For the last ten years a fellow has been "investing" in stocks and now 
has less money than when he started. Obviously some unwise decisions were 
made. He started with  $40,000 and failed to keep track of 
the time he was spending "investing" to say nothing of  
what he was paying on commissions and taxes. All in all, he's making less 
than the minimum wage, or worse-- completely wasting his time !
 His upside was only about $10,000 and his downside is the whole $40,000.
 That's the same for everybody.
 Why is it that for the last ten years he could not have been satisfied 
with $2,000 to $7,000 per year return?
 Only a dummy thinks he is going to satisfy his gambling addiction while 
at the same time 
putting his life savings into sensible and responsible assets. Here's a
 useful telephone number for him: 1-800-GAMBLER. They can talk him down
from the ledge. Don't jump !
 Are tax-free municipal bond funds boring to him? Needed more excitement?
He's just caught up in the frenzy of imitiating the fictitious 
superheroes on the financial television shows.
 He thought it was just a joke that his company has matched his 401(k) 
contributions. That's free money! 
 How many of his call options were profitable? Almost none!
 Has he ever sold a stock short? Why not?  Scared?
 He thought he was so smart that buying options was wiser than selling 
stocks short when in fact the latter is often justifiable. Isn't he aware 
that commodities traders sell short just as often as buying long?
 How much less knowledgeable could he be?
 Oh, he borrowed the money to "invest?" What a gigantic dummy!
 Ever heard of stop-loss? He lost most of his money by not considering 
this  because not only did 
 he not use a stop-loss order, he kept buying the stock as its price 
 declined.
 Now everyone sees how big of an idiot he is, not just a dummy!
 He accelerated his losses instead of stopping them.
 Maybe he can turn that all around with a new attitude.
 He should take some time off,  catch his breath,  and meditate.
 Now he should let his money get the 0.5% annual interest offered from his 
broker's money market fund or a savings account.
 He needs to be humble. He isn't going to double his money this year, 
for crying out loud!
 Maybe next year he will be mature enough to examine the merits of buying 
one or more of the stocks 
 listed at take-overs.com and gain a double digit return.
 That's why it's provided !