15%? Your generating a better return than most Hedge Fund Managers....Glad your doing well, but I am not going to gloat about my accomplishments nor do I believe anyone really cares on a bodybuilding forum.....I was once Series 7 registered, but thats as far I as I will go in identifying who I am in. I do hold a certain record in the industry, but disclosing that would identify who I am.....
My initial point I was trying to make regarding the opinions of retired generals vs just about everyone else on matters of war, national security, global conflicts, etc is that I have learned in life that the opinion of a legit expert almost always trumps those who are nowhere near as qualified who have different opinions.
Since you're no stranger to the world of investing, I'm sure you're familiar with risk management. Is it a more sound risk management strategy to believe that the opinion of a retired general on such matters mentioned above is far more likely to be correct than the differing opinion of an unknown conspiracy theory website on the internets, or the opinion of a layperson?
When Warren Buffett tells the average small retail investor with limited money, little to no knowledge of investing, and who is a long way from retirement that they should consider putting their money into an index fund to keep costs down and likely realize significant longterm capital appreciation, is his advice not valid simply because he's a multi-billionaire and they aren't?
When mega-billionaire Ray Dalio talks about the need for a diversified "all weather" portfolio that is likely to do well over time, and not likely suffer too much during various bad times, should the more advanced, knowledgeable, tactical, "enterprising" investor not listen simply because he may only have a few million or even just a few thousand?
When I heard that Icahn bought Netflix 3 years ago when it was under $80 a share, I knew it was likely a good idea for me to get back into it with a few bucks of my own, since I'd been riding his jock for many years and made tons of money for myself in doing so. I didn't listen to the broke, non-investing idiot in another forum who said that Icahn was stupid and was wasting his money, failing to realize that a guy like Icahn can actually move securities dramatically by himself. I rode it up 500%+ before I sold the last of it at $535 2 and a half years later, making myself near 6 figures in the process.
I didn't listen to the pseudo-intellectual devil's advocates and failed day traders who recommended SHORT SELLING Apple in the summer of 2007 because they believed it to be "overvalued". I've made ~ 1000% there in 8+ years. Or who believe that Ben Graham is stupid, and that fundamentals don't matter because the market is "rigged" or whatever. There are "experts" everywhere who will say that the REAL experts are stupid. My point is that people should generally place their bets with the real experts over the pseudo-experts - they're going to be right far more than wrong over time.
