Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit from It -- Seeing Through Wall Street's Money-Killing Myths Hardcover - 2010 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

Legendary money manager Ken Fisher outlines the most common--and costly--mistakes investors make.

Small cap stocks are best for all time. Bunk!

A trade deficit is bad for markets. Bunk!

Stocks can't rise on high unemployment. Bunk!

Many investors think they are safest following widely accepted Wall Street wisdom--but much of Wall Street wisdom isn't so wise. In fact, it can be costly bunk.

In Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit From It--Seeing Through Wall Street's Money-Killing Myths, Ken Fisher--named one of the 30 most influential individuals of the last three decades by Investment Advisor magazine--details why so many investors fail to get the long-term results they desire. The short answer is many investors fail to question if what they believe is true--and are therefore blinded by tradition, biases, ideology, or any number of cognitive errors.

Your goal as an investor shouldn't be to be error-free--that's impossible. Rather, to be more successful, you should aim to lower your error rate. Debunkery gets you started by debunking 50 common myths--but that's just the beginning. It also gives you the tools you need to continue to do your own debunkery for the rest of your investing career.

From the jacket flap

Want to become a better investor? Send your spouse on a shopping spree! It's no joke--this book shows you why.

Far too many investors fail to get the results they want because they make some pretty common mistakes. The problem is, the errors don't seem like mistakes--they seem like smart, intuitive, and/or widely recognized investing "wisdom." But much of what's accepted as investing "wisdom" is, instead, bunk. How can investors tell bunk from reality?

Debunkery: Learn It, Do It, and Profit From It--Seeing Through Wall Street's Money-Killing Myths from legendary money manager, longtime Forbes columnist, and best-selling author Ken Fisher shows you how to avoid the costly errors many investors make when they rely upon "common sense" thinking, intuition, gut instinct, or clich�s--by using debunkery! Debunkery isn't difficult--it just requires the willingness to flip common investing "wisdom" on its head. Once readers learn to do that, they can begin seeing the investing world more clearly and stop falling prey to costly bunk.

Fisher demonstrates debunkery on 50 of Wall Street's widely accepted "truths" and details in an easily accessible (and always entertaining) way why:

• Stop-losses could be renamed stop-gains.
• High unemployment isn't bad for stocks.
• Massive trade deficits can be great for stocks.
• Stocks don't care if the US dollar is strong or weak.
• Most retirees have a long, long time to invest.
• You should never listen to your "gut" when it comes to investing.
• You are almost certainly too terrified of government debt.
• Consumer confidence doesn't matter.
• Sending your spouse on a shopping spree could get you better long-term investing results.

In investing, there are no simple rules that say, "always sell on this one condition, and buy on that one," that work consistently and repeatedly. If only investing were that easy! Debunkery shows you why many Wall Street "truths" are, in reality, money-killing myths and walks you through ways you can begin improving your error rate right away. Debunkery debunks 50 common myths, but also gives you the tools to continue engaging in debunkery for the rest of your investing career.