Some rather provocative words from Barry Ritholtz:

3 simple rules will explain 99% of human behavior

1) Most people don’t think.
2) Some people are jerks.
3) Everyone is selling something.

— Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) June 15, 2015

Point #3 reminds me of the sentiment, ‘everyone has an agenda.’ I fought this for the longest time before realizing I do have an agenda – that is, my agenda is to make sure everyone else keeps their f***ing agenda to themselves. But I digress…

Barry’s point is this deadly combination explains why there are so many stock market pundits with a strong following. They’re idiots (point #1) who don’t care what they say or who it hurts (point #2) because they’ve got an oversupply of snake oil (point #3) that would make Amway jealous.

These folks are a semi-legitimate form of betting advice for degenerate gamblers. ‘Call now for my lock of the week. It’s free. Absolutely free.’ Even P.T. Barnum couldn’t imagine all the suckers.

So who is really at fault? Is it the stock market pundits or the people who act on the ‘expert’ advice?

In our quick-fix, always-on, microwave-ready, fast-food society we want it all and we want it now. Viva instant gratification!

But here’s the painful truth: Long-term, sustained success comes from smart behavior – not following the unwashed masses. Listening to people like these means you get what you deserve. If you followed the advice you got hurt really, really, really badly because they were really, really, really wrong in their ‘expert calls.’

Caveat emptor!