This web page offers readers an alternative viewpoint about the stock market, economy, and financial planning. Virtually all the information that you get from the financial news media is biased in some way or another.

For example, Nightly Business Report (PPS) will have a stock market monitor on, when the person is introduced you will be reminded of their predictions and stock picks from the last time the person was on. Of course, you will only be reminded of the predictions that were somewhat accurate, and only reminded of the stocks picks that generated gains. Think about it, if someone was on before and what they said turned out to be completely wrong (which happens all the time), do you think they are going to say, "The advice you gave our viewers last time you were on was totally screwed up." If they did, no one would watch the show, who wants to listen to a program that gives bad advice, also, no one would want to be on the show because most of the so called stock market gurus are wrong most of the time and they all know it.

Another example, I remember when the NASD and NASDAQ were interviewed about the so called narrowing of spreads. The NASD and NASDAQ couldn't talk enough about how the spreads were narrowing, saving money for the small investor. What they didn't tell you was that the volume on NASDAQ had tripled in the last few years and the market makers were still making lots of money, even with the spreads slightly narrowed.

My point is, as a small investor you will be bombarded with all the favorable, suitable, acceptable, pleasing, and convenient, information. The financial news media knows this is the kind of information that keeps people and especially their advertisers happy. What I'm trying to do with this web site is to give you a place to go to get the unfavorable, not so suitable, and not so pleasing information.

I know when I started out investing I wished there would have been a place to go to get this kind of information. Every time I had a problem and went to the financial news media, the brokers, the mutual fund companies, the companies of the stocks I owned, the SEC, or the NASD, all I would hear, if and when I did get a reply, was that I was wrong, what I was seeing and experiencing wasn't real or this is the way it has always been so you had better learn to live with it.

Not only is much of the information that you get biased, but many of the so called professionals who we intrust our money with have hidden agendas.

For example:

1. Brokerage houses can also be market makers, a brokerage house may hold an inventory of stock of a certain company and want to unload some of it, they may recommend the stock to get rid of some of their unwanted inventory.
2. Mutual fund companies may be investment bankers as well, they may recommend a stock that they hold in a mutual fund, once the stock reaches their goal they will sell, after that they will announce their "sell recommendation" to the public.
3. Investment bankers will have analysts who are making recommendations for stocks, since the investment bankers are doing business with XYZ company the investment banker has a vested interest in supporting the company, that is, recommending the company for a "buy."
4. Many recommendations made to "buy" are based on what the salesperson will get from a commission and not the investment itself.
5. Almost all the publications out there survive because of advertisement money, that is, the publications have a vested interest in keeping the companies happy.
6. The stock markets themselves are supported by the companies listed on them.
7. The so called stock market gurus that you listen to on business programs and are often quoted in magazines and newspapers make their money off of you and not off of their investments. If they had to make their money off their investments they would all be broke.

These times are the best of times for the stock market. Tons of money is flowing into mutual funds. Almost any investment or mutual fund company can look good to their customers. And remember even now with stock markets returning double digit returns year after year only about 15% of the mutual fund managers beat the S&P 500 stock index.

This fueling of the stock market is very dependent on the baby boomers. When the oldest baby boomers start redeeming their shares in mutual funds the market will start to feel the strain. For every baby boomer who leaves the market they will be replaced with someone from the "X" or "Y" generation who's financial situation is completely different than the baby boomer who just left. More money will start to flow out of the market than in. When this occurs the fund managers and brokers will be in big trouble. If the fund managers and brokers are in trouble, investors will be in worse trouble.

The year that this will start to occur is 2010. That's along way away, but it will be here sooner than you think. And just think about how much the federal debt will be, 10-15 trillion dollars, on top of the $10 trillion the government has in obligations to Medicare and that's not including their obligations to Social Security. You need to start learning about the stock market now.

I have included many links to other web sites on this page. These links help you obtain information on the stock market, individual stocks, and mutual funds. They can help you become a more informed investor and therefore a better investor. Best of all they are free and you don't have to register for any of them. For example, the SEC's Edgar database will allow you to get many reports that companies have submitted to the SEC. You can verify information yourself without having to rely on anyone else.