t win people over because most people know from experience that those using a sensational/scandalist tone are not shooting straight.

I am shooting straight.

The problem here is not my tone, which suggests a massive cover-up. The problem here is the massive cover-up.

We are looking at criminal acts of financial fraud.

We are looking at the most massive case of financial fraud ever experienced in our nation’s history.

I am speaking out AGAINST it. I am saying that responsible people should have begun taking steps back on May 13, 2002, or, at the very latest, on August 27, 2002, when Greaney made his first death threats.

I will continue posting honestly.

I will also of course continue incorporating charity and compassion and kindness in all my posts.

The rule that I follow is to be as honest as possible without crossing the line and becoming uncharitable while also being as charitable as possible without crossing the line and becoming dishonest.

I hope that helps a bit, my old friend.

Rob the Charitable (And Honest!)

“How Much Help Has Bogle Offered? Or Bernstein? Or Swedroe? Or Ferri? This Is Not a One-Man Job. The Stock-Selling Industry Has Spent Hundreds of Millions Promoting Buy-and-Hold. I Need a Few Hundred Million Working Things From the Other Side of the Table.”

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

Yes, those attacks, like threats of jail time and lawsuits, are really disturbing and should not be tolerated.

If I could wave a magic wand in the air and make the lawsuits go away, I would do it, Pink. It is not in my power to do this thing.

I care about you Goons. But you Goons are not the only ones I care about.

I also care about the millions of middle-class investors whose lives you have destroyed.

You need to think about what we are going to do about those people.

I can tell you the smart thing to do.

The smart thing is to focus on the positive. The research that I did with Wade shows us how to reduce the risk of stock investing by 70 percent. That’s the biggest advance in the history of personal finance. That changes capitalism in a fundamental way.

Everyone benefits. Women and men. Black and white. Republicans and Democrats. Old and young. Buy-and-Holders and Valuation-Informed Indexers.

It is advances of that nature that have made our nation the envy of the world for many years. It is advances of that nature that pull us all together and make us all happy and proud to be Americans.

The longer we delay telling the millions of middle-class investors whose lives have been destroyed about this advance, the better off we are all are. Every single one of us.

I have been saying over and over and over again for 11 years now that we should be sharing what we have learned together with everyone, that we should be working to get this all written up on the front-page of the New York Times.

How much help have you offered me?

How much help has Bogle offered?

Or Bernstein? Or Swedroe? Or Ferri?

This is not a one-man job. The Stock-Selling Industry has spent hundreds of millions promoting Buy-and-Hold. I need a few hundred million working things from the other side of the table.

Do I care whether you go to prison or not if we get the word out on the first truly research-based investing strategy?

Why the heck would I care? It’s a trivial matter to me. If you want a piece of paper with my name on it recommending against prison sentences, I will sign it.

But do you think that’s going to do the trick?

That’s the rub.

I don’t believe that there are any words that I can say that will do the trick at this point in the proceedings.

If you have something that you want me to say, I will say it. But I will not make false promises to you. That would be cruel. I have to say what I believe. There’s no other way to play it.

I am certain re one point. Whatever prison sentence we are talking about today, we are talking about a much longer prison sentence if this all comes out following the next price crash, when we will be in the Second Great Depression.

My focus is avoiding that scenario. My job is to pull us all together before that happens. My job is to REDUCE your prison sentence to the greatest extent possible.

What have you done to make it happen?

Anything at all?

Don’t complain to me when I am doing all the work to make things turn out as good as possible for every single person involved and you are doing nothing.

My warmest wishes to you, old friend.

Rob, the Fellow Trying to Pull Everyone Together So That We Avoid the Tragedy of Going Into the Second Great Depression (and Getting Precious Little Help From the Goon Community)

“There Is No Other Blogger on the Internet Who Has Won Even a Tiny Percentage of the Positive Comments from Big-Name Experts That I Have Won. A Person Isn’t Given that Kind of Endorsement. A Person EARNS It with Hard Work and a Hard-Won Reputation for Integrity.”

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

It is funny what you call an endorsement. Many of those comments ate not very positive.

I included some Goon comments so that people can see what we are up against.

And I included some comments by skeptical Normals. Because there are lots of good and smart people who possess a sincere skepticism and their views obviously need to be heard.

But the vast majority of the comments are INSANELY positive, Pink.

There is no other blogger on the internet who has won even a tiny percentage of the positive comments from big-name experts that I have won, Pink.

Rob Arnott is the former editor of the Financial Analysts Journal, the most important journal in this field. He says of me: “Your ideas are sound.”

He doesn’t say that about Jack Bogle or about Bill Bernstein or about Larry Swedroe or about Rick Ferri.

A person isn’t given that kind of endorsement. A person EARNS it with hard work and a hard-won reputation for integrity.

You hate me because you believe that there is zero chance that you could ever win an endorsement of one-tenth that importance in this lifetime.

I say you are wrong. I say you could begin posting honestly today and end up somewhere very magical five years from today or ten years from today or whenever.

But all I can do is make the suggestion, Pink. It is you who determines what path you will walk as you create your own future.

That’s as it should be, in my assessment.

I naturally wish you all the best that this life has to offer a person.

Rob the Sound