What If Everything You Believed About Investing Was Wrong?
April 9, 2007
That's the headline for an advertisement selling a book by Ken Fisher titled "The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't."
Both the headline and the book title are good, don't you think?
Why? Because there they evoke curiosity - you want to know the answers. They work because they are relevant to the prospective customer for the book - an investor. And they promise a benefit: salvation from making mistakes. At a time when the financial markets are teetering, the implied promise is strong. ("Answer these three questions and you'll never again make the mistakes you've been making. Your portfolio will go up and up and up.")
After the "What if" question headline, there are three bullets:
Do you believe?
- High P/Es [price-to-earnings ratios] make stocks risky?
- Rising oil prices drive stocks down?
- Big budget deficits are bad for the economy?
If you were intrigued by the "What if" question, you'd be captivated by those bullets because they run contrary to conventional wisdom. You'd think, "Yes ... I believe ... but I guess I shouldn't believe. What does this guy know that I don't?"
And then your eye would move to the only other copy in the ad - Fisher's credentials:
- Long-running Forbes Portfolio Strategy columnist for 22 years
- CEO of Fisher Investments, a $35 billion money management firm he founded two decades ago
- New York Times best-selling author of four investment books
- Top ranked market forecaster as measured by an independent third party
- Self-made billionaire on Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans in 2006
"Holy crap," you'd say. "How can I not listen to what this guy has to say?"
posted by M. Masterson @ 3:47 PM,
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