As you know from my writings, there aren’t too many investment professionals, authors, articles and market philosophies I can agree with. My guess is that there are less than a handful of people in this country whose investment approaches I admire.
So, it’s really refreshing to occasionally come across an article that represents my view 100%. Al Thomas’ piece on “Tracking a Hot Market,” while written years ago, still applies nowadays. It’s timeless wisdom. He correctly states that most investors have no clue as to how to determine market direction. So they go out and hire a financial planner or broker who also does not know.
As a reader of my weekly StatSheet, you are familiar with my Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) which determine whether the major market direction is up or down. If you are so inclined, you could cut the umbilical cord and become independent of my data by creating your own directional indicator as Al outlines in his article.
I am currently reading his book “If it doesn’t go up, don’t buy it,” which reflects my beliefs exactly about the market place. Al pulls no punches about what’s wrong with the financial services industry (he’s been involved in the investment community since 1965). If you are a financial professional, you may want to read this book only if you are open minded as it exposes the many shortcomings of the industry, and there is a good chance that you will feel offended.
In the near future, I will further review this book. I am only saddened by the fact that Al Thomas (who is also a reader of my newsletter) already said all of the things about Wall Street, and the inept financial services industry, that have been on my mind for a long time.
Comments 2
Ulli,
Important comment by Al Thomas in his newsletter concerning his book:
SPECIAL NOTE TO BOOK OWNERS. After my book was published Doug Fabian started messing around doing things his Daddy never did. He has been losing money in all of them. When his new venture is not successful he changes the name of the company and tries to sell you something else.
Don’t buy it and don’t subscribe to his newsletter. I dropped my subscription.
Otherwise a good book.
Wasn’t sure if this belonged on a Blog response as stated above.
JW
I have just read Al’s book, because Ulli mentioned it recently. I also have observed what he and you have said about Fabian. But I was not aware of what Al said about it, so thanks for this post… I was about to take another look at Fabian’s newsletter, and now I won’t waste my time. Although you may never go back to this date and find my thank you!