A very revealing article appeared in the Sunday, July 25 edition of the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Ten Stock-Market Myths that Just Won’t Die.”
Maybe you don’t quite believe what I’ve been saying for years. This article confirms exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you…
This article is must-reading for anyone who’s been scratching their head and wondering…
If what they say about the long-term returns you should be able to get in the stock market is true, how come I’m not rich?!?”
Please pay particular attention to…
Myth #1: “This is a good time to invest in the stock market”
Myth #2: “Stocks on average make about 10% a year”
And the article author’s insight into Myth #10: “Stocks outperform over the long term” is priceless.
I’ve quoted many sources confirming what this Wall Street Journal article says. How many more sources do you need to hear it from, before you request a free Analysis that will show you how much your financial picture could improve if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan?
REQUEST YOUR
FREE ANALYSIS!
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It’s not that the stock market doesn’t provide great returns, it’s that the investmemnts are so volatile over time!! Your pitch is to simply edge out the average return of 10% – perhaps better but still an average strategy. The key is to be in the market (and it doesn’t matter what you invest in as long as you’re diversified) when it has growth and out on the turn downs! Relying on Wall Street claims and concerns is too narrow a view when the last decade has shown NO return on an average investment portfolio. I’m not compelled by your strategy – unless I needed a life insurance policy.
That’s okay, John, I’m not compelled by your strategy, either. Research consistently shows even the “experts” are dismal failures at market timing. I find it hard to believe you’re even recommending it as a viable strategy.
Actually, research consistently shows that market-timing is quite easy. This is because the market is micro-efficient (because of arbitrageurs executing relative value trades) but macro-inefficient (because very few people have a truly long-term perspective combined with high risk tolerance).
The reason the experts fail is because of agency problems. Investors who use experts to do their investing for them are effectively admitting their ignorance. But if they are so ignorant as to need the services of an expert, how can they evaluate the performance of the experts? This dilemma naturally causes investors to shorten their investing time horizon. Many experts knew perfectly well that stocks were overvalued in 1998 and again in 2006. But those experts who sold stocks in those years lost their investor clients, due to the clients very short time horizon for evaluating the performance of experts, even though the experts were ultimately proven right. Most experts are smart enough to anticipateclient short-term thinking, and thus make no attempt to act on their expert knowledge. Even investors like endowments, who know their investment horizon should be extremely long-term, tend towards short-term thinking when agency issues arise.
Research indicates that the only investors who can time the market successfully are those who are running their own money, so there are no agency issues, and who have a very long investment horizon and high risk tolerance. This means people investing money that they can afford to lose (implying high risk tolerance), whose goal is to build an estate for someone else (grandchildren, charities, etc) to enjoy (implying very long investment horizon). This is a very small fraction of the total stock market capitalization, far too little to arbitrage away the macro-inefficiencies. But for those investors who do meet these criteria, timing the market is quite easy.
Hello Pamela,
I am so impressed by the bank on yourself principle that I am planning to move from the Netherlands to the USA just to use Bank On Yourself!
It is that good!
I have done a lot of research with self made spreadsheets and see the incredible potential. Compounding is the strongest force in the financial world! I’ll buy your book soon to dig a little deeper.
Don’t blame the haters, they just haven’t opened their eyes yet, not responsible enough to take good financial choices. That’s the reason why the economy is in the mess it is today.
So called ”Leaders” with 44 degrees and no financial IQ.
Do you have a pdf version of your book because I can’t wait for the shipping hehe.
You provided me with a lot of value and I want to thank you for that.
All the best!
That’s impressive, Marc! Please contact us when you get here and we’ll connect with a knowledgeable Bank On Yourself Professionals who can set your plan up right and maximize the growth .
Although there’s no PDF version of the book, you can get the Kindle version on Amazon.com or I think they’ll ship the hard copy to the Netherlands.