Premonitions Abound

I cannot help shake the feeling the market is going to swan dive soon. All of the oddball disruptions in the price of gold, NIKKEI, treasuries and foreign banks has me frozen in a state of fear, with pallor the color of that of a vampire.

Nomura is down 26% over the past two weeks. Am I supposed to blow it off as if it doesn’t mean anything?

Most of the people in my industry are fixated on created new relationships, raising more assets, not having to worry about how the money gets managed. They either toss the money, carelessly, into a set group of large cap stocks, mutual funds or ETFs, and then sit back, collecting fees along the way. Or, they simply hire qualified analysts to do it for them. They don’t worry about pullbacks or when they should go to cash. They will never go to cash because all they promise is to outperform the SPY, by passing the money off to someone else to manage. It’s the most absurd thing in the world and clients don’t even realize it.

They’re paying some schmuck 1-3% per annum to be a middle man, a seasoned salesman only interested in the next kill.

When the market’s get killed, these “investment professionals” pitch them new mutual funds with guarantees attached, only to earn more fees. I say, if you’re not incredibly busy at work (which most successful people are), try to direct your own investments.

The people I meet here on the internets are not very busy at all, since they have the time to rifle through my missives and learn about HORATIO CLAWHAMMER. There isn’t any reason for you to pay someone what you can do yourself, so give it a shot.

As for the market, I bought nothing today, even after I threatened to buy a bunch of stuff this morning. The more I think about the market and how it pertains to myself, the more I feel like putting up the “gone for a siesta” sign on my door and coming back to play in September.