Bob Brinker Review

Bill   IL

9:46am on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 

Brinker is a total, total, idiot. He consistently "guesses" his way through things, even when the truth is screaming in his ear. He is not properly educated regarding financial markets, and it shows. His mainstay claim is that when pessimism is high, the markets will rally, and that's about it. He continually makes bad calls in his newsletter, then readjusts to make more bad calls without ever admitting that he's an inept, unqualified moron. I actually emailed him at the height of the bull market asking why people shouldn't sell and put money into money markets at over 5 percent for awhile since there was quite a bit of bad news regarding banks, real estate, etc., and stocks were undeniably overvalued across the board. He actually personally replied to my email. Do you know what the idiot said? Yep.

At least 90 percent of his newsletters have been utterly and dangerously wrong over the last several years. He even calls people who are correct names. I cannot believe you people give this man money for a newsletter. How about I sell you my belly-button lint for 185 bucks an ounce? Really, I'm offering a much better deal than this idiot's newsletter.

bartee   los angeles calif

4:19pm on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 

how could Brinker know about all these leading companies like AIG or Leman Bros in trouble or BERNIE MADOFF being in trouble,, impossible ,, the crooks surprised everyone and the downfall began,, impossible for anyone to predict this,,, my advice is to stay in take the ride keep the shares and you will in time get all your losses back ,, if you have time and are not ready for the box,,,,roar roar roar

j. m.r   unkonw

8:57pm on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 

The problem with Bob he depends on the U.S. government's numbers for his projections on the market. He needs to go back to school and learn about macro economics 101. The guy is clueless

James Rangel   Huntington Beach

8:54pm on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 

Bob was... "taken to the wall"

Lucas Montoya   Albuquerque, New Mexico

4:43pm on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 

I have been listening to Brinker for many years, however I have a complaint about his always referring to politicians spending money as drunken sailors. That is very insulting to all sailors, past and present. If Brinker has been in the military he would refrain from using such a derogatory remark. Hopefully he will be made aware of this comment submitted by this former Korean War U.S Navy veteran/

tommy   unknown

10:22pm on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 

It's seems this man hides in the dark, and doesn't speak about what is to come->financial disaster. He knows VERY well what is going to happen, but like everyone else, he's being quiet. Better to buy low and to sell at something, than nothing at all, which is what the new paradigm is.

john   seattle

5:49pm on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 

Bob Brinker had an awesome track record for predicting big market moves until this last one, which he totally missed. The only reason i paid for the newsletter was to be warned of the next one. The only good thing is my last newsletter came in December, and I will never trust anyone ever again!

Randy toven   Location unknown

11:22pm on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 

A total joke that hides behind his mistakes and loves to take center stage the rare times He is right. Since the stock market crash He has never taken a call or talked about the stock market on his radio program.

Michael   Hartford

3:41pm on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 

I have appreciated Bob's advice over the years. However, I wonder if the marketimer model is missing something that would have allowed a more accurate prediction and understanding of the current down market. Not all that long ago, Bob was predicting 1600 on the S & P which turns out to be half right.

barbra solomon   brentwood calif

8:22pm on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 

I LIKE BOB CAUSE HE SHOOTS FROM THE HIP. HE SEEMS TO SAY IT LIKE HE SEES IT.

David Hill   Tacoma WA

6:45pm on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 

He says in good times there should be no deficits and sites 2003 - 5 - 6 - 7... slamming Bush for deficits in "good times" Tell me more how war, yes needed war is good times? It is good we have a base on the ground there with all that is going on in the Mid East, but to fund that war Bush had to go along with a lot of Democrat problematic spending.. their spending.. like THEIR problem they inherit from Fannie and Housing bubble difficulties. Get ready for more of it - spending .. Democrat - their spending in whatever times

Brian Kelley   Hershey

10:02am on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 

What, do you think this is magic? Do you think he is going to get it right everytime. There are
no psychics in Finance. There are educated, experienced people who make their best guess based on the aforementioned attributes.

Yes, Jimmy Carter is a nice guy who is doing great things for the homless but he sucked as a president. How anyone can respect Bill Clinton for anything other than being a shyster, you must be blinded by your own partisianship. Yes, George Bush was a great let down. Are there any real statesman left in this country???

Ed   Alabama

8:23am on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 

I've listened for over 10 years. To sum up Mr. Brinker's work, as with almost anyone with such a long history, in one blog statement or a 5-star rating system is asking for distortions and omissions. But I will attempt a quick distillate.

His market timing advice has been hit or miss. The calls in January of 2000 to get out and in March 2003 to get back in were both outstanding. He missed this 2007-8 call but so did many others without insider info on the banks.

