Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 07, 2022

How to lose all your money in one easy lesson

Um. Ok. But I have a financial consultant group. Kind of like my own personal mutual fund. They handle it and give me reports quarterly or when I ask. And yes, they get a fee. If I value my time at $20 per hour (hey, I’m retired) that fee is about one tenth of what it would cost me to do my own research. And then their expertise is significantly greater than mine (there are a half dozen of them, each expert at some aspect)… so their bets are much better informed than mine would be even so.

My net value has grown more rapidly since I hired them than I had expected: Almost as much as I’d hoped for.

Let’s look for people pitching pennies.

You forgot the ouija board.

I used to be in that group in the alley when I had a “financial advisor” (who lost 22% in the first year) and subscribed to a few newsletters. Then I went on my own.

For the past three years I have averaged a 54% return. Some bets were found in a “panning for gold” mode and others were “blind squirrel” finds.

There is a true saying about the downside that I cannot forget. Everyone is a genius in a bull market.

The stockbroker, get outta here. That’s just about every scam we face with the GOP running things. Unregulated capitalism their method of robbery tied up with with a bow of ribbon as for you being free! Ha! free as a bird for being plucked of all your goodies then going directly into their larcenous pockets.

we made a lot more money after we fired our stockbroker (merrill lynch)…

Any expense ratio over 0.76% is something to avoid.

This is how to win at gambling. Figure out a way to be the guy who holds onto the money.

Ah the stock market, the world’s largest gambling casino.

Isn’t it great to live in Michigan, to have the ability to have a casino in your pocket.

I wasn’t serious with that, I feel that sports book apps are incredibly stupid. But then. Ii don’t have much discretionary income.

“C’mon! Baby needs a new Mercedes!

Remember Billy Sol

Tomorrow he is going to the Belterra casino and running the same scam on the tour bus full of Rolling Crones who rolled in on the L’il Rascal scooters with the slot machines.

I just read up on the Internet (actually AOL, it was a long time ago) what to look for in a Mutual Fund, found one that was highly rated by Morningstar, and put money in it.

basically

I suspect it’s nearly the same shpeel the weatherman gives the farmer.

If you are young and have money to risk a traditional stockbroker might be for you, however a good financial consultant, that you have vetted, who charges a set percentage fee and invests your money in ETF’s based on S&P etc will give you consistent earnings over time. Other advise includes having an emergency fund, budgeting, saving, and getting rid of debt.

concrete-ist has WEALTH? SHeez. I have all my money tied up in canned veggies.

I told my financial advisor, find out what stocks Congress people own and buy them.

When I was in graduate school, I discovered my broker was recommending the stocks I picked to his other clients. I retired at 54 and my portfolio is worth around 12 times what it was in 2004. Once I have to start making withdrawals from the Traditional IRA, we plan on endowing a STEM scholarship or six at PSU.

How about them dice, huh? Emerson Bigguns!

All life is a gambe, from one’s conception to one’s end. You pays yer ticket and yer takes the ride to the end, destination and unscheduled side trips guaranteed

Would never bet on dice but our fiduciary financial advisor and her team are great at card counting. It pays to work with experts. Just avoid the experts who claim to have a “great brain” and they alone, are the “only one” to do the job.

That is so close to the truth it must hurt some investors.

Wow. I went online to find todays comic to share with a friend. Who knew we now have to discuss, analyze and argue the merits of comics. So, my two cents: I had three financial advisors early ‘00s and found the first took advantage of my ignorance and put me in funds where he got the best commissions; the second sold me on a variable annuity that grew by about 30% in 22 years, and thebthird recommended me not to purchase Apple when it was 1.25 a share. I ignored him, though I was in a place where I could have purchased considerably more. Since 2005 I’ve done it myself, and I’ve managed quite well. This comic, for me, is 100% accurate. At least the gambles have been my own. Why pay a fee to someone who’s guessing as well?

Oh, and the “funds” i was in had the highest management fees. So, everyone made money but me.

“I also get a percentage of your winnings but the losses are all yours.”

E*TRADE online investing. You make the choices (bets), they make the trades you choose, only fees are small transfer fees and a percent of your cash holdings.

Many brokerage fees are in the 1% range. That is 1% of your portfolio each year, every year. Many if not most have a difficult time matching the indexes. Please do the math and add up what 5 years of fees for managing your portfolio amounts to. It is easily equal to or surpasses a year’s college tuition for your child or grandchild. Just wait for a downturn and then put most of it in an index fund through a no fee brokerage. If you feel like you need to have fun investing in your own favorite companies, do it with 5% of your hard earned cash.

Over the many years that I’ve invested in the stock market I’ve found that most managed accounts that charge a fee, don’t do as well as a S&P 500 index fund. When you invest in the stock of an individual company, you increase the chance of a good payback as well as a loss. By investing in a broad range of companies, as found in the S&P 500, your risks and rewards are much lower. Nevertheless, the value of my S&P 500 index fund has gone up 106% over the last 5 years, and the index has returned a historic annualized average return of around 10.5% since its 1957 inception.

Accurate, except the Stockbroker is also an employee of the Casino.

They just don’t bother to Mention that to their Suckers.

Here is a sure-fire way to make a small fortune in the stock market: