Real Money Subscription

I've been a Real Money subscriber for several years. Today I canceled my membership which was renewing on October 27. Making the decision was not an easy one. I am an active participant in Rev. Shark's (Jim DePorre) blog, and many of the posters there I consider my virtual friends. I appreciate their friendship and their insights---both are priceless.

But Jim Cramer's (JJC) behavior over this market cycle goes beyond irresponsible. I do not wish to support in any way this site. A bit of cutting my nose off to spite my face, but if I've learned anything, I've learned this:

~~ Experienced investors/traders do not require a guru. They have first hand experience with navigating the market's capriciousness--that strange area between fundamentals and psychology in which stock prices gyrate!

~~Inexperienced investors/traders DO  MAY require a guru. It is likely, however, that they do not know how to judge a guru which puts them at the mercy of impostors. A real guru would say, close your eyes and look within and I'll help guide you. An impostor says open your eyes and ears; look and listen only to me. Such is where JJC operates. [post post comment: And, he failed to see any of this coming. Lauded WB and WFC failing to see their risks from and exposures to mortgages].

Within the last week, JJC has told investors to sell everything that they did not need in five years (panic sell at the bottom). Then on Sunday night, he was saying: "I am reverting to a downside target of 6,700 for Monday and then 4,700 for Tuesday in keeping with the hopeful '87 playbook. " If you followed him, your sphinctometer would have been pegged, or you would have thrown yourself out of the window.

That post did it for me. Of course the DOW could have plunged to those levels, but it went on to post its largest one day gain ever.

I closed some long positions. I have a few short positions and one long SSO position of a modest amount. One account is all cash after closing my HERO and DIG. Somehow, I ended up with a 30% gain in that account for the year, with the few positions that I've held over the last month (both long and short). No need to tempt the fates. I don't think that the market has settled into its long term posture yet. It's falling down, jumping up and sitting and fidgeting. It needs to fidget for a while, I think.