The Ignorant Investor

A columnist at Smart Money writes:

TWO WEEKS AGO I suggested that investors sell shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and use the proceeds to buy Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) stock. If you'd made the trade that day, then you'd be ahead 11% overall — Wal-Mart is up 3.6%, and Exxon Mobil is down 7.4%.

I've noticed that folks at Smart Money frequently do this. They push a stock in a column or article, than if it goes up they trumpet that gain as evidence of their insight. Here's a question to ask them: "When you pick a loser, do you point out that you blew that call big time a couple of issues later?"

So far, I haven't noticed too much of that. Maybe I'm not reading enough of the articles. I try to read it all, but all the ads for mutual funds and brokerage houses tend to put me off.