Sometimes you just don’t know, ya know? Sometimes it’s hard to tell up from down in the market and tell you why exactly something is happening. Look no further than the Hopium raging Wednesday: Stock market news for May 6, 2026. Is the market rally justified? Does it make sense? Is the war almost over? Will oil prices come down quickly? I just don’t know.
The reason is a pretty simple one. We weren’t meant to know. Our brains aren’t designed to compile every piece of available financial data from all across the world, somehow ferret out the intentions of every big actor on the global stage and synthesize it into a big, CONFIDENT, stock market call. Should we be bullish and brave or bearish and bashful? And why?
Sometimes I just don’t know. Like right now. There are too many different signals in different directions and plenty of reasons to distrust integral indicators, such as paper oil prices versus physical oil prices at the ports. And I think it’s OK to not know. I would much rather tell you that than to pretend to accurately Futurecast the way so many YouTubers insist on doing with every single video. “Listen to me because I can make all the big important stock market calls!”
I’ll just say this: sometimes the most CONFIDENT voice in the room is exactly the one to be extremely wary of. So today I’ll take the opportunity to function as sort of a road warning sign. Beware CONFIDENT YouTubers and Financial People in this market environment!! Remember the “con” in con man stands for something. When people most need guidance sometimes the loudest voice in the room (or splashiest, most confident take on YouTube) wins. Because I’m the ONLY person in the galaxy who has watched seemingly every Financial YouTuber out there in the hopes of uncovering legitimate information sources (which, on occasion I do), I have the goods on “What Not to Click On”. Thumbnails of videos to ignore on YouTube may include the following:
Background Fire and the YouTube Careerists: If I knew someone who wanted to burn something down every time they posted on YouTube, I would not want to be around that person. Yet many YouTubers seem to think that if they call for Doom and Gloom and Calamity Jane in every single video, and then throw that background fire behind them on the thumbnail, that it will generate more clicks. Because of course, that’s the real game. Beware the YouTube channel where the so-called advisor makes a living off of clicks, because they’re going to sensationalize and magnify every call they make. Just like the news media has become – hype will carry the day. And every call, heck nearly all of their calls, aren’t worth that.
Urgent Calls to Action: If it involves doing something fast at their command, they are running nothing more than Pavlov’s dog experiment. We truly hope that none of our clients are salivating on command when presented with dramatic YouTube music (especially at another channel). Doing something fast without analysis in the market may not work out as well as a thought-out, carefully orchestrated retirement plan with a mind to taxes now, taxes later, inflation, expenses, retirement goals, purposes of each of your accounts and so on. So don’t fall in with the “do-it-now” crowd.
The One-Arrow Quiver: This is like the life insurance salesman with one of the big houses that spends their time planning how to craft every pitch and meet every situation with a permanent life insurance sale. I know because I spent all of 4 weeks in one. This also includes most videos on the subject of gold. Heck there are even “newscasts” and I won’t name names but gold brokerages don the auspices of a newscast to frame nearly every story in economic uncertainty and introduce each special guest whose job it is to present financial conditions that favor the purchase of gold. Or Silver. So maybe they have 2 arrows. I’ll give them that much credit. But if you have to bend every story to accommodate the thing you are selling, you are NOT acting as a fiduciary and you are a commissioned salesperson only. If at the end of the day, it still makes sense to you and you are fully aware you are listening to commissioned salespeople and not journalists or newