Tuesday, November 12, 1996
Financial Cannibalism
By SB876

The magazine ad for the mutual fund family reads: "The Civilizing Influence of the Investment Advisor. Smart investors know that their worst enemies are their own primitive urges. Fear of loss. Hunger for profit. That's why smart investors go to investment advisers, experienced professionals who can exert a steadying influence over time."

TV ads for another company show a rock climber about to fall into an abyss, and a man in khakis being pursued through a jungle by a tiger, both symbolically about to be overcome by a terrifying investment world that proved to be too much for them to handle on their own. Just in time, they're rescued by the investment adviser.

Ouch! Either we individual investors are primitives, unable to control our "urges," or we are well-meaning folks who are in over our heads. Either way, we need guidance from a professional (call him Bwana, Kimosabe, Great White Hunter, Snoopy?). But it occurs to me that there have been many instances throughout history when people who had guides still perished in the wilderness. In Colorado, one such story is part of our folklore.

In the late 1800s a group of settlers on their way west needed a guide to help them cross the continental divide. A local named Alferd Packer offered his services, and the party set out on their expedition. It was too late in the year, however, for such a crossing, and the party soon found themselves high in the Rockies, hopelessly stranded in deep snow, without provisions to survive the coming winter.

When the thaw came, Packer emerged alone from the high country. An investigation revealed that he had killed his companions to survive. Packer became the only American ever convicted of cannibalism.

Did Packer intend for the expedition to end so badly? I doubt it. But conditions and terrain can change quickly. The savviest guide can not predict the future any better than the greenest tenderfoot.

The best way to survive in this financial wilderness is by educating yourself, and the Fool's School is an excellent resource. Once you've done so, you can decide whether to use a guide or to forge ahead on your own. You'll have the ability to make the choices that are right for you.

What became of Alferd Packer? He did his prison time and died in obscurity in a Denver suburb. Today, he is remembered at the University of Colorado, where his name graces the cafeteria in the student union.

Transmitted: 11/12/96