Wall Street Hates You

I have a saying, “Don’t buy what someone wants to sell you. Buy what you have researched.”

And so I would tell everyone: don’t give brokers discretion over you accounts, and don’t let them convince you to buy unusual bonds, or obscure securities of any sort.  By unusual bonds, I mean structured notes, and eminent men like Joshua Brown and Larry Swedroe encourage the same thing: Don’t buy them.

To the extent that it can, Wall street tries to sell retail investors the exposures that they don’t want.  They offer a higher yield, but take it away and then some if the things that they want to hedge go wrong.  They sell you their problems, and if things go well you are unharmed, but woe betide your capital if things go wrong.

Trust is not owed to financial advisers or brokers.  You need to treat them skeptically; if possible, you need to understand  how they are compensated.  They tend to earn more from securities that are less in the interest of buyers.  (It is not much different from insurance salesmen.)

Wall Street exists to sell promises.  That can take several forms, two of which are:

1) Buy an ownership interest in this promising company.  It’s the wave of the future.

2) Buy a promise to pay from this company under these conditions, and we will pay you an above average yield.

Wall Street knows more than you.  They may make occasional mistakes, some of them big, but compared to retail investors, they know far more.  They profit off of retail investors.  You are the natural resources that they mine.

So why play with them?  If you are using a broker, it is time to end your relationship there, and work with someone who has to put your interests first.  Look for someone who is required to put your interests first.

It’s not as if investment advisors like me always succeed; we don’t.  But the best of us do avoid greed and fear, and so protect investors from their worst instincts — selling low, and buying high.

Take control of your investing, and if you can’t do it yourself, find a talented person with self control who can.

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About David Merkel 145 Articles

Affiliation: Finacorp Securities

David J. Merkel, CFA, FSA — From 2003-2007, I was a leading commentator at the excellent investment website RealMoney.com (http://www.RealMoney.com). Back in 2003, after several years of correspondence, James Cramer invited me to write for the site, and now I write for RealMoney on equity and bond portfolio management, macroeconomics, derivatives, quantitative strategies, insurance issues, corporate governance, etc. My specialty is looking at the interlinkages in the markets in order to understand individual markets better. I still contribute to RealMoney, but I have scaled it back because my work duties have gotten larger, and I began this blog to develop a distinct voice with a wider distribution. After one year of operation, I believe I have achieved that.

In 2008, I became the Chief Economist and Director of Research of Finacorp Securities. Until 2007, I was a senior investment analyst at Hovde Capital, responsible for analysis and valuation of investment opportunities for the FIP funds, particularly of companies in the insurance industry. I also managed the internal profit sharing and charitable endowment monies of the firm.

Prior to joining Hovde in 2003, I managed corporate bonds for Dwight Asset Management. In 1998, I joined the Mount Washington Investment Group as the Mortgage Bond and Asset Liability manager after working with Provident Mutual, AIG and Pacific Standard Life.

I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University. In my spare time, I take care of our eight children with my wonderful wife Ruth.

Visit: The Aleph Blog

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