Subject: Re: OT: Mungofitch - Any observations on DG results_QM
Jim recommends absolutely nothing. IMHO. He throws up ideas and discusses his own investments. I would not call that "promotion". If I decide to follow his ideas then I am sole responsible for my investment decisions.

Of course you are absolutely right with that. But I am not sure whether that does justice to the psychological complexity. For very good reasons Jim is the by far most respected poster here, as the rec's more than clearly show. If Jim says "KMX looks very interesting at this price because..." it's similar to Warren saying such. It would not only not dismissed, not only not objectively looked into, it would be treated as coming from a hugely superior investor --- as it actually does. And herein lies the danger:

As someone just wrote whether you won or lost with DG, KMX, Bread etc. depends on your entry/exit points. If Jim's suggestions fail, sophisticated investors might nevertheless have made money by for example being initially skeptical, but having bought later on the way down and sold into a recovery of the stock. And sophisticated investors as also has been written here are simply responsible themselves for what they do, whether they follow a suggestion or not.

But not everyone is a sophisticated investor and knows what he does. Is a child, following a highly admired adult into something that hurt it because it - contrary to the adult - had no realistic idea about it, is that child responsible for having being hurt?

Saying that just to give another perspective to the usual "... you are responsible for what you do". Sounds great, but I think as most short and great sounding sentences it's too simple. Life is too complex for simple formulas and responsibility very much depends on who gives advice and who receives advice. That's probably one of the reasons Warren does not give single stock advice, and I wouldn't be surprised if Jim also has many more stock picking ideas which he is cautious not to share for that same reason.