Do Opinions Have Value?

Five-Minute Friday: OPINION (An Investor’s Enemy No. 2)

Just about every area of life opens up an endless list of opinions. Some of these areas include religion, investing, politics, relationships, parenting, the source of life, when a person is a valuable human being, and health care. One thing I have observed is that most opinions seem to fall into two broad categories. The first category is one based on a belief someone holds with confidence that is based on very little knowledge, proof, or factual information. The other is a judgment based on special knowledge from an expert. Who will you trust?

Investing Opinions

There is no shortage of places to go to get opinions about investing. Then there are opinions about the way a person should invest and the right mix of assets to hold based on your age and “appetite for risk.” I often look at opinions on the Fidelity Investment’s website, on Seeking Alpha, at StockRover, and at Weiss Ratings. You can look for the “five star” Morningstar ratings. You can listen to Charles Payne or Warren Buffett. You can read what John Bogle has to say or James Cloonan. To add to the noise, you can join the Fidelity Investor Community or subscribe to my blog.

One advisor says, “sell your shares of the XYZ company” and another says, “buy like crazy the XYZ company shares.”

Truth and Facts Matter

Yesterday I went for an eye exam with a new optometrist at Fitchburg Family Eye Care. My opinion: I was very pleased with the way I was treated as a customer and as a recipient of health care services. But, of course, I cannot tell you if the optometrist is the best one in the ten-mile radius of our home. I don’t have enough facts to make that judgment call. Furthermore, I am not an optometrist, so my opinion is based on experience, including the careful explanation of the pictures they took of my eye and the way the exam was conducted.

The pictures of my eyes give the optometrist some important truths about my eyes.

In the end, my opinion is based primarily on experience, not on hard facts. My opinion has value, but it is not entirely based on facts. Other patients may have had a different experience.

There is one aspect of life where it is eternally dangerous to make decisions or hold opinions based on experiences. That area of life is in evaluating Christianity or placing one’s trust in Jesus the Messiah for life now and in the next life. If you evaluate Christianity or Jesus based on some Christians you have met (they claim to be Christ followers) you may come away from the experience concluding they are hypocrites or worse. You then, based on your opinion, reject the scriptures and the vast majority of the teachings of Jesus.

Investor’s Enemies

This is tied to a series I just started on the topic of an investor’s enemies. One of an investor’s enemies is listening to the wrong advice and opinions. This is sometimes the result of assuming someone who is your advisor or broker is an expert. It is also the result of assuming they have your best interest in mind when they give you advice. It is assuming they have the truth and reliable facts about every investment. But be certain of this: regardless of their (or my) expertise, knowledge, and experience, they are giving you opinions. Therefore, as the Proverbs wisely state: “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22

Where do you go for the facts or the truth?

But I would do you a disservice if I did not caution you to examine Jesus based on what God has said. You see, I believe the Bible contains the truth about you and me and about God. To have an opinion that is not based on truth and facts is a certain path to ruin.

How to Identify a Follower of Jesus

A disciple really believes what Jesus said about himself and his purpose in coming. He made his position and purpose very clear to his disciples in John 14: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Proverbs 13:10 “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.”

Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”

Five Minute Friday

This post is part of the weekly Five-Minute Friday link-up.

All scripture passages are from the English Standard Version except as otherwise noted.