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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Collector1966, post: 1040196, member: 17919&quot;]My grandfather bought those stocks in the &#039;60s and earlier, at a time when they were decent companies and riding the wave of the stock market as it were. He made money on them, and dividends, too. At the time of his passing, the paper value of his portfolio was still pretty decent. My point, which you seem to have missed completely, is that even the best of companies can go belly-up, can flounder, can become involved in some scandal, can be caught up in events that are beyond their control, can be chopped up and sold for scrap at the expense of outsider shareholders. And recent experience has shown that even the bluest of the blue chips, like GM and CITI, can end up being duds.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;You might &quot;own&quot; a &quot;piece&quot; of a company with your relatively small investment in its stock, but the big boys control the action. Your proxy vote is a mere formality. And financial statements can be full of &quot;creative accounting&quot; tricks that an outsider, even someone who has done a lot of &quot;due diligence&quot;, might not be able to spot.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for misleading others, I think that it is very misleading to make a blanket statement that &quot;stocks are the best long-term investments&quot; without providing any specifics. I have provided lots of examples where stocks of what were once sound companies ended up being duds over the long-term. I have also provided an example of long-term passive investment in gold that vastly exceeded long-term passive investment in the Dow. </p><p><br /></p><p>Sure, someone might hit it big in a stock. But they could also lose their shirt. Stocks aren&#039;t in any way, shape or form a &quot;sure bet&quot; over the long run. Nothing is.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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