Dire Predictions

2 Timothy 4:3-4

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

In April, a frighting and worrisome prediction popped up in social media feeds:

“Sell Your Stocks and Move Your Money Before May 2nd, or you May Never Recover” *

Seeing bold and dreadful predictions can easily cause an investor to get concerned and tempt them to “run to safety” by moving to cash.

Considering Predictions

Anytime we “feel” anything regarding investments, it’s important that we stop and think.  In this case we should stop and consider any previous predictions by this forecaster.  After doing about 5 minutes of research, I found that this same company ran the exact same prediction previously with a deadline of January 31st.  It’s easy to see that they were wrong, and they simply just updated the date to May 2nd.  I wonder if they will try again, and I wonder what date they’ll try to convince us of next. 

We should also look at how we received the information.  They came through social media, and it was a “sponsored” post aka paid post.  This means they paid to have this ad placed.  I must wonder why they feel the need to pay to promote their predictions if they have such a great track record.

Now that we know that this is just an ad, we must ask ourselves why.  What reason do they have for making this prediction.  Here, we see that it was to sell subscriptions to their investment newsletter.  One must conclude that they make more money on their subscriptions than they do their stock market predictions.

Good Decision Making

With any prediction, it’s important to view it with skepticism.  The more outlandish the prediction, the more skeptical we should be.  If we feel ourselves reacting emotionally to a prediction, we should seek out additional information before acting.  The goal is to either confirm or disprove this prediction.

Most of all use me.  That’s why I do what I do.  I’m here to talk through this information.  I can help you determine whether its just noise or is it useful and then ensure that all of your financial decisions are based in line with your financial goals and objectives. 

* Ad Sponsored by Stansberry Research on Facebook. Obtained April 2023

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