An Introduction

Hi. Welcome to BourGroup and my blog. Phil

Phil Bour is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm) professional since 2004, a Magna Cum Laude college graduate and an accounting professional for over 35+ years. I love numbers, statistics and economic history.

I am also an Enrolled Agent (EA) to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and to prepare tax returns.

"Phil"osophy: I believe that you can manage your money on your own (not necessarily through individual stock selection but through mutual funds, ETF's and other solutions) once you receive some one-time, professional guidance. Why pay annual fees when there may be little added value? For additional information, first read the "An Introduction" label at the left. Then move on to others.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Contrarian Philosophy to Building Wealth

In the latest Merrill Lynch RIC report (October 9, 2007) it states:

"...The key to building long-term wealth is to identify potential new investment themes, analyze them for risk and return, and, when appropriate, invest in them early, before the crowd forms..."

Is this true? Is it even possible? Is there anywhere we can point to that shows someone consistently doing that? Is this just the contrarian philosophy? Does it work?

Money managers and economists have been debating these questions for quite some time. Money managers sell investments; economists are independent and objective. Hmmmmm...