Whoo Hoo its PARTY TIME!! Stocks are running and gunning!! Break out the champagne and cigars boys we’re gonna party like its 1999!

WHOA!! HOLD ON COWBOY!

Yes the action on NASDAQ and the S&P 500 looks good; really good. We’ve broken out to multi year highs and are starting to see strength in the semiconductors and Internet sectors. Heck, even oil looks like it’s wants to take a short breather here.

But there's a dirty little secret that the Wall Street firms hope you won’t find out. Let me back up for a second. The unspoken goal of Wall Street is not to make you money, it’s not to lose you money either (they just can’t help doing that!)

I’m going to let you in on a HUGE industry secret! Are you ready? Ok, here it is:

THE NUMBER ONE GOAL OF ANY FIRM IS TO KEEP YOU EVEN.

Why?

Have you noticed that many firms have shifted away from commission oriented transaction business to charging an annual fee instead? On the surface it looks like a good deal. “My objectives are tied with your objectives Mr. Jones” says your friendly neighborhood broker, “the more you make, the more I make.”

But do you know why the firms have really made this move? It’s not because their good guys and wanted to do you a favor. They realized that they could not consistently show you above market returns. So how could they keep your account, keep you even and stop you from bolting? I can just imagine the strategy meeting that took place…

Business Development Guy #1 “I know what, let’s spend millions of marketing dollars convincing everybody that they cannot make money on their own! Then let’s convince everybody that the only way to make money is to buy a diversified mix of mutual funds and hold onto it for 30 years!”

Business Development Guy #2 “We need a new catchy name for this scam err... excuse me, I mean approach. Oh, Oh, I know, I know, let’s call it MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY!”

Business Development Guy #3 “Yes! Yes! That’s it, oh and by the way; take a look at all this yummy projected cash flow on those 1% fees we will be collecting for the next THIRTY YEARS!!”

If any ones popping champagne corks and smoking cigars right now it’s the large money asset management boys, it’s going to be a big year for them as the investment public pours back into index funds and the like.

But you know what the ugly truth is? In July of 1998 the S&P 500 was at 1175, on Friday it closed at 1,233.68. That’s a measly investment return of 4.2%!!

Do you know what the Wall Street Firms are saying now?

MISSION ACOMPLISHED.