Moolah Blog!

The stock market is falling swiftly, and you don’t have the luxury of time. So I’ll get straight to the point:

If you haven’t already taken the necessary steps in removing money from the stock market and moving into other vehicles of interest, then you better act quick! Be prepared for a very gloomy 2008+.

But beware: Most brokers will try to talk you out of it . They have a hidden agenda. They want to keep you as a customer; and they know that, once customers sell their stocks, they often close their brokerage accounts.

With this in mind, many brokers have been trained with up to seven sales pitches designed to keep you in the market come hell or high water.

Here are some of those pitches!:


Broker Pitch #1: "Buy more." Their argument goes something like this: "Your stock is now selling at bargain prices. So if you didn’t already own 100 shares, you’d probably be thinking about buying — not selling. Instead, why not double down and take advantage of dollar-cost averaging?"

The more likely result in a bear market: Every time your stock falls by another $1 per share, instead of losing just $100, you’ll be losing $200.

Broker Pitch #2: "Hold for a recovery!" They argue that the "market will inevitably recover," that the "recovery is always bigger and better than any near-term decline," and that you should therefore "always invest for the long term."

The reality: Bear markets can last for years. It could take still longer for the averages to recover to current levels. During all those years, your money is dead in the water. And don’t forget: If the company goes out of business, your stock will be worthless and will never recover.

Broker Pitch #3: "You can’t afford to take a loss." If you insist on selling, brokers often come back with this approach: "Your losses are just on paper right now. So if you sell, all you’ll be doing is locking them in. You can’t afford to do that."

What they don’t tell you is that there’s no fundamental difference between a paper loss and a realized loss. Nor do they reveal that the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) requires brokers themselves to value the securities they hold in their own portfolio at the current market price — to recognize the losses as real whether they’ve sold the securities or not.

Broker Pitch #4: "You can’t afford to take a profit and pay the taxes." If you’ve got a profit in a stock, they say: "All you’ll be doing is writing a fat check to Uncle Sam. You can’t afford to do that."

The reality: Although it’s not shown on your brokerage statement, the true value of your portfolio is NET of taxes. So whether you or your heirs pay those taxes now or in the future is mostly a difference of timing. And if our next president approves legislation to raise capital gains taxes next year, it could actually cost you more. Besides, which would you prefer — paying some taxes on profits or paying no taxes on losses?

Broker Pitch #5: The "don’t-be-a-fool" argument. "Stocks look very cheap now and we’re very close to rock bottom," goes the script. "We may even be right at the bottom. If you sell now, three months from now, you’ll be kicking yourself. Don’t be a fool."

The truth: Brokers don’t have the faintest idea where the bottom is. Nor does anyone at their firm. And they know darn well that stocks do not hit bottom just because they look cheap. Worse, for their own accounts, brokers and their affiliates have been — and are likely to continue — liquidating shares, often targeting precisely the same shares they pitch to their customers.

Broker Pitch #6: "The market is turning." If the market enjoys an intermediate bounce, which it certainly will at some point soon, this pitch is invoked. "Look at this big rally!" they say. "Your shares are finally starting to come back. After waiting all this time, are you sure you want to run away now — just when things are starting to turn around in your favor?"

The truth: In a bear market, intermediate rallies actually give you the best opportunity to sell.

Broker Pitch #7: The last ace-in-the hole in the broker’s arsenal of pitches is the patriotic approach. "Do you realize," they’ll say, "what could happen if everyone does what you’re talking about doing? That’s when the market would really nosedive. But if you and millions of other investors would just have a bit more faith in our economy — in our country — then the market will recover and everyone will come out ahead."

The truth: Locking up precious capital in sinking enterprises is not exactly good for our country. Better to safeguard the funds and reinvest them in better opportunities at a better time.

The truth: Locking up precious capital in sinking enterprises is not exactly good for our country. Better to safeguard the funds and reinvest them in better opportunities at a better time.

So make your move and get out of stocks, its not a good time bet your money in a losing market!

Truth is, as it has always been said, cut your losses and let your winners run!

Be safe out there folks!

Respectfully,

Tony Tovar

P.S. Special thanks to Martin D. Weiss (credit)

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