Tony Robbins on stock market corrections (2018)

When we hear about the possibility of a correction or a crash or a crisis, it’s easy to become anxious because it sounds like the sky is about to fall. And we’re in our ninth year so there’s going to be a correction. But corrections are just a routine part of owning stocks. Instead of living in fear of them, accept them as regular occurrences.

Historically, the average correction has lasted only 54 days—less than two months! Most corrections are over before you know it, and they’re relatively painless. In fact, less than 20% of all corrections turn into a bear market. When the market starts tumbling, people let their fear take over and begin to sell. But the biggest danger isn’t a correction or a bear market, it’s being out of the market. When the next crash comes, it truly is an opportunity for investors to leapfrog from where they are to wherever they want to be financially.

~ Tony Robbins, "Tony Robbins talks about facts, fear and the bull market," MarketWatch.com, October 2, 2018

Kevin Duffy on gurus as contrary indicators

Gurus seem to appear at major turning points. Let’s not forget Harry Dent (who is wildly bullish and still employed). In fact, nearly all of the gurus who were bullish in 2000 still command an audience (Jim Cramer and Larry Kudlow even got a raise) and remain unapologetically bullish. Jim Glassman and Kevin Hassett (Dow 36,000) still have jobs; I believe both are still bullish (“we were right, just early”). Technology pied pipers like Alberto Vilar (Amerindo), George Gilder, and Garrett van Wagoner still draw large crowds to conferences.

So the guru indicator is clearly bearish. Btw, remember Ravi Batra, popular author of The Great Depression of 1990? Talk about a buy signal! It was #1 New York Times bestseller 26 weeks running at the time. In 1999 he published a book called The Crash of the Millennium: Surviving the Coming Inflationary Depression. Anyone remember? I didn’t think so. Not a bad call, though no one cared to buy his book. Prechter is super-bearish and largely dismissed as a crackpot. Perfect. Can we script the coming bear market any better?

~ Kevin Duffy, Bearing Asset Management, December 7, 2004