Stock Market T.V. Gurus: Panic To Get Out, Panic To Get In

      During the great recession, when the direction was down and panic was in the air, there they were, person after person, with few exceptions, reinforcing the gloom and doom. Many people listened and learned the hard way that following these television market gurus led to nothing good.

      When the market went down, there was barely a contrarian voice telling people that it was the time to buy, or at least not sell. 

       Now that the market is in a tear upwards, people are panicking to get in. There is hardly a contrarian voice out there urging caution. 

        Panic to get out, panic to get in. It is interesting to note that when the market crashed, it had little value to many of the gurus. Now that the market is at an all time high, they are full of reasons why it is undervalued or why it has to keep going up.

        No one has a crystal ball that can predict the future. Maybe the market will go up. Maybe it will finally correct or turn bearish. Whatever it does, it is better not to listen to the noise. For young people without the interest or desire to follow the market, long term investing can be simple and rewarding by following the advice of those that recommend low cost broad based mutual or etf index funds. Older folks are made vulnerable to the combined efforts of governments worldwide to inflate risky assets, including stock markets. If this turns out to be an ugly bubble born out of short sighted policies, older folks will not have the time to ride it out.

         It is too bad that speculation and gambling are what gets rewarded, and that hard honest labor too often gets punished.