Truman,
I don't mean to be a "bad news bear," especially on Christmas Eve, but I have to disagree with you on your summary of Bob Brinker's accomplishments. I will be the first to admit that my assessment of Mr. Brinker is somewhat tainted, being that I own a small brokerage firm, and he is constantly slamming brokers. I have listened to his programs and find his consistent pounding of brokers alarming. Certainly, if someone is quite knowlegeable in the financial markets, and has the time to sort through and assess the everyday events in the stock market, then the use of a discount broker is well-advised. However, most people cannot devote the 3-4 hours a day it takes to do this. In fact, many people, even if they had the time, WOULDN'T want to do this. He portrays all brokers to be thieves, and himself as the all-knowing guru. There are certainly a lot of thieves in the brokerage business. But then again, there are a lot of people like myself who are 150% behind their clients. I don't like to be placed in the same "venue" that he wishes to place all brokers in.
Furthermore, he is quite cocky about his "market calls." The problem here is that, since he has been on the radio, he hasn't seen a bad market. The markets we have seen in the last 8 to 9 years would make anyone look like a genius. The problem is that he really thinks that he is one. I am reminded by the old saying, "Even a broken clock is correct twice a day." He constantly brags on his recommendations of index funds and how they are far superior to anything a broker could give you. Well, I'm here to tell you that I have soundly beaten the market averages each and every year I've been a broker. So, in theory, had any of my clients called Brinker's show looking for a second opinion on one of my recs, Brinker would have done them a dis-service by telling them to forgo my rec and buy an index fund.
Most of the stocks my clients own, Mr. Brinker, I'm sure, has never heard of. Yet, if by chance, one of my clients called him and said, "My broker is recommending this stock, what do you think..." I'm sure, by listening to him, that he would dismiss the fact that he knew nothing about the underlying security and say, "Oh no, you're about to be taken by another broker looking to make a quick commission...tell him to bug off, and buy this index fund (that oh by the way, pays for commercial time on his show--can we say conflict of interest???)."
Another thing is that he is constantly reminding people of the correct calls he has made, yet quickly dismisses callers who bring his attention to market calls he has made in the past that have "chewed the root." By listening to his show, you'd think the guy has NEVER made a bad call. He sounds like the bums at the horse track--always telling you about the $100 Exacta they hit, but not bothering to tell you that they blew $300 in bad Exacta tickets to hit the $100 one.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for better public education on the financial markets, and there are several radio shows that accomplish this in a very unbiased way. The Dolans come to mind here. But when a guy like Brinker comes on, with commercial sponsorship (i.e. Benham Funds etc.) claiming to be independent without bias, and then has the guts to allude that he has more market sense than any broker, well, I have to laugh. Where will he be when we get a market correction? Also, whenever a broker calls his show to dispute or challenge his claims, Bob always seems to hang up on them. Hmmm, could Bob be hiding something here? I would venture to say that if I called his show, and told his screener ahead of time that I was a broker, I'm sure I'd never see air-time. Lets face it, Bob and I have a lot in common. When I call a client to tell him about a stock, I have two agendas--1.) to make the guy money, and 2.) to make a commission. Bob is no different--he too has two agendas, 1.) to guarantee a listener audience to his advertisers (read Benham Group) and 2.) to sell his newsletter. The difference is that when I make a rec that doesn't go right, I hear about it personally from my clients. When he makes a bad rec, his producers screen out the bad calls--I should be so lucky! He is no better than the brokers he badmouths in the fact that he has his own agenda, and will do anything to promote it. |
