Investors Do Stupid Stuff!

Chris slams investors panic-selling over Trump’s tariffs and budget cuts. From 401K chaos to betting on gold and European stocks, see why he calls it ‘stupid stuff.’ www.watchdogonwallstreet.com 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it will have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, welcome to another installment of investors do really
stupid stuff. I don't know where in the world the
Wall Street Journal their writers find these people for their anecdotes,
for their stories, but they do. They do the story. Today,

(00:37):
the days of setate forget it investing just ended for
many Americans. First and foremost, it's not remember set it
and forget it? Was that guy. Remember he had that
bloody rotisserie oven again. People says that they just have
infomercials for this thing back in the nineteen nineties. And
then he'd be like, set it and forget it. I

(00:58):
got one of those things a gift. I kid you not,
as they get off the beaten track, I did. It
was one of the biggest pains in He asked ever
to clean used it once anyway, not neither here nor there.
Here we go for years. Your ham urly hadn't touched
most of his investments. Preferring to Ryde the stock markets
ups and downs. Last Tuesday, he decided he had enough.

(01:23):
The eighty two year old unloaded almost half of his
stock market investments, fearful of the effects of President Trump's
economic agenda and tariffs in particular, and he may get
rid of more. Still, the decisions are changing daily, said Early,
a retired business owner in Florida. Okay, and again I'm

(01:46):
going to go through more of these anecdotes they pick.
Have they asked this guy how he's done with his
investments throughout time and the choices that he's made, because
they don't mention it here. They're coming up with these
anecdotes for their story about people selling. But the thing
very deep anyway. They're talking about the Trump administrations. It's

(02:11):
chaotic mix of tariffs and government budget cuts of jolted
investors and led them, led them to question the assumption
that they should buy and hold stocks on autopilot. Again,
this is the Wall Street Journal. This is not Business Insider.
I mean agents getting worse and worse and worse over
there again that they talking about individual investors now and

(02:35):
these are facts. Okay, have been trading in their four
to one k's at more than four times the normal level.
The past month that's had the most trading in almost
five years. Investors who have dumped US stocks say they're
searching for stability in money market fund, short term bonds, gold,

(02:56):
and international markets. European defense stocks have been a popular
bet premised on increased security spending in the region. Good
luck with that. The share of investors who are bullish
on the stock market is now at its lowest level
since September of twenty twenty two. Aken people doing dumb

(03:19):
stuff with their money. You're going to trade your four
oh one k. You know when to get out and
when to get back in, do you? Yeah? You don't,
You don't. Here they go, He got another one here.
Patent Price said he expected chaos in Trump's second term

(03:41):
when equities were still flying high. He sold all the
stocks in his time accounts around the time of the
inauguration on January twentieth. I don't have any fancy thesis.
He's a forty six year old musician and formal political consultant.
I just don't think any mey knows what's going to happen.
And he voted for Kamala Harris again. They're going to

(04:05):
track this guy and see how he's done over the
years with his in and out of the market, or
whether or not he's right when he says he's getting
back in again. I don't think so. I don't think so.
I'll get another one here, got another investor. Oh reached
reached a breaking point when Trump went after Zelenski in
the White House meeting on February twenty eighth, or a

(04:28):
day after sold all of American stocks and bought European stocks.
How do you think these people are going to do
long term? Horrible? Horrible? Yet the Wall Street Journal points
him out as anecdotes when they should be pointing out
that they're doing stupid shit with their money. I try again, idea,

(04:49):
he has been doing this program for twenty five years now,
twenty five years now, manage money for thirty years and
never ceases to is at the utter stupidity of individual investors? Sorry,
I mean what we want me to say. You're being smart.
These people are being brought Oh, we're making making intelligent

(05:10):
decisions when it comes to their money. No, no again,
And I'm talking about all these people that are messing
around with their four to one k's thinking that they're
going to be able to figure this whole thing out.
Watchdog on Wall street dot Com