It is finally catching up with them. The brokerage companies I mean. For years they have been feeding bad food to their flock and now the flock is rebelling. The customer has been low man on the totem pole for too long. That food has been the disinformation that has caused customers to lose large sums of money.
Last year there were 33,000 brokerage company recommendations for thousands of stocks. Things like Strong Buy, Buy, Long Term Buy, Outperform, Underperform, Neutral, and Hold. The one word that was missing was Sell. Of those thousands of messages sent to their clients only 125 were Sell. Something is very seriously wrong here. While the market was going up in 1999 the so-called analysts whose job it is to figure out if the company is a BUY candidate were telling you to buy everything in sight. Anyone could have used a dart and thrown it at the long listing of stocks in the newspaper and hit a winner almost every time.
What happened to the in-depth analysis of the brokerage company geniuses when these same stocks started down. I know - Hold. They call it Buy and Hold, but I call it Buy and Prey. In 2000 over 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq lost more than 90% of their value and today many of those companies have gone under. Why were you not notified and told to sell? Because the brokerage companies were making more money doing Initial Public Offerings (IPO) than they were making commissions on your trading.
To say the naughty word "Sell" would have made company executives mad and they would not have given the brokerage company a shot at their next Initial Public Offering (IPO). To heck with the customer; he doesn't count. There are cases where analysts were fired because they told clients to sell out.
Now that the lucrative IPO market has dried up maybe the brokerage companies will begin to realize they have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers. Hundreds of thousands of customers' accounts have lost 40%, 50% and more of their equity. If the short-sighted brokers had protected these accounts they would have hundreds of millions of extra dollars left so the customer could trade again which would mean millions more in commissions for the house. Now the dollar cost averaging technique is left with no dollars to invest.
Customers are afraid to put more money in the stock market because they have been so badly abused. They know something is wrong, but they don't know what so they wisely hold onto their money and refuse to pour more into losing propositions. Brokers want the customers to buy stocks and not put their dollars into a money market account where they make no commission.
The golden goose has lost quite a few pounds, but let's hope the brokerage companies have learned that by treating customers with respect and feeding them properly will bring them greater rewards.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
monthly home cleaning Buffalo Grove ..If you are a baby boomer, time is not on... Read More
After finding the price of a particular stock, usually the... Read More
If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More
Peter is a professional trader, Paul is not. Peter has... Read More
This is an extract of an article which was first... Read More
The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is... Read More
Whenever I see mutual fund comparisons in the trade publications... Read More
I am hearing predictions by brokers, financial planners, talk show... Read More
I have been trading for several decades and was an... Read More
If you have been dealing with mutual funds for any... Read More
Most people think the stock market is a zero sum... Read More
Every day in any financial publication you will find the... Read More
Every day I see in the financial section of newspapers... Read More
One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline... Read More
Stocks breakout from properly formed bases everyday but many investors... Read More
Regardless of the fact that the world's stock markets have... Read More
Profitable day traders recognize that momentum trading is among the... Read More
Mutual funds were created with the idea that one person... Read More
The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves... Read More
If you have talked to a stock broker or financial... Read More
When it comes to stock market trading it PAYS to... Read More
Among the largest forces that affect stock prices are inflation,... Read More
A colleague of mine just returned from a scuba diving... Read More
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a group of passive index... Read More
Ever done any whitewater rafting or canoeing? Long periods of... Read More
scheduled maid service Mundelein ..That sounds like good advice doesn't it? Don't lose all... Read More
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks,... Read More
You have decided to buy some stock or mutual funds,... Read More
Hello Inflation, it has been awhile, I see you on... Read More
Before you buy another car you walk around the lot,... Read More
04/28/2005NASDAQ dropped -12.5% year to date in 2005. S&P500 index... Read More
On Monday, November 25, 2000 Investor's Business Daily listed on... Read More
Have you seen all those big full page ads for... Read More
I would like to share with the reader an article... Read More
When you stand on the ocean shore and watch the... Read More
It looks like the market is ready to start up... Read More
Every broker and financial planner will tell you that you... Read More
Stock trading remains a very competitive field and the stock... Read More
Are you paying any attention to your retirement savings? Do... Read More
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a group of passive index... Read More
Let's hope you did not have any of the Enron... Read More
If you are going to be a winner in the... Read More
One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline... Read More
During the month of January the Dow Jones Industrial Average,... Read More
Wouldn't it be nice if you were only in the... Read More
I don't know what kind it is, but I saw... Read More
You probably know the story of Sherlock Holmes and the... Read More
There is so much involved in developing peak performance, that... Read More
This is an extract of an article which was first... Read More
If you were to find that you had some severe... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |