It was a year ago yesterday that Meredith Whitney went on 60 Minutes and warned of the upcoming catastrophe in the municipal bond market. That may happen one day, but muni bonds had one of their better years and were among the best asset classes for all of 2011, showing once again the folly of predicting the markets and trying to invest based on those short-term predictions.
At this time of year you will see just about every brokerage firm and investment bank come out with their predictions for the year ahead. Some will be right based on the broken-clock theory – even a broken clock is right twice a day. Those that are right will tout those predictions next year. Those that were wrong will still come out and make predictions for the following year. They just can’t help themselves.
You can help yourselves by ignoring their predictions and investing based on your life circumstances, goals and risk tolerances, and finding the portfolio that works best for you.
