Friday, August 14, 2009

Not So Smart Money, One Decade Later

Below is a table of "The 10 Stocks for the Next Decade" that appeared in Smart Money magazine in December 1999. I found the article while cleaning out some papers today.

Some of the companies are actually still in business, but most, regrettably, are not. The basket as a whole must be down some 90% or more; I'm actually trying to have someone do that calculation for me, and will report back if/when I get the numbers.



In addition to being among the worst possible baskets one could have put together a decade ago, some of the commentary is similarly priceless, like the reference to Elaine Garzarelli (she of the one good call in her career) saying that tech was "undervalued" in late 1999. And the dismissal of Sandy Weill's critics for their continued harping about how he was making Citi "too big, too diverse, [and] too unwieldy to manage effectively."

It's just a classic from beginning to end and, if I do say so myself, argues very strongly in favor of having a good financial adviser on whom you can rely. What possesses investors to believe what they read from people who are journalists first and foremost is beyond me.