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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Brain Snappers and Other Wall Street Nonsense

The last time you spoke with your broker did 
he use any of the following words? Diversification, 
Price-to-earnings ratios, discretionary trading, 
lifting a leg (he's talking to you not your 
dog), leverage, divergence, fee-based 
compensation, escalator clause, tactical asset 
allocation and other mesmerizing words to place 
you in stupefying shock.

Brokers do that to let you know that you 
don't know anything about the market and you must 
allow them to make decisions for you. You don't 
know the language. You are just too dumb. 
Another mushroom.

Wadda ya' mean mushroom? Didn't you know? 
Most customers are considered mushrooms. A mushroom 
is grown in the dark and fed horse manure. Now 
you understand why they treat you that way.

Then try to get him to explain commission 
structures of mutual funds. Oh, you're not 
allowed to ask that. You might want to read page 
35 in the January 31, 2005 issue of Newsweek 
magazine for an excellent breakdown of this Wall 
Street scam. Maybe you better not. You will get 
mad at your broker.

Another one of those big words they don't want 
to discuss is redemption fees. This is an extra 
charge of as much as 2% of the amount that is 
deducted from your check if you sell within a 
certain period of time. Brokerage companies tell 
you it is to discourage frequent short-term 
trading which adds to their cost of doing 
business and increases the expenses that are 
charged to you every year. Having owned a 
brokerage company I can tell you this is more of 
that brown stuff they feed to the mushrooms.

The reason for redemption fees is to discourage 
you from selling. You might take money out of 
your account and that must be restricted in 
every way possible.

Some of the biggest words are associated with 
those special limited partnerships. These are 
definitely brain twisters. You can get these in 
real estate, hospital construction, oil and gas 
pipe lines and the most confusing one of all is 
technology. And they are all guaranteed. That 
word I understand, but be sure you read the fine 
print to see what is guaranteed. You remember 
the old one that they give it to you in the big 
print and take it away in the fine print.

How about placing a limit bid on a secondary 
distribution of a special claim on residual 
equity certificates? You didn't understand that? 
Believe me you don't want to.

When you are solicited by your broker, financial 
planner or anyone to buy any equity you must 
clearly understand what you are buying.

If you don't understand it don't buy it.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

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