Words to Live By? (Part 3)

In my last post I began to lay some foundation for critical thinking. This is useful to evaluate others’ claims in the financial industry or otherwise.

Television has dramatized countless times over the decades how you often cannot believe what people say.  Summed together, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York have entertained audiences to over 740 television episodes and not a single episode has failed to feature a suspect who did not lie.  The same may be said for patients of Gregory House in 177 episodes of House, M.D.  Pretty Little Liars features continuous deceit as does [probably] any and every soap opera ever to appear on TV.  If people in general can’t be trusted then claims about success (read:  marketing) certainly cannot be accepted without intense scrutiny.

This is valid reason why you probably should not heed others’ advice in financial matters.  “Others’ advice” may include premium investment advisories, investment/trading education packages or “mentorships,” and for-profit trading rooms (if you are paying then they are profiting).  The ultimate arbiter is the PnL and regardless of how well they organize a presentation, you can never verify its true authenticity.  Visiting face-to-face with the person and holding in your hand monthly brokerage statements with account numbers displayed tempts true belief but in the financial industry this never, ever happens.  More often, you talk to people over the phone, e-mail via the Internet, and see or hear alleged performance numbers.  Never do you personally witness a signed tax return complete with SSN.

This simple observation about human nature gives me tremendous latitude to say things that sound very logical on the surface.  If I present these words with confidence and appear to have a following of others then I may even have great persuasive power.  An apparent following may include positive reviews on Amazon.com, virtual participants appearing to be attending my webinars, students I claim to be enrolled in my education program, or my face frequenting financial media such as theStreet.com articles or CNBC segments.  When you believe me then you will pay me because you hope I can make you rich.

In too many cases, all you will end up doing is allowing me to live criminally.