Excuse my iconoclastic nature while I potentially ruffle some more feathers.

http://web.streetauthority.com/m/dpc/2014/retirement-plan/sample-c.asp?TC=DP2345

So the author brags that they are up 55% since Dec of 2009 with a 200k account by using this investing method/strategy.....apparently the "Senior Investing Strategist" of Street Authority.....really.

55%......sounds like a lot....a lot compared to what? If you had just bought SPY in Dec of 2009 you would be up 85%. So they under performed the SPY by 30%....and they think that is just peachy. In fact they think you should buy their newsletter or whatever else so they can show you how you can under perform the SPY.

Sorry but a freakin monkey with a handful of darts could have made money buying stocks and holding for the last 5 years.

Under performing by 30% is nearly a 1 standard deviation to the downside.....so by random selection of S&P stocks one would expect around a 80% chance of out performing this person.

To be fair...toward the end of the speech she "says" that her over all portfolio is up 80%. Well that's more like it but who knows what and when that is from. But still I would expect more from a "Senior Investing Strategist".

Sorry but if I'm paying for something I would expect to outperform the benchmark.