I am always amused whenever I see or read about Jim Cramer, the ranting, screaming, going red in the face genius of CNBC's "Mad Money," and the writer of several books about how to get rich in the stock market... Obviously by following his advice. Personally, I've always wondered about, if these people were so good at making money, why don't they just quietly make a few gazillion dollars by keeping all that red hot information to themselves and not spreading it around... Well here's why... An article in the current edition of Barron's shows that over the last two years, in a booming market, Cramer's recommended stocks rose 12 percent, compared with a 22 percent rise in the Dow Jones industrial average and a 16 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. You'd think if the guy was such a financial genius, he could do better than that, wouldn't you?
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The only one around here who isn't crazy... Is me!
Its obvious you dont watch the show or understand much about Cramer. He's an ex-head fund manager who'se made tons of money, but didn't like the way the market pushed out the 'little guy' and no longer is even allowed to make money from the stock market, he currently manages stock portfolios only for a charity corporations. He's often said that he's rich enough and prefers to try and help other people. Secondly, the Barron's show stats are a little misleading - in the sense that they compare the stock prices over a two year period in the Dow Jones and in the same manner Cramer's pick. So for example, if Cramer recommended Apple when it was at $80 and the stock rose to $160 but is now at $100, it looks like it only rose 20 points, aka its like comparing apples to oranges. He's always said that he cant tell you when to sell, only when he thinks its going to jump - the reason Im defending him and Im sure others will is because he used to be a guy like you say "making a few gazillion dollars, and keeping the info to himself", but is now on 'our side' and I think thats great. I can see how you get that impression though, just dont be too quick to judge.
Posted by: Jeff | August 20, 2007 1:15 PM | Permalink to Comment