Experts, Education, and EgosOn Wall Street, wise men, as well as fools, can be easily drawn into booby traps. In fact, in my experience a person’s years and quality of education have very little to do with making big money investing in the market. The more intelligent people are, the more they tend to think they know what they are doing – and the more they will have to learn the hard way how little they really know about outsmarting the stock market. The few people I have known over the years who have been unquestionably successful making money in stocks were decisive, decision making individuals without huge egos. |
The market has a simple way of whittling all excessive pride and overblown egos down to size. After all, the whole idea is to be completely objective and recognize what the marketplace is telling you, rather than trying to prove that the thing you said or did yesterday or six weeks ago was right. The fastest way to take a bath in the stock market or go broke is to try to prove that you are right and the market is wrong. |
In the final analysis, there is only one thing you can really do when a new bear market begins. That is to have the sense to sell and get out or go short. When you get out, you should stay out until the bear market is over. This usually means nine months, and in the prolonged, problem ridden 1969-1970 and 1973-1974 periods, it meant two years. Selling short can be profitable, but it is a difficult, highly specialized subject and short selling should only be attempted during bear markets. More Investment tips: The worst Market Plunge Since 1929 |