In my mind, $$$$Ernie$$$$'s poor attitude is the mark of a beginner, and one who's headed for disaster, no less.
I don't mind if someone who accomplishes something *great* develops an ego, or pride in their work, but looking at his system, I could beat his results with random stock picks, let alone [*shudder*] actually knowing what I'm doing. In fact, I have. Try it. Take any 10 stocks, pull up their charts on Yahoo, then pretend you bought them 6 months ago (Ernie's held some losers over a year now, but chance should give you better stock picks). Now look for an opportunity of 15% or better in that time frame. Take it. Ignore any losers just like Ernie does. I matched, then beat, his record with no fundamental analysis at all. You will too.
And take a look at his open positions on his webpage. His numbers are old; the current picture's not as bright if you compare the
current prices with Ernie's "buy" prices. Some of these will eventually hit a good sell point, and some will go to zero. Beginners think a loss isn't a loss if you don't take it. But it is.
I'm less interested in which winners he's closed out as which losers, and for how much. His answer is NONE, because he'll hold a loser indefinitely, or until it becomes a winner. This works - for a while. It's good in a raging bull market, but once the top is hit, he'll give back all his profits as multiple picks dive into the toilet, fundamentals (and pride) be damned. There are basically only two ways a mrmarket trade can go: 15% or so profit, or 100% loss. As the market goes up, the 15% profits come rolling in. As the market hits the top, he'll start seeing more massive losses and less winners. I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN, and it's not pretty. The only saving grace is being humble enough to admit you've made a mistake and sell before your money withers to nothing. Ernie has no humility, which is why he'll be in trouble when it happens. Ernie, please examine your system and your attitudes and try to find the weaknesses in both. I don't want to see you get wiped out, but IT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL.
"Pride goeth before a fall", and $$$mrmarket$$$ has got it in spades. I wouldn't even mind him or his beginner's strategy if he would stop his blatant self-promotion and macho BS. I don't see Warren Buffett dancing the Cabbage Patch when he makes a good trade.... but then again, Buffett's not as good as $$$$$mrmarket$$$$$. Or so I hear.