Little Book of Market Myths (eBook)

KEN FISHER is best known for his prestigious "Portfolio Strategy" column in Forbes magazine, where his over 28-year tenure of high-profile calls makes him the fourth longest-running columnist in Forbes's 90-plus-year history. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Fisher Investments, an independent global money management firm managing tens of billions for individuals and institutions globally. Fisher is ranked #271 on the 2012 Forbes 400 list of richest Americans and #764 on the 2012 Forbes Global Billionaire list. In 2010, Investment Advisor magazine named him among the 30 most influential individuals of the last three decades. Fisher has authored numerous professional and scholarly articles, including the award-winning "Cognitive Biases in Market Forecasting." He has also published nine previous books, including national bestsellers The Only Three Questions That Count, The Ten Roads to Riches, How to Smell a Rat, Debunkery and Markets Never Forget (But People Do), all published by Wiley. Fisher has been published, interviewed and/or written about in many major American, British and German finance or business periodicals. He has a weekly column in Focus Money, Germany's leading weekly finance and business magazine. LARA HOFFMANS is Vice President of Content at Fisher Investments, managing editor of MarketMinder.com, a regular contributor to Forbes.com and coauthor of the bestsellers, The Only Three Questions That Count, The Ten Roads to Riches, How to Smell a Rat, Debunkery and Markets Never Forget (But People Do).

Preface ix

Chapter One Bonds Are Safer Than Stocks 1

Chapter Two Asset Allocation Short-Cuts 17

Chapter Three Volatility and Only Volatility 27

Chapter Four More Volatile Than Ever 37

Chapter Five The Holy Grail--Capital Preservation and Growth 49

Chapter Six The GDP-Stock Mismatch Crash 55

Chapter Seven 10% Forever! 67

Chapter Eight High Dividends for Sure Income 75

Chapter Nine The Perma-Superiority of Small-Cap Value 83

Chapter Ten Wait Until You're Sure 93

Chapter Eleven Stop-Losses Stop Losses 105

Chapter Twelve High Unemployment Kills Stocks 113

Chapter Thirteen Over-Indebted America 131

Chapter Fourteen Strong Dollar, Strong Stocks 153

Chapter Fifteen Turmoil Troubles Stocks 161

Chapter Sixteen News You Can Use 171

Chapter Seventeen Too Good to Be True 181

Notes 191

Acknowledgments 201

About the Authors 205