Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

Im new to the game. Dont know the darnest thing about investing. I figured I can learn some of the jargon by watching his CNBC show. I looked on the net and couldn't find any negetive comments about him.

Behind the wild antics is he a decent analyst?
How does his podcast, Action Alert PLus, and books compare to his show? Are they all solid too?

Thanks for the help.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

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I looked on the net and couldn't find any negetive comments about him.


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You didn't look very hard.

eastbay

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

You can do much better by investing in index funds.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

I tend to think of Cramer and investing in the same light as Phil Hellmuth and poker.

Both have done very well in the past in their professions and have made a lot of money for themselves.
Both make for good ratings on TV for their standout antics.
Both have made a lot of money outside of their professions by marketing themselves successfully.
Both are very appealing to people just starting out in the field.
Both are terrible at teaching others on how to do what they do.
Both are laughed at by people who know what they are doing.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

Read "Trading with the Enemy" by Nicholas Maier(sp?) for a candid look at JC

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

[ QUOTE ]
I tend to think of Cramer and investing in the same light as Phil Hellmuth and poker.

Both have done very well in the past in their professions and have made a lot of money for themselves.
Both make for good ratings on TV for their standout antics.
Both have made a lot of money outside of their professions by marketing themselves successfully.
Both are very appealing to people just starting out in the field.
Both are terrible at teaching others on how to do what they do.
Both are laughed at by people who know what they are doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cramer has not come close to approaching, in the financial world, the stature Hellmuth has in the poker world.

You can do okay by going against Cramer. I know a couple guys that do that when Cramer has moved a stock. He doesn't take tv seriously. Some of his buy rec's are so ridiculous that it's obvious he did little or no research on them. There's even a website or two that track how crappy his picks are.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

sandbaggin has been

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

John,

I would recommend watching Cramer as good entertainment, if you are interested in the market.

However, with so many people watching the show, his picks are of little value if blindly followed. Also, the stuff he talks about on his show, he's already talked about on thestreet.com (and even more so, the pay site realmoney.com), so viewers taking his picks from TV are essentially the bagholders (if they don't know how to properly trade the reaction to his comments).

He has a few books, and they are good reading material. Reading them will also help you to understand how he thinks, based on his background, which is different than your typical investor.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

No way should you be watching Jim Cramer for your introduction to investing. Read a book like A Random Walk Down Wall Street, or Investing for Dummies. As another poster said, you are better off with index funds, at least while you're still learning.

The Hellmuth/Cramer comparison is decent, except for the fact that despite the antics and teaching ability, Hellmuth absolutely pwns at what he does.

Re: Your Opinions About Jim Cramer
 

IMO he's a pretty good listen for overall market conditions and sector analysis, and even good for some ideas that I wouldn't have thought of. If you can use some of your own discretion, I think he's definitely worth listening to as an information source. You gotta realize though, that he's gonna air a show and recommend several stocks even if there really aren't any new good stocks worth recommending that day. Beginners snatching up every stock he recommends will lose.