Comments on: Nay to GoldDrivers.Com Newsletter

By: Frugal

Frugal — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:27:25 +0000

Thanks for sharing, Sanjay. I think those that you mention are good, but not specific enough for my needs.

By: sanjay

sanjay — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:09:53 +0000

I subscribe to the free morningstar newsletters. Since I am not in the US and don’t invest in US stocks, I don’t keep track of their performance. I do get about 6-8 other market newsletters too. But I don’t read any of them, just archive them for reference. Maybe the only one I read are pimco’s commentaries. And the regular wsj.

By: Carnival of Investing

Carnival of Investing — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:35:35 +0000

Carnival of Investing #42…

Due to a last minute change in the hosting schedule, this week’s Carnival will be hosted…. right here! This will not be a regular occurrence by any means. If you would like to host a future carnival, please send an e-mail to admin@at@carn…

By: Frugal

Frugal — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:52:32 +0000

Yes, your points are well taken. Newsletters are to supplement my own research. I have repeatedly addressed that market is very efficient in my past articles. Check out The Best Stock Tip That I Can Give, etc. Your points are extremely well argued in The Four Pillars of Investing, one of my most highly recommended book in the book list under My Advices page.

By: Enough Wealth

Enough Wealth — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:58:18 +0000

I’d skip the stock picking newsletters entirely if I were you. I’ve been investing for over 20 years now, and have personal experience of how disappointing the returns of stock pickers and “actively managed” funds can be. I’ve now come to the following conclusions:
a) the market is fairly efficient – it’s VERY hard for anyone to “find” a bargain that’s been overlooked by the tens of thousands of professional funds managers and myriad investors that spend millions of man years analysing all the available data.
b) some investors/fund managers outperform the market – it’s probably just luck. If you got 100 school kids to try to toss “heads” as often as possible, you’d find several who could toss a head 90% of the time in the first 20 tosses. If you put your money on a couple of these kids (who think they’re expert coin tossers) to keep throwing “heads” the odds are agaist you.
c) As in your example, investors, newsletter editors, and funds managers often fiddle the results to show good results.
d) Even if SOME managers/advisers have some superior skill at picking “winners” – do you have any special expertise at picking THEM from all the “apparent winners” (who are just lucky for 1, 5 or 10 years)?

I now invest my “core” portfolio in index funds to achieve market returns at lowest possible costs – and use gearing to increase my returns (and risk). I also dabble in direct stock investments that I pick myself – but I limit this to a small part of my portfolio so it won’t ruin my long-term performance even if I turn out to be a mediocre stock picker (like most investors). One thing to also avoid is over-trading your direct stock investments.

Regards
http://enoughwealth.blogspot.com