Beware the Forked Tongue of Wall Street Shills

Everyone is selling something. Keep that in mind as you watch the endless stream of “expert” analysts pontificating on CNBC, Fox Business, and in the financial press.

Let’s begin with the man who has never seen an interview he didn’t like -- Peter Schiff, a long-time investment guru who is trying to turn his almost daily appearances on CNBC, MSNBC and Fox Business into a Connecticut Senate seat. Schiff’s claim to fame is that he is a perennial bear on U.S. stocks and never wastes an opportunity to trash the U.S. economic system while talking up foreign stocks and gold. Not-so-coincidently Schiff is President of Euro-Pacific Capital, a company focused solely on selling its clients non-U.S. stocks and gold. So listening to Schiff’s advice will boost his coffers whether you profit or not.

Then we have Jim Rogers, who wrote the book “Hot Commodities,” has his own commodities index, and runs a huge commodities fund. Guess what Rogers is always trumpeting? Commodities. Here’s a recent quote from Rogers’ blog: "Paper money throughout the world is being printed right now.... We may have to wind up with all of our money in commodities because there's no paper money that we can trust." Wouldn’t that type of global collapse be great for Rogers?

And then there’s Glenn Beck. Regular followers of Beck know that financial apocalypse is right around the corner -- and it’s all due to President Obama who, by the way, Beck believes is a racist (to use Beck’s own reprehensible word). The only way to protect yourself from the inevitable collapse is to buy gold. Lots of gold. Of course that’s what he says on his TV and radio program where he can be “objective.” But it’s a whole different ballgame when he becomes the spokesperson for Goldline.com and promotes viewers to buy gold -- especially from a firm you can trust like Goldline. The man is a self-indulgent, self-loving hypocrite.

So before you buy any of the stuff these guys are selling, do your own homework and make an informed decision. The talking heads you see on TV are one-dimensional shills but life is three-dimensional.

For more investing insights, please check out Your Nest Egg Game Plan: How To Get Your Finances Back On Track and Create a Lifetime Income Stream by Phil Fragasso and Prof. Craig Israelsen.