How Wall Street Lies to You

Now that 2023 is over we will use the official numbers to show you how Wall Street lies to you.

BTW, Wall Street lies are nothing new.

In fact, most of the focus of FinancialsMatter.com revolves around showing you how corrupt the system is. And how the financial markets work “Behind the Curtain.”

And with that in mind let’s look at the major index returns for 2023…and how Wall Street wants you to believe what they say is true.  But in reality, it’s a lie.

By now you might have heard how:

1. The S&P was up over 21% from last year
2. NASDAQ was up over 41% from last year
3. And the DOW was up 12%

Sounds great, right?

But…and this is a Very, VERY Big Butt…

The Presstitutes fail to point out how your returns for the last two years combined show you barely making any money…and in some cases, you lost money.

Stay with me.

More Wall Street Lies

Starting with $100, if you followed Warren Buffet’s self-serving/hypocritical advice (“The small investor should by an S&P index fund”) by the end of 2022 the S&P was negative 16%.

That means (at the start of 2023) your $100 was now worth $84.

Now, apply the 21% return in 2023 and your $84 is now worth $101.64.  (84 X 21% = 17.64 + 84 = 101.64)

Translation:  you made a whopping net 1.64% return over two years…

But the media wants you to believe you made 21%.

Using the same example with the NASDAQ you get the following:

At the end of 2023 the NASDAQ was negative 28%.

That means your $100 was worth $72 at the beginning of 2023.

And when you apply the 41% return that the Presstitutes cheered about in 2023, your $100 ended up being worth a whopping $101.52. (72 X 41% = 29.52 + 72 = 101.52).

Are you getting the picture?

And for the record, the DSIP program (that we advocate) ended 2023 with a +6.5% return.

So now you might be thinking, What’s the big deal with 6.5% compared to the S&P and NASDAQ?

Glad you asked.

At the end of 2022 the DSIP program finished with a positive rate of return of +4.45%…making your original $100 worth $104.45.

Now, add the +6.5% from 2023 to the 104.45 and your $100 is now worth $111.23. (104.45 X 6.5% = 6.78 + 104.45 = 111.23)

This begs the question.

After two years, what would you prefer?

1. Having $111.23 (DSIP returns)
2. Having $101.52 (NASDAQ returns)
3. Having $101.64 (S&P returns)

The moral of the story is, when you realize how Wall Street Lies, a slow and steady (boring) rate of return (like the DSIP) beats the Fast and Furious numbers heralded by the Presstitutes.

Be sure to read our January issue of “…In Plain English” (HERE) to learn how to avoid the many Wall Street financial traps.  AND how to prosper AND thrive in Turbulent Times with a disciplined approach via DSIP.

Share this with a friend…especially if they told you how their S&P index fund returned over 21% in 2023.

They may not like YOU after reading this.

And tell them:

We’re Not Just About Finance

But we use finance to give you hope.

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