Most influential commentators, traders, tipsters

[Gringotts Bank]

Hi,

I'd like to compile a list of the most influential commentators, traders or tipsters that you know.

So I don't necessarily want the richest (although they may will be), or the most popular (they may even be quite unpopular) or the most widely read..... but the most influential.

Someone like Soros would be a good one because if he tells the media he is short the USD then he will move the market. Unfortunately he doesn't talk to the media often enough for us to watch his moves.

Diggers and Drillers recommendations definitely move markets but not in a way that is useful for me, because the market usually gaps significantly the moment one of their recs is released.

Whom do you know that you'd call influential? It would help if they have a website.

 

[Julia]

"Influential" unfortunately is no guarantee of quality.
A few nights ago I heard Paul Clitheroe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Clitheroe on the ABC's "Nightlife" talkback program where he appears several times a year.
He claims a successful business, IPAC Securities, http://www.ipac.com.au/, and has written a few books on how to make money.

Callers seem to hang on his every word as being direct from God, despite some of the non-specific waffle he produces.
eg a caller asked if this was a good time to enter the market. Mr Clitheroe's response was suitably vague and was along the lines "Well, people are always going to use banks, people are always going to have to eat, people are always going to need energy products, so it really doesn't matter when you get in. You could buy any of the banks, Woolworths, BHP and know you're going to do OK. See, what do we know? We know that the population is always increasing and it doesn't matter about the ups and downs, it all works out well in the end". etc etc

No mention of the devastation caused to many via the GFC or that the market is still, four years or more later, well below pre GFC levels.

Then another caller who had, I think, a couple of thousand to invest. So inexperienced he had no idea about even how to buy shares. He was at least sensibly directed to the ASX website for basic intro.
But then advised to put this small amount across several different companies for diversification, no mention of the effect of brokerage.

At completely the other end of the spectrum there's Satyajit Das http://www.economonitor.com/blog/author/sdas3/ who is superb imo.

 

[CanOz]

Personally my two favorites are Jim Rogers and Marc Faber....

Both sounding pretty bearish generally but they still wager long and short, intermediate to long term sort of traders/investors.



CanOz

 

[Gringotts Bank]

Thanks guys and girls. Came across this in my searching. Looks ok too: http://www.gurufocus.com