Showing posts with label Mad Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mad Money. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2010

Jim Cramer admits to manipulating stock prices when he was a fund manager.

Jim CramerImage by talkradionews via Flickr
When I was a policeman, I always felt relief when a perpetrator finally admitted to his wrong doing. It was a corroboration of the evidence that I already had, coming from the person who did the dirty deed.

Humans have an innate yearning to "come clean" on their sins, and that is the reason why so many people actually admit the wrong doing.  It gives them a sense of relief not unlike the relief felt by Catholics when confessing their sins to a priest, and then doing penance for their sins. The relief is instant.

However, when such a confession happens in a simple conversation between an interviewer and a guest on T.V., it sometimes goes either unnoticed, or unappreciated, by the people listening, as their interest did not, at first, lie with hearing a "confession"! It essentially gets lost in the context of the greater interview.

In the interview in question, however, one would have to fall asleep to overlook the confession of an otherwise honest man who often "says it like it is".  Jim Cramer of "Mad Money" fame on CNBC did exactly this in an interview which has been posted online.

To listen to that "confession" on YouTube (see Jim Cramer admits ) is to understand that the markets today, are susceptible to a whole range of manipulations, from Central Banks, to fund managers to the glorified salesmen, masquerading as investment advisers, who are paid huge sums by Wall Street firms to corral investors into believing in the "integrity" of those firms.

Jim is merely an honest man who admits to some "otherwise legal" manipulations of stocks for the benefit of his fund and his clients. However, if you multiply by the hundreds of otherwise honest fund managers doing similar manipulations on behalf of their funds and clients, by the number of out and out con men such as Bernie Madoff, who have entered the great Casino, through the front door of Business Schools, contacts and friendships, it is little wonder that the average Joe has been running for the exits in the past few years.

Folks, as comedian George Carlin once proclaimed, "Wall Street is a big club, and your not in it"!


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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Pigs really do get slaughtered! So don't be one!


"Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered"
Jim Cramer - Mad Money


Yes, Jim Cramer can drive you nuts with his ranting and raving about stocks and investing. Sometimes he is right, sometimes he is wrong (just like the rest of us) but of all of his rantings, I sure like the quote "Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered". Jim drives home this simple thought every night on his CNBC show, Mad Money.


Jim's style can grate on serious investors and newbies alike, but one thing is for sure, he does try to enlighten the small retail investor and this quote is far and away, one of the best pieces of advice he gives every single night to his viewers. If you don't listen to this golden piece of advice, you stand to lose your shirt, and more.

If your investment strategy is to throw money on hot stocks and hope for a home run, then you should change the game. You are better suited to the game of craps at the local Casino. With that attitude, you may actually do better at the Casino, than in the market.

Economic forecasts are never certain. If you put three economists in the same room, you will end up with three entirely different opinions of where the economy, and by extension, the market is headed. Don't invest in stocks because of an economic forecast! Invest only when you have done your own home work on an individual stock, it's market niche, it's earnings/potential, it's management, it's trading range, and analysts opinions. (Actually we like stocks that are under the radar of analysts, but is for another post).

The bottom for traders is this!  If you have a stock that is up say 20% to 30% and you don't take at least "some" profit, then consider yourself a pig, and expect to get slaughtered. You don't have to sell because a stock is up, but taking "some" money off the table when you are up is simply a fact of good trading.

If as opposed to "trading" you consider yourself a long term investor and you are not concerned with short to medium term profits, you may still wish to "take some off the table". It just make sense because, as you've heard many times, "a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush"!

And Pigs can't fly! but of course, you already know that!

Good investing-   HP


PS: and by the way, don't forget to pay down some debt this year. A great investment is not to owe more money than you have. You don't want that burden in retirement, especially in this environment. 



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