John Bogel called this downturn a "Black Swan" (Mr. Black Swan himself, N. Taleb did not miss this!) but if you follow the advice of most investment pros including very respected guys like John Bogel, Burton Malkeil, Buffet, etc., they would have you "buy and hold" anyway. In other words, a "BB miss" is a default play by these other "buy and hold" guys. Either way, you are following the advice of respected guys with good to great track records. During a bear market, the advice seems especially bad!

The other personal finance advice BB doles out (e.g. info regarding insurance, annuities, mortgage, credit card, etc...) has largely been excellent.

Aside from his recommendation that you avoid gold (which I can see why - every gold bug in the world would call incessantly), his advice has been invaluable to me personally. It has taught me the correct way to approach and think about personal finance.

As for his political views, overall I agree that he is right-leaning, as are most of your Wall St. Journal types. This is not that surprising - it goes along with their indoctrination and their friends - most are greedy types who view taxes and government regulation as co-enemy number one.

But, perhaps more revealing, BB's right-ish diatribes play to his listening demographic - middle to upper-middle class white males. This is the demographic Republican strategist Frank Luntz correctly predicted that tax and personal finance issues would hold strong appeal. BB is just preaching to his demographic core listener - this is a business strategy.

What is insulting to my intelligence was his insistence that he was independent while launching Limbaugh-esque attacks on Hillary, Obama and Ron Paul.

I am no fan of Hillary but his incessant use of the pejorative "Evita" and his defense of McCain was nauseating. His out-of-hand dismissals of Ron Paul almost made me write a letter to ABC. BB's hero worship of Paul Volker was stunningly met with silence when it was learned that Volker endorsed and worked with Obama. Since BB works for ABC radio, sometimes it is difficult to state accurately whether his political comments reflect his views or those of his ABC bosses (Disney) who have profited handsomely under Bush Administration legislation on copyright matters.

Lastly, his adherence to the notion that Nuclear Energy is "the" answer. While I am pro-Nucs I am not blind to the problems with Nucs. Nor am I blind to the contradictions both he and Dr. Bill make regarding Nuclear Power.

First, there is an insurance issue. No one in the US will insure nuclear plants - too big of a liability.

Second, Even foreign plants have enormous cost overruns! Another reason Wall Street investors steer clear - not profitable enough to pursue.

Third, Dr. Bill would have you believe that recycled spent fuel rods are necessary and such a procedure would only produce a little bit of bad stuff. That bad stuff is Plutonium and can only be used for 1 thing - bombs - it is very dangerous.

Furthermore, Dr. Bill dismisses nuclear waste as a non-issue... it is a huge issue. I do not recall BB or Dr. Bill proposing an iron clad and universally accepted solution to this problem.

My mother studied graduate level nuclear physics at Yale and Duke. I majored in physics. We both understand the pros and cons of nuclear power. While I favor it over coal, it has problems and the "glossing over" of these problems by BB and Dr. Bill is a bit disingenuous.

Kerry Beraud   Columbus, Ohio

6:49pm on Monday, December 29th, 2008 

Have listened to BB in the past but with great care and a sharp ear. Although he may have missed this last diaster drop he has had some incredible calls in the past that have made me lots of $. All of the polictical complaining going on up above, these people need to put their energy into something more effective like research! BB is a tool (you can get it for free @ some libraries) use it as such, and as your teacher would say "do your homework and stop complianing".

Rob   IL

1:49pm on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 

Guys like Brinker are all alike; they are just snake oil salesmen. Do not listen to them; they often have a hidden bias. Rely on yourself, learn all you can, and do your own homework before making any investment decisions. Mistakes are inevitable so use sound money management principles.

Jimmy Lando   Rochester, ny

5:10pm on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 

Bob missed this big Bear market call. He should've made the call after some of the major banks began to fail. Had alot of time to do it, but failed to react. He's in the business to make these type of calls, especially a major , major correction. So what are we listening to him for, other than telling us all to be diversified all the time, which that we should all know. He's very short with people, and not friendly to many callers who try to get their point across in a nice way, but sometimes aren't well versed enough. I like friendly people, and would hope he becomes better at it...

David B.   Ca.

9:54pm on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 

Now Brinker is repeating the lie that United Auto Workers in the U.S. are paid $70+ per hour in wages and benefits.

That $70+ number was calculated once upon a time by factoring in all of the CURRENT RETIREE PAYOUTS into the CURRENT WORKFORCE'S hourly pay.

