Actually, Bob's not-so-good-news story didn't stop there. Bob admitted to having followed losing Buy and Hope strategy through bear market of 2000 and had finally sold out at a 50% loss a year ago, before committing $10k to a mutual fund investment.

I was pleased to be able to tell him that my methodology had gotten my clients out of market before bear took his big bite, and they suffered only minimal losses before finding safety in money markets accounts. And when my trend tracking figures directed us to move back into market, they still had most of their money poised to start earning for them again—which it did and very nicely, thank you.

The moral of story is to look past surface and don’t take any numbers thrown at you at face value. Remember, most people returning from a weekend in Las Vegas will shout about their winnings and mumble about their losses.

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