This show is new in my city. The first couple weeks I thought it was about "advice" and investing. Then it became apparent that this is a commercial for this business. I don't quite get why anyone needs someone to find mutual funds and pay them thousands of dollars to do it. There are so many ways to do this yourself with just a little time and effort. All the good financial publications like Barron's, Kiplingers, WSJ, or a myriad of other offerings supply a reader with more than enough information to pick quality mutual funds for the price of a lunch. This doesn't even bring to issue using some of the low cost fund companies like Vanguard or T. Rowe price who offer free consultation on their funds. Yes, yes, of course they are going to recommend their funds. But can you really go wrong with Vanguard? Or how about just using index ETF's. It's so easy to put together a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds and virtually eliminate the expense with these index choices. The only reason this fellow on the radio disagrees is because he wants you to pay him large sums of money to do what really is not difficult at all. That's my two cents, anyway.

For some stupid reason I listen to Bold's commercial/radio show every Saturday. Probably because I'm just too lazy to change the radio station and it comes on automatically with my coffee maker. I'm not a client, and not a competitor. I've never met any0ne from the company so I have no axe to grind other than just years of chuckling over this program, which is nothing but a paid advertisement. At least they state at the end of the show, which they began doing just a couple years ago, probably because they were told to do so by some regulatory body. The problem I have with this program is that there is never any debate about the service or recommedations. Every now and then a caller attempts to get in a "controversial" subject regarding the fee structure, poor performance of a previously Bold recommended fund(s), ETF's, or market direction. Every single time, Bold cuts them off and dances around the issue, or just flat out ignores it. I'm curious if the advisors do the same thing if a client asks these same questions. If the radio voice of the company can't answer these questions, how can anyone else? He says he's been on the radio pumping managed mutual funds since 1998, but he nevers bothers to say that since 1999 the stock market has returned virtually 0% on a nominal basis and is significantly negative on a real basis. What has he done for his clientele for the last 12 years? Nothing. Well, except for draining their accounts of additional fees. It's sad because every year he convinces the more ignorant listener that ther is a way to pick winners, when he knows it's just a guessing game and the odds are poor no matter how you try to analyze funds. I've heard so many funds come and go from that show it makes me wonder that really his losers far outnumber any decent fund he happens to catch for a brief ride of glory. Let's see, he's loved Trendstar, Hodges, Forward Hoover, Marsico, Excelsior Value, FBR Financial, FBR Focus, Kinetic Paradigm, Red Oak, White Oak, Quaker, Third Avenue, a variety of real estate funds. All of which are no longer ever mentioned. Anyone can go find a 4 or 5 star rated fund and start talking like you've been in it for years...AFTER the fact. Then when it eventually crumbles like they all do, he moves on to the next one. Isn't this known as performance chasing? I find it interesting that he likes to criticize other investment choices and people engaged in different types of finacial services. He loves to point out their shortcomings as if he's genuinely concerned about the welfare of the listener. But what he nevers bothers to talk about is the shortcomings of his own service and how it's methods are just as questionable as any other form of advice. It's nothing but a wrap account of high fee managed mutual funds. The same thing as an annuity. The difference being that the annuity takes about 4-6 years of fees up front and Bold's fees continue forever, forever, forever. I said forever 3 times because the fees continue each and every year, wheras with an annuity or a front load fund they have a lifespan of 4-6 years. Personally, I don't condone paying any kind of fee. But the guy really needs to fess up and stop acting all high and mighty. He's no better than the worst of the worst he loves to criticize. So that's my beef about this program. I would love to have an HONEST debate with Bold but that will never happen.

Bold loves analogies. He compares investment managers to quarterbacks, golfers and baseball players. A worthless analogy in my humble opinion. Bold tells the story of his grandmother who steals packets of sugar from restaurants because she lived through the depression and remembers suger being rationed. He points out other things being rationed as well in those days; coffee, meat, tires, cars...he does not tell us if his grandmother steals any of these items for the same reason as the sugar packets. But he appears to justify that it would be ok to do so, since she's only doing it because of the memories of rationing. So try this analogy Mr. Bold. Stealing packets of sugar from restaurants seems to be a victimless crime to you. Well consider if everyone who came into the restaurant did that every single day the restaurant was open. Before long the restaurant would have to start charging for each packet and only bringing them out once payment has been collected. One person stealing a few packets goes unnoticed by the restauarant, however. This is kind of like the fees you suck out of each account MFS manages. It's just a "small percentage" and just like your grandmother you've figured out that people won't notice it. But over time it adds up to a hell of a lot of sugar!

Is Adam Bold really as stupid as the things he says? I don't know. I can't believe anybody could be as dumb as the things I hear coming out of his mouth. So I give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he says the things he says to keep his clients buying his services. Anyway, some guys calls in to his show and basically brings up the issue that commodities and precious metals have dramatically risen in price because of the devaluation of the US dollar via the government printing press. Yea, the caller is completely right! The caller points out, that stock prices have also been propped up by this same methodology...right again! Then Mr. Bold goes into an angry tirade, tries to make this guy out to be some kind of lunatic conspiracy theorist and never lets him make any further comments. Bold then proceeds to say that stocks only go up because companies are "increasing their earnings". Where has this guy been the last 3 years?! Has he not heard of Quantitative Easing 1&2? Does have even the slightest grasp of monetary policy? Does he not understand that the government went hog wild to prevent DEFLATION (see your house value) by printing trillions of dollars and devaluing the dollar, meaning that it forces everyone to unload their dollars and buy something, anything with them. Buy Gold, corn, oil, stocks, cars, houses. Anything but hold onto your dollars. DUH. This is ECON 1 and this Bold fellow doesn't understand any of it! Now what is going to happen when QE2 ends? He doesn't want to talk about that.

Gold, Silver and oil have quadrupled over the last 10 years and the ENTIRE time Adam Bold has been on his weekly radio show telling people over and over not to invest money into these asset classes. His mutual funds have done absolutely NOTHING for a decade and yet this guy acts like he knows what he's talking about. This weekend one of his lackeys makes the statement "the easy money has been made in natural resources, so we don't like that category". IF it was so "easy" why didn't Adam Bold ever suggest it? I can't believe the brain dead drivel that comes forth from this program on a weekly basis.