Don't Mess with Mr. In-Between

I'm terrified of becoming Rev Shark's poster child for losers. Every day - and I mean, every day - he says anybody who buys stock right now is a sorry sap whose money will go bye-bye in a hurry.

I read him every day and I believe what he says. The problem is, I'm also reading these other smart guys, like Dick Arms in Barron's today, saying that this is the exquisite moment, the inflectional cusp, on the crest of which all my dreams will come true. If I'm in.

I'm in.

Somehow, I have managed to commit half of my available funds to stocks and mutual funds, and they are now going down.

I was early getting out, last year, and now I'm early getting back in. Years ago, when I used to hang out at the Merrill Lynch office, I heard an old trader say that, when a stock doubled, he didn't care about getting the first 25 percent or the last 25 percent. He was happy to get the 50 percent in between.

I took that for wisdom. In my case, right now, I'm getting the 2 percent in between.