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June 30, 2005 No, this isn't a commentary on socialized medicine, as we all know that isn't free. It costs a bundle, as pointed out elsewhere on this web site. This is about the free financial advice which comes to my office. Doctors, by the way, are deluged with free publications. I think that, were the office buildings to construct chutes from the mail room to the boilers in the basement, one could heat the building through the coldest winter just by pitching in all the pamphlets and newspapers and magazines which show up unrequested. But I digress. The particular publication to which I now refer is "Physicians's Money Digest, The Practical Guide to Personal Finance." It comes monthly, and sometimes it has good advice. I note, however, that they are running a contest currently which involves physicians and magazine staffers. Each contestant picked five stocks back in January, and the contest involves following the gains or losses of those stocks for 6 months. The winner is, naturally, the person whose stock picks performed best. Out of approximately 170 or so contestants, guess how many are currently showing a profit? Now remember, these are physicians and financial magazine staffers. They ought to do pretty well, being smart folks. Well, if you guessed seventeen, you would be right. That is, only 10% made money. You might think, well, gee, doctors aren't known for being wise investors. But it was seventeen physicians who made money, while every single financial magazine staffer lost money! In fact, two of them were darn near the bottom, losing 48-56%. The best staffer lost 1.15%. On this site, long ago, I wrote some investmentpieces. I still advise the procedures there. I certainly don't recommend listening to the financial advice from free magazines or the average stock broker. Most are sheep who are following trends, not anticipating what will happen. I note that "Medical Economics," a medical financial journal with a huge circulation, had an article a couple years ago titled "Is It Time To Get Back Into The Market?" This article was published six months AFTER the market bottomed and began a quite spectacular climb. In other words, the sheep were way late in catching the train, as the train was already halfway to the next station. The moral of the stories? Buying individual stocks is a tough racket, even for those who devote themselves to picking stocks. Better off using no load mutual funds and bond funds and asset-allocating. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: 63-yr-old physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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