I now remember why he pissed everyone off.

I piss lots of people off, Cut-Throat. It’s an established fact.

What do you want in an investment advisor? Do you want someone who whispers pretty lies in your ear? Or do you want someone who tells you the way it really is and helps you to retire many years sooner as a result?

You won’t have a hard time finding someone who will be only too happy to whisper pretty lies in your ear for a fee. This kind is all over the place in the Buy-and-Hold years.

I ain’t that kind. I couldn’t live with myself if I played it that way. I sweated blood putting together my Retire Early stash. If I thought that someone was whispering pretty lies in my ear, I would be mighty pissed off at that person. I don’t do to others what I wouldn’t want someone else doing to me.

I offer no apologies for telling it straight, with no chaser.

I don’t wake up in the morning thinking “Gee, who can I piss off today?” I’m always polite. I’m always warm. I’m always friendly.

But when it comes to reporting numerical calculations, I play it straight. I’ve never even given two seconds of thought to playing it any other way.

If you can’t take it, you have every right in the world to refrain from reading my posts. You won’t hurt my feelings.

It’s when you cross lines that you are by law not permitted to cross that you find yourself being named in lawsuits. That’s not personal. That’s business. I know from thousands of people who have told me so in passionate words of gratitude that my straight-talking approach suits lots of people just fine. So, if you cannot take straight talk and you do not want to add to the damages you are already on the hook for, just stay out of my way and we will get along just fine.

I’m friendly. I’m warm. I can do friendly and warm.

I cannot do dishonest. Not with the numbers people use to plan their retirements. No matter how much it hurts some people to hear the real numbers (and it really does hurt people, this much is very clear to me today).

My take is that it is the people who have been feeding you a line of b.s. for years that you should be pissed at, not me. But the reality is of course that you will be pissed at whoever it is that you elect to be pissed at. What I can say re me is that I do not do this with the aim of pissing you off. But, if reporting the numbers accurately pisses you off, then so be it. Getting the numbers right trumps your precious little feelings, in my book (I don’t mean that sarcastically, I am trying to put forward myzzz sincerezzz take here and it is necessary to use some language that might sound strong to you to get the point across).

This stuff matters, man. Any hurt you feel hearing the numbers from me is nothing compared to what you are going to feel when you see numbers you didn’t ever expect to see at the bottom of the last page of your portfolio statement.

Rob