Why You Should Tune Out Most Investing Advice

Photo by Ishant Mishra on Unsplash

If you were to open your newsfeed on a smart device or laptop and go to the business section, you’d see many prominent publications with advice about where you should invest given the current market conditions. What many people fail to understand is that many of those publications are trying to make money and have no interest in your best interests; financial or otherwise.

The latest in the media is how Silver is being shorted and represents a buying opportunity. It is too easy these days to deploy a few thousand bots on social media website to fuel a rumor about a stock or a commodity or a cryptocurrency for that matter. Wait for sometime for the rumor to spread, take your profits from the pump and dump the stock/commodity/crypto. The sanctity of the internet as a place where we can safely assemble is in pieces.

The most infuriating pieces of news I find are articles like these which somehow know which stocks are best to buy for the month or right now. According to this article, about 80% of the S&P500 Index is owned by institutions. Most of the equity markets are just dominated by institutional investors and hedge funds. These investors have better technology and advice available to them than these stock listicles. Also, assume that if someone is publishing news about a stock that is a must buy, it is already too late to buy.

If you have a full time job and are looking/listening to such advice for investing your money, I have a bridge to sell you.

Photo of said bridge by Daniel Mačura on Unsplash

The days with higher volatility are the best. Particularly so, if the market swings up and down on the same day. The headlines oscillate in their effort to keep up with the current direction of the market. It is not difficult to be looking at a dipping market with delayed headlines explaining why the market rose today. You could check back a little later and you’d see that the headline has been amended.

Why anyone would try and explain what the market does every second is beyond me. The folks behind such efforts should go to this website which shows how increased US spending on science is corelated with increased suicides by hanging…