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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review August 23, 2007 / 9 Elul, 5767

The Long Journey to Quick Wealth

By Larry Elder


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "The Guy," back in my day, was named Joe Granville.


With his slick black hair and dark suits, Granville looked the part of an insider who knew the stock market, but pulled back the curtains so the "little guy" could get some, too. One day Granville said, "Sell everything," and the stock market promptly took a sharp fall — for a day or so. His act worked for maybe a couple of years, until he gave enough advice, made enough predictions so that the bad ones stacked up. People lost interest, and finally wrote Granville off as a crank.


Today "The Guy" is Jim Cramer.


Cramer hosts CNBC's "Mad Money." During a recent stock market sell-off, the stock analyst/investment adviser pronounced the situation "Armageddon."


According to the financial publication Barron's, "Over the past two years, viewers holding Cramer's stocks would be up 12 percent while the Dow rose 22 percent and the S&P 500 16 percent, according to a record of 1,300 of the CNBC star's Buy recommendations compiled by YourMoneyWatch.com, a website run by a retired stock analyst and loyal Cramer-watcher.


"We also looked at a database of Cramer's 'Mad Money' picks maintained by his website, TheStreet.com. It covers only the past six months, but includes an astounding 3,458 stocks — Buys mainly, punctuated by some Sells. These picks were flat to down in relation to the market. Count commissions and you would have been much better off in an index fund that simply tracks the market."


This raises an age-old question. If "The Guy" knows everything — when to buy, when to sell — why not simply park yourself in front of your computer and grow richer?


When I was about 9 or 10, my mom took me, for the first time, to the racetrack. Near the entrance stood several guys standing behind podiums. They sold "tout" sheets. For a price, you could buy a list of horses — expected to win, come in second or come in third — for each race. "Mom," I said, "why don't we buy one of the sheets?" She looked at me and said, "If they know so much, why aren't they inside betting?"


The stock market "crashed" about 20 years ago. Just before this downturn, in a newsletter to her clients, an analyst with one of the major investment firms "predicted" the sell-off. She immediately became "The Guy." Networks elbowed each other to have her on. Pretty, with curly red hair, she made for good television and offered up detailed predictions.


Her advice after the sell-off? Stay out of the markets. The stock market, she said, now resembled a house of horrors, Dante's Inferno, a place to enter only at one's peril. It turned out, in retrospect, that the sell-off presented an excellent buying opportunity. Yet during interview after interview, she gave the opposite advice. As with Granville, enough wrong predictions stacked up, and she lost credibility and faded. The quest began anew for "The Guy."


I know a handful of extremely wealthy people. To my knowledge, none got that way by turning on the television and watching folks like the sputtering, arms-waving, finger-jabbing Cramer tell them what to do right now. The rich guys, whether in real estate or running a business, hunkered down for 20 to 25 years. They got up early, stayed late, lived modestly, spent frugally, and one day woke up rich.


Investing and speculating are two different things. Speculators bounce in and out — trying to catch the next wave. Investors tend to be patient. They recognize that things fluctuate up and down, but they remain focused on the long term.


As for the stock market, Fortune magazine writes that during the '80s, stocks averaged an annual return of 17.6 percent. But, if a trader missed 40 days of the decade's 2,528 trading days — and those happened to be the 40 best days — that trader's annual return would fall to 4 percent. Moral to the story: Nobody knows. Nobody can predict the ups or the downs. But over the long haul, the trend goes up. Here, the operative phrase is "long haul."


Legendary stock-picker Warren Buffett says the most important words about investment were written by his mentor, economist and inventor Ben Graham: " . . . [T]he stock owner should not be too concerned with erratic fluctuations in stock prices, since in the short term, the stock market behaves like a voting machine, but in the long term it acts like a weighing machine (i.e., its true value will in the long run be reflected in its stock price)."


Years ago I watched a television comedy. A character explained why the cops sent him to prison. "I wanted to be rich," he said. "But it seemed the way to get rich was to get up early and work really, really hard. That didn't appeal to me, so I stole."


Sorry, no short cuts.

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JWR contributor Larry Elder is the author of, most recently, "Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies and the Special Interests That Divide America." (Proceeds from sales help fund JWR) Let him know what you think of his column by clicking here.

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