C'mon, Bob. Go back to ocassionally crediting the Dems and Bill Clinton with outperforming your Republican heros and maybe your stock market calls will start to improve, too.

Tony Perkin   Sacramento, California

8:47pm on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 

I used to subscribe, I guess its easy to call a bull market when your in a bull market, anyway he missed this one big time in spite of the fact these coming problems were all over the news all through 2007 (Hi oil price, the credit crunch, diminishing dollar value etc). He's been around for a long time, maybe he's just getting too old to make these calls.

Andrea   CA

12:31am on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

As people have stated, So much for critical mass.
My father studied, and listened to Brinker for 20 years. My father was always on top of the market and he taught me a lot, although I relied heavily on his 40 years of experience AND listening to Brinker with him.
I still cannot believe that it was a double top in Dec- Jan, and at 14,000 Bob did not give a sell signal. I still can't believe he rode it all the way down to 8100 as of today. This is insanity, and now I have basically lost everything as many of us have. His ego got the best of all of us. Just like he would never discuss his bad buy order of "as many QQQQ's you can buy".
Not as bad as 14000 down to 8100. I can't sleep.
I have lost all faith and really don't know where to turn.
We too got sick of his democratic bashing, but he over all did great for my folks. Now all is gone.

David   Ca.

2:30am on Monday, December 1st, 2008 

The more Bob Brinker bashed Hillary Clinton over her position on the economy during the past year, the more her assessment for what to do has become the best recourse available and the worse Bob's market calls became.

It must be a virus running through RightWing talk radio. Even Bob's replacement, Bill Flannigan, has caught it. Today he said (seemingly with a straight face) that "Jimmy Carter was the worst president of his lifetime".

This, coming at the end of these last eight years of total domestic and foreign policy meltdown at the hands of Republicans controlling the White House and both houses of Congress.

Even Forbes Magazine in their most recent ranking of "Presidents and Prosperity" (you can find it with a google search on that phrase) ranked Jimmy Carter 4th among presidents who served at least one full 4-year term since FDR.

The only Republican that ranked fractionally higher than Jimmy Carter on Forbes' "Presidents and Prosperity" list was Ronald Reagan...largely because Reagan kept the same brilliant Fed Chairman, Paul Volker, that Carter appointed and stayed the course on Carter's/Volker's policies.

jeff   Location unknown

7:42pm on Monday, November 24th, 2008 

BRINKER is an IDIOT. He bashed the DEMs and never predicted the Bear MKT. He was totally clueless and a LIAR TO BOOT.


I stopped listening to this DMBASS when the market started to TANK.

I will never listen to that AHOLE again.

John   California

1:01pm on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 

Brinker mentions his free recomend reading list almost every week. If you read, you'll find out the Market Timing is risky.

If you've listened to the guests on Brinker's show, you've hear some contridictions to what Brinker says. If you will hear Brinker tell you not to do things you don't understand, not to listen to gurus.

The show is talk about money.

Earl   Me

12:35pm on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 

Don't assume comments on this site are accurate, including mine. I've listen to money talk weekly for 6 years. Some things attributed to Brinker here were said by callers, not Brinker.

As to bashing politicians, Brinker points out things thinks are mistakes, regardless of party. He has consistantly blamed both parties for the current situation, naming names and actions.

He did not take sides in the election. He discussed possible consequences of proposed actions of each candidate. That's what I expect from a show called Money Talk.

Glenn Scheuermann   Metairie,Louisiana

9:04am on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 

I sometimes listen to Mr. Briker,but I always use my own judgement.So far,on the posts above,I have read,I should blame George Bush,Bill Clinton,Bob Brinker,the Dems and the Republians.Well,maybe they're all partly to blame...George is a Republican ,who spends like a Democrat.Bill inherated an economy just rallying out of a recession,and rode it into $200,000 a pop speaking engagements.The Rebublicans wanted everyone in the media to like them,so they spent along with the Dems,your money and mine and our childrens.The fact is,our tax dollars,social security,and medicare are all....I.O.U.'s.,likly never to be cashed if you are 40 or younger.With big government spending,more and more people not paying any taxes at all,and the middle class breaking their backs to make ends meet,I don't see a short term end to the recession we are now in..And least we forget, the top 1% of earners paying 40% of the taxes in the U.S.A.and an Obama promise that they will shoulder MORE of the burden,well,this does not sound like a recipe for a robust stock market;and,I don't need Brinker to tell me that.Last year I bought a FIXED ANNUITY for 10 years at 6%.I got out of what I thought was a bad economy for the reasons listed above.I now get $5000 a month(annuity and defined benifits package),take lots of golf vacations and don't look at CNBC anymore.Sometime YOU must read the tea leaves,not depend on the government or B.B. to bail you out...Over and out...I have a tee time soon.

David   Ca.

2:03am on Monday, November 10th, 2008 

He was at it again this weekend. Now he is repeating the Rush Limbaugh spin about how the Democrats just might take a notion any minute now to "confiscate your 401K".

I swear, he connected the dots from one economist's comment at a Congressional hearing...to Argentina confiscating pension funds...to "not a great leap to assume Congress is seriously contemplating this" to TELLING his listeners their 401ks might be confiscated by Congress any minute now.

I should have stopped listening to him after the third or fourth weekend he spent trashing Hillary Clinton during the primaries as "Evita" and then assured us it was not in his nature to be politically partisan.

David James   Albuquerque

4:45pm on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 

Brinker was able to forecast the collapse of the Tech Market bubble in 2000. He told his Marketimer subscibers to get out of the market becasue the P/E ratios were way out of line. Since the market started its downward spiral a year ago he has continued to advise subscribers to dollar cost average into this market. My point is his crystal ball is no better than anyone else that looks at market fundamentals. Like everyone else he failed to see the coming perfect storm of housing, credit and banking. Save $185 a year and buy FDIC insured Certificates of Deposit.

Potential Future Subscriber   Chicago

6:27pm on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 

My Dad paid $185 for the past 5 years of his retirement for Bob Brinker's subscription. Cheap compared to what he lost in the market thanks to Bob Brinker's insistance to BUY and stay in the market. Why wasn't a man of his stature able to see what was up ahead? It would have cemented him forever in the Walk of Finance Fame. Instead I'm afraid what happened due to his lack of seeing the fundamental BIG 3 (Credit, Banking, Housing) his credibility will be forever tarnished.

David   Ca.

11:03pm on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 

Bob Brinker was blinded by his pro-Republican parisanship this year and that's why he missed calling the banking collapse.

He spent the primaries bashing Hillary Clinton (on the assumption that she would be most likely to beat the Republican nominee). And now he tells his audience every week that the crisis was caused by Democratic President Bill Clinton signing the legislation that eliminated Glass-Steagall.

But he NEVER tells his audience that legislation was handed to Bill Clinton by the Republican controlled Congress of 1999 with an OVERWHELMING VETO PROOF MAJORITY support from the House (84% to 15%) and the Senate (90% to 9%). Bill Clinton couldn't have prevented that legislation from passing even if he hated it.

I consider his persistent ommission of that critical detail to be a shameful partisan lie.

Jack   PA

9:55pm on Monday, October 20th, 2008 

I was sick thinking I shouldn't have let my subscription run out this past spring assuming I was going to miss out on a sell alert.....Well at least I'm a $185 richer today.

jeanette weiss   san francisco

2:10pm on Friday, October 17th, 2008 

do you still belive a right portfolio can generate the same income 10-12% return after this finacial mkt crash? i'm concern the MMkt hard to keep $1 value.

Greg   CA

10:28pm on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 

As the market peaked in November 2007, Brinker would boast about the gains achieved since his buy call in March 2003. He kept calling for new highs in the of 1600 in S&P. When the market headed into what would become a huge bear market, Brinker would ridicule the "casandras" and "bad news bears" he then made calls to "BUY" on ever precedeing dip. He refuses to acknowledge the cause of inflation, which is the relentless debasement of our currency thru monetary expantion by the federal reserve. He bashes GOLD, even though it is the only real secular BULL market ongoing. I think Brinker is doing a more harm then good for his liseners.

David   london

3:21pm on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 

Like most of you, the market has left me high and dry. So much for critical mass.

Tom   Hawaii

2:21am on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 

My uncle shared his paid subscription to the newsletter with me. Ever since the peak of the market Mr. Brinker urged readers to buy on each low claiming that the market was a good buy and the broader economy was healthy. Now it is September and the market is much lower and the financial system is on the verge of collapse. Anyone who followed Mr. Brinker's advice could not possibly be happy at this time.

Bob Hadley   New York, New York

12:31pm on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 

Bob does a good job. His market calls have been good, very good, except his missing of the recent cyclical bear market which may proove to be more than that. My one major complaint is that he doesn't discuss his buy and sell calls near as much as he used to,and he doesn't discuss the market much, either. He could fairly say why give it away on the radio when others have to pay, but to that I would say that some out there can't afford it, and it would be good for Bob to give back to those who have loyally followed him for many years. Bob

Bill WATSON   CALIFORNIA

1:59am on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 

VERY GOOD LONG TERM ADVICE.