Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Don't Follow Bad Advice

Brokerages don't make money by giving sound investment advice that helps a client meet their goals and stay within their risk tolerance.  They make money by getting clients to do something - anything - even if it hurts the client's long-term interests.  Financial media are their cheerleaders because ads pay the bills.  Check out the bad advice on display today.

SmartMoney thinks investors should buy tech stocks.  I'll bet they said the same thing before the dot-com crash.  The NASDAQ still hasn't recovered ten years later.  Maybe they should rename themselves DumbMoney.

Morgan Stanley wants you to buy global stocks.  The global economy is heading back into recession.  Thanks for nothing, Morgan Stanley.  What ever happened to that little triangle they had over their brand name?  Wasn't it supposed to point towards everything that goes up?

Marketwatch is pushing econometric models that have turned bullish.  Stock pumpers like to say "the trend is your friend" when they want your money. 

Equity research is usually designed to help a brokerage's sales force at the expense of clients.  Don't fall for some glib line just because it comes attached to an authoritative-looking logo.