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The Daily Dow
LEXINGTON, KY. (August 30): Another no-news-pre-holiday-lousy kind of day, huh?
Well, for the Foolish Four it wasn't a total wipe-out. 3M rode yesterday's analyst meeting and subsequent upgrades to a nice gain today, dragging Imation along with it. Imation has been struggling ever since the original spin-off date to get back to break-even, and with a couple more good days, it'll get there.
In a fit of insanity, I turned on CNBC this morning and it's bugged me all day since. I should have known better. Friday is Jimmy Rogers morning (or is it Rodgers? I can't recall), and he always sets my nerves on edge. But the 45 seconds I caught this morning were focused on a discussion he was having with someone about hedge fund strategies, something I'm not interested in anyway.
But what caught my attention and really steamed me is the refrain both of them pounded out that anyone who believes staying invested in stocks at all times is the best course is an idiot. They backed their assertions with absolutely no data, of course, as if such an assertion by itself made it so. And yet, every bit of empirical evidence we've ever found, read, generated, or had handed to us, has demonstrated that staying invested in stocks, in fact, IS the best investment alternative going for the long haul.
What's the alternative? Market-timing? We've never yet seen any market-timing approach (one that could be replicated by anyone else) that purports to beat such an approach as Beating the Dow. And frankly, the implication is insulting, condescending, and wrong-headed that anyone trying to do it himself and expecting more than 10% or 12% a year is setting himself up for a fall.
I don't pretend to know as much or have the experience of a Jimmy Rogers or whoever the other fellow was, but I know enough to compare empirical data over many decades. And until I see some data disproving what I've seen demonstrated again and again, such pronouncements from on high, absent of any support, will make me angry, but they won't change my investment philosophy. And they sure won't send me running to the Wall Street crowd for "professional" advice. (I can read the performance charts on mutual funds myself pretty well, thank you very much.)
In other words, Fools, don't let them brow-beat you into submission. The bluster and condescension isn't worth getting steamed over. (Leave that to me. It steams me enough for all of us.) It's just like the recent Money Magazine article blasting the Fools as evidence of what's wrong with online investment forums and then, in the very same issue, praising Beating the Dow. Real thorough investigative reporting, don't you think?
Have a terrific and Foolish holiday. See you again on Tuesday.
Today's Dow Numbers
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