SG,
I totally agree with what you just wrote.
I have 2 stories - and true.
1. In early Oct of 87' I bought 10 November puts on the OEX. The morning of the "crash" I called my broker to add to the position. My broker had left on holiday and left all his accounts with a broker who didn't deal with options and traded blue chips only for widows and orphans. He asked me what I was doing. When I explained my position to him, he pointed out that the market was rising (it had been strengthening all morning) and that I was foolish to be gambling about $10,000.00 on options. He tried to talk me into buying GE. So, I agreed and sold my position. I called back after 2:00 for the fill details and was told that the market was down over 200 pts. Oh, yes, by the way I got my fill. The rest was history, but that was a LONG weekend - At one point my puts were worth about $ 50,000 . I watched "Wall Street Week" that night and Marty Pring was being interviewed. He was worried about a total collapse of the market which would take years to recover. I remember the huge down volume that swamped the market. Back in those days a 200 pt fall was catastrophic. They closed the market for a several days and re-opened on a short trading day (from 10:00 - t0 2:00 I think) I actually cried in my cornflakes that night and vowed NEVER to listen to another broker in my life!

2. My partner had her 401K with a broker who worked for AIG. She called him when the market broke in 2008 after discovering that she had lost about 1/3 of her 401. She called him again and asked that I talk to him - I asked if they ever sold - yes, he said, but only when we want to replace it with something else. When I asked about stops - he laughed and told me that stops were for pussys. She lost 60% of her money, before we took it out.

I'm sure that many of us have stories like that.
I have taken a leaf from Trades' book. Follow the charts. They tell you all you need to know. We have been corresponding for years now and whenever some "guru" tells me that the market is heading for the moon - I ignore him and think of all those poor saps that follow him. I know, I was one of them. Trades has been ALWAYS generous with his time and comments. He always explains what he sees - not some BS story about what might happen. Whenever I think that some guy "might" have it right - trades slaps me around and shoves a chart in my face!! LOL

Thanks for contributing. Appreciate your input.