Don’t Get Stockblocked

If you’ve been kept on the sidelines by the hysterical headlines that are churned out daily on the internet, you’ve missed the greatest 18 months in the history of the global stock market.

You listened to a Stockblocker that knows nothing and doesn’t care about the consequences of what he says.  I’m going to try to make sure you never do that to yourself again.

I don’t have a lot of time to spend on this so I’m going in list form.  We’re both better off that way.

1.  Before reading anything from a blogger, figure out his or her motivation for saying it.  If the blogger is writing for traffic or page views, stop reading because your author doesn’t actually care about what he’s posted other than the included keywords (Paulson! China! QE2! Depression! Crash! Blankfein!).  You are wasting your time on something disposable and written for maximum distribution.  One post from David Merkel, who writes in the pursuit of truth and successful outcomes rather than traffic, is more meaningful than 500 posts from almost anyone else.

1.5  Politically-influenced stock market blogging is almost as dangerous and stupid.  Everyone has political leanings and they are bound to come out when one is blogging each day – but when they so thoroughly infect the blogger’s views on markets (i.e. Obama is a liberal from Kenya who wants to raise taxes and Bernanke is an elitist northeast Jew so of the course the market’s screwed), you are almost guaranteed to be getting faulty perspective.  Avoid those who cannot keep their political views and investment views separate.

2.  Headlines are really important on the web, or so the Gawker Handbook says.  But they shouldn’t be important to you.  A really extreme headline or a title that alludes to some sort of impending cataclysmic event is worth ignoring.  Let’s all stop clicking them until the business model is forced to change.  I’m done.

3.  Bloggers that are not journalists and have never traded stocks in their lives are writing about the stock market.  WTF.  Do us all a favor, until you’ve read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator at least once, shut up.  Close your laptop and don’t you dare write about trading until you’ve at least read The Books.  Email Charles Kirk if you don’t what they are.

4.  Stocks are better than bonds and cash.  Not always, but right now.  They just are.  It’s not open to opinion, it is fact.    They’re historically cheap, they make more sense than bonds here and most importantly, they’re going up.  That doesn’t mean everyone belongs in stocks or that stocks should be 100% of anyone’s portfolio – everybody’s different and I don’t offer advice here.

4.5  Being in stocks doesn’t have to be an absolute proposition.  I often use stop losses and sell stop limits so that if and when things change, I’ve taken positions off the table.  There will be sell-offs and corrections, there should be and you should be prepared for that.  Barry wrote the definitive case for stop losses 7 years ago, Derek wrote the definitive guide to using stop losses last week.  Print out both and tape them to your office wall.

5.  The economy is not the stock market.  Celebrity Analysts and Rock Star Economists need to understand that their forecasts, even when accurate, often mean nothing.  Harmony and Melody and Rhythm and Tempo are all components of a song, but they are not the same thing.  The economy and stocks and fiscal policy and global trade are related, but not to be conflated.  The trouble with academics is that they don’t respect or understand sentiment, liquidity and money flow.  They too need to read The Books if they plan on discussing stocks and not just the economy.

6.  Smart people can be stupid.  The well-educated can be wrong, the knowledgeable can persist in foolishness for long stretches of time for a myriad of reasons.  An 83% rise in the S&P 500 amidst bad and worsening news on the economic front is not intellectually satisfying and so many intelligent people fought it the entire way up and fight it still.  Again, smart people being stupid, it’s nothing new.

7.  American technology companies do more than half of their revenues overseas (52%), our consumer staples companies are doing about the same (42%).  Their executives are not concerned with foreclosure stats in Nevada and you shouldn’t be either.  All the Pessimism Porn in the world ain’t gonna change the fact there are now 30 to 50 potential mini-Americas growing up around the world and two possibly mega-Americas in Asia.  Stocks are how you get in on that.

Don’t let the ill-informed, click-obsessed bloggers keep you on the sidelines with their hyperbolic nonsense – YOU ARE READING FOR KNOWLEDGE BUT THEY ARE WRITING FOR CLICKTHROUGHS, PAGE VIEWS, UNIQUES AND OTHER SCOOBY SNACKS.  They don’t know about stocks, care about stocks or feel any responsibility whatsoever for the mixed messages and confusion they are generating for stock investors on an hourly basis.

If your time horizon is of decent length, you know how to protect yourself and you’ve got real money, don’t ever get stockblocked again.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

 


This content, which contains security-related opinions and/or information, is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon in any manner as professional advice, or an endorsement of any practices, products or services. There can be no guarantees or assurances that the views expressed here will be applicable for any particular facts or circumstances, and should not be relied upon in any manner. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment.

The commentary in this “post” (including any related blog, podcasts, videos, and social media) reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded the views of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. or its respective affiliates or as a description of advisory services provided by Ritholtz Wealth Management or performance returns of any Ritholtz Wealth Management Investments client.

References to any securities or digital assets, or performance data, are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.

Wealthcast Media, an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here: https://www.ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers

Please see disclosures here.

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web
  1. Blue Coaster33 commented on Apr 20

    Thorn of Girl

    Superb data might be discovered on this online weblog.

  2. SATTA MATKA commented on Sep 14

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  3. edubirdie.reviews commented on Sep 14

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More Info here to that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  4. Where to buy THC concentrates online commented on Sep 23

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you can find 5762 additional Info to that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  5. bitcoin loophole reviews 2020 commented on Sep 25

    … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  6. www.snacd.com commented on Sep 25

    … [Trackback]

    […] Here you will find 20996 additional Information on that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  7. td online login commented on Oct 16

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More to that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  8. top quality local service commented on Nov 27

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More to that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  9. cheap wigs commented on Dec 17

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More to that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  10. Digital Transformation commented on Jan 17

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Information here on that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]

  11. daftar togel online commented on Jan 23

    … [Trackback]

    […] Info on that Topic: thereformedbroker.com/2010/11/04/dont-get-stockblocked/ […]