You're a WHAT?!!

Stock Broker. Financial Advisor. Registered Investment Advisor. Vice President of Investments. Certified Financial Advisor. What?!

Give me a break!

Seriously, though. These are all titles you find throughout the investment industry. But, because that bunch of titles wasn't descriptive enough, new ones are cropping up:

• Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor;
  
• Certified Senior Advisor;
  
• Chartered Advisor for Senior Living--huh?
  

According to Susan Merrill, FINRA's Employment Chief (legitimate title), they are going to evaluate these new designations. FINRA is the enforcement arm of the NYSE and the NASD.

Tomorrow, we'll find out why they're going to evaluate these new designations.

Goldman Sachs and the Crystal Ball

Abby Joseph Cohen is the chief investment strategist at Goldman Sachs. By all accounts, she is a very smart person. She takes in information and determines how the economy is doing at a particular point in time. She figures out how the Market is doing at a particular point in time. She even figures out the short-term prospects for the Market.

But, it smacks of a carnival sideshow trailer with a crystal ball and velvet curtains when Ms. Cohen tries to predict where the Market will be in a year from now. She cannot possibly know. It changes from week to week and can mislead investors.

And how can I be sure of that? Three weeks ago Ms. Cohen claimed the S&P to be at 1680 by year-end after claiming earlier than it would reach 1680 by the end of the summer. Now, it's at 1480 as I write this. Oops.

Tomorrow - BIG CHANGES! Get ready!

Dow Jones Gets It Right!

Thank you Dow Jones! At last, someone finally got it right. Not Bloomberg. Not the local news. Not the talking heads. But Dow Jones got it right. They are the only ones who actually said that this latest shift is the second major correction this year of 10% or more.

So, how hard was that?!

And, talking about wow. Did you see the Market on Thursday? It was up huge! The S&P, NASDAQ, small cap, midcap. Just about everything was up. So... let's run right out and buy! Wrong!

One day does not make a market. Some of the largest up days occur in bear markets. That's what's known as a "bear trap." I'm not saying the Market isn't ready to reverse up, but I'm saying the technicals are still saying it's a high risk Market that requires care and consideration.

I believe we are probably on the brink of the reversal up, but step lightly until the Market and the technicals get the message.