By Peter Brimelow
I said humbly last year, it wasn't my idea to out the 10 worst-performing investment letters every year. A cruel editor suggested it. Readers seem to like it, though. Sadists.
The lower end of Hulbert Financial Digest's league table for the year to date through November appears below. A few observations:
In the past, I've noted an odd tendency for letters to bounce between the top 10 and bottom 10 (and vice-versa) in succeeding years, and not just because they take risks. This didn't happen in 2007. But one of 2006's top 10, The Dines Letter, comes in 12 from the bottom, down 11.4% vs. 7.51% for the dividend-reinvested Dow Jones Wilshire 5000.
Dines has had a long, strong run in the past few years, partly by latching on to the uranium play. In fact, we named him Letter of the Year in 2006. (Read archived column.)
But nothing last forever -- although Dines can't be written off. (See Nov. 5 column).
FredHager.com, down 31.3% in 2007, was in the bottom 10 in 2006 and 2005 too. But FredHager has been in the top 10 in earlier years: it was up an astounding 150.3% in 2004....MORE
