First, let’s get something straight: There’s nothing wrong with being bearish when the time is appropriate, and there’s no saying now’s not the time to be appropriately bearish.
But it’s never appropriate to be a perma-bear, a.k.a. “BearTard,” which is really more about personal philosophy than it is an investment thesis. You see, for beartards, making money is secondary, and maybe even tertiary.
You see, for Beartards, it’s about being smarter than everyone else. It’s about the prickly, wounded pride. It’s about revelling in your misanthropy. It’s all about “the club.”
Let me tell you, you let yourself get like this, and you become like a piece of bloody chum to the sharks of the Street. The edge traders will see you coming with your pocket protectors and your high waisted pants from two blocks away. They love you guys like the West Harlem street corner three card monte grifters love the dewlapped big-talking college freshman who appear every Fall at Columbia University.
“Exhibit A” and “Exhibit B” are the two biggest beartard sites– you know who they are– who have been accumulating lemmings almost as fast as they’ve been driving them off the white cliffs of Dover. Think about how much money these sites have cost people on a cumulative basis since March. And we’re talking thousands of people. It’s near-Madoffian in its scope.
And yeah, I know misery loves company, but someone who makes themselves intentionally miserable by railing against the trend, well… this is when “thesis” turns to “pathology.” And this is not time to be investing for companionship and even comraderie — there are bookclubs for that.
No, The PPT offers you an alternative — even if you are a recovering Teethgnasher from one of the Lemming Sites. You see, The PPT is made up of a group of hard core traders interested not in showing you how smart they are, or how many geometrical glissades they can pull out of a 60-day chart, but in only one thing — putting coin in the bank, kruggerand-style.
So indulge yourself, in bear and bull trades as you see fit. But do it in a environs that will constantly challenge you to re-assess and re-evaluate your every position. I promise you– will never feel fully comfortable within the confines of The PPT.
But let me tell you this as well — that discomfort will serve your portfolio– and your family’s fortune — in a far better stead than those alternative “ego sites.”
Slange.
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Jacksonian Addendum: Watch for pullbacks this week, especially in the gold and silver arenas. I will be announcing my moves early — on The PPT, of course — and then here. We are getting to a crucial period in the cycle, and I want you all to be at your most nimble.
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Well,well Jake puts down the best post he’s ever done worth of Le Fly(the french version).
Here I thought being the snarky post of the week on TIM’s site was some kind of accomplishment and Jake goes and one ups me.
Lol. Thanks…. I’ve had years of practice tugging Timmah’s beard. I was a regular gadfly over there long before I ever came over to Broker A’s (le Fly’s) site.
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As if you didn’t already know:
“…If you were old enough in early 1980 to remember price levels, you know exactly what I mean. Back when gold hit $850 initially, the US median household income was under $18k. Across the US, new houses averaged $76k while new cars were less than $6k! A candy bar only cost a quarter. It was a different world back then, with each dollar being far more valuable. So $850 today is worth much less than $850 then.”
Sooooo:
“January 21st, 1980’s legendary gold close of $850 translates into $2358 in today’s dollars! So what the financial media is gleefully calling an all-time high today, insinuating gold is radically overbought and due for a plunge, isn’t even halfway up to this metal’s real all-time high. As of Wednesday’s $1018 close, gold had merely climbed to 43% of the climax of its previous secular bull.”
Just sayin’, as someone sang in the 80’s…”Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
True, true.
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Interesting that C is bucking the trend here, up twelve cents (2.81%) to $4.38…..
Hmmmmm……..
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Don’t frown, double down.
It seems crazy to me to buy financials, but the stock market IS crazy, so we bought C Fri and this morning after your post.
And no, husband and I aren’t any where near retirement age, but he lost his business up north, due to his partner’s (his brother) fall into drugs, gambling and women. He had to file bankruptcy, and left to keep himself from killing brother. So now he thinks he’s Huck Finn. He’s in HVAC (emphasis on the “C”) so we’ll have no trouble in FL. As soon as he settles down and finds a place he likes enough to start a new business, I am going back to work. Lately, I have just been calling him “gypsy”. Just please don’t make me live on a houseboat in Key West. LOL
Thanks for your concern and for your blog!
PS, if your kids like Jungle Book, they will love the movies “Born Free” and it’s sequel “To Walk With Lions”, an incredibly beautiful, even if somewhat heartbreaking, movie.
Goin’ fawr: I agree with you, and if I couldn’t “play” the stock market, I would park all my stock money in the metals for the long term.
And no, husband and I aren’t any where near retirement age, but he lost his business up north, due to his partner’s (his brother) fall into drugs, gambling and women.
Well, if you are going to eff it up, you might as well go whole hog!
Seriously, HVAC is a wonderful business… I know quite a few people in that field up here, one of whom owns a distributorship of one of the bigs that does roughly $400 mm in annual revenues.
If you can be a reliable and attentive provider of that service, the money will rain down. There is no slowing that Trane (sic).
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Also — was wondering where the Jungle Book reference was coming from… I’m pretty sure that’s a more modern “Disney-esque” animated film excerpt above, but not from Jungle Book.
That’s some sort of cartoon grizzly for one thing. And pine trees in the background…
But yes, Elsa and Co. are a good rec. My kids are more Master and Commander age (all except the three year old), however.
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When my daughter was little we watched a few different versions of “Jungle Book” animated videos. I was really going by your “prickly, wounded pride” comment, though. Isn’t that Jungle Book? “prickly pear” That was my first thought anyway.
I just remember there was some violence in “To Walk With Lions”. Might be too upsetting for younger kids.
Yeah, we really have to segregate what the older kids watch from the youngest. He’s game for a lot, but we’d just rather not expose him at that age… he gets enough bad influences from his older bros.
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Unbelievable… C is again knocking on the top of that triangle’s hypotenuse… which is now about $4.44-.45-ish for the breakout (if it holds this time!).
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I have already made two trades this morning, and announced them in the PPT.
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I thought it was “slainte,” as all good micks should know. In any event, slainte to you brother gint for this here fine post.
It is, but it’s pronounced “slange” as in “Winge” with an “a” sound.
As any non-pooftah, Irishman would know.
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ETQ — Equadorean Gold miner is BTFO! Up over 12% this morning…
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Today is proving to be an excellent “buy on the dips” day for the precious miners.
Just insane some of the bargains. Hope you were paying attention.
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Excellent post; I’m curious though, what’s the site other than theslopeofhope? Also, new KoPG post up; making money right now is almost too easy. Maybe i’ll try to lose money just to see if it can still be done.
The other is that one run by the guy with the same name as the famous barbarian horde general.
If you can’t figure it out from there, it’s probably not that important.
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Ah, I extended, rightly, my search from the first site and found it promptly enough. Between these sites, extremely endless loops seem to exist, rendering the visage of being self absorbed. Existentialists are less depressing.
Pardon the extraneous, needlessly twisted wording; it’s late; I’m bored and have been reading Nabokov.
Citi has officially left the triangle for a third straigh time (currently at $4.44)… let’s see if it holds out this time.
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C closed at $4.43, but trading two cents higher in the after market. Don’t like how BZH closed, however.
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Props for crossing into the Dope Zone and for this post…..