We’ll stick with the first one today. An investor who believes that will never have enough money to retire.

If brokers are so smart why aren’t they all rich? It is because Wall Street does not want them to think for themselves. When a person qualifies for a license as a broker and goes to work for a brokerage house he is given 2 manuals. The first book contains all the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He probably won’t look at that one again.

The second becomes his daily Bible. This is the one that guides him in all the details on how to get investors to open an account with his company. They want your money.

There is no third manual on how to trade profitably or how to protect customers investments when the market declines.

Investors are brainwashed into believing that brokers know all about everything financial. They don’t. (See above.)

One of the great myths of Wall Street is the investor must be fully invested at all times, BUT there are periods when cash is the best position. Has anyone ever heard a broker say, “Cash is a position”? Not in this lifetime.

When an investor steps back and looks at a long term chart of any major stock average such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P500 Index he will clearly see there are periods when he should have been in a money market fund, a bank CD or U.S. Treasury Bills.

Any broker with 2 brain cells to rub together should have had his clients out of the market until it starts back up, BUT (again) if he did that he would be fired. Brokerage companies are not there to make investors money; they are there to make money off the investor.

Brokers have been taught there is no way to know when the market will go down. Hogwash. It Is not difficult. Common sense will tell investors there is a method. Brokers and financial planners too have been brainwashed to believe there isn’t. Don’t talk to “Chuck”; he doesn’t want you to know.

It is not that the broker or financial planner is dishonest. They sit in their comfortable swivel chairs and grip the arms like a deer frozen in the headlights of a speeding car as their customers money goes up in smoke. They believe the BIG brainwash of Buy and Hold that is a guaranteed loser. Wall Street preaches this because they want to keep your money.

Ask any broker if he has a plan for the next bear market. It is doubtful he does and if he does have him put it in writing so your money will not disappear like it did in 2000.

A prudent investor will not allow Wall Street to brainwash his money away.

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 2006 All rights reserved.

Copyright 2008 Albert W. Thomas All rights reserved. Author of "IF IT DOESN'T GO UP, DON'T BUY IT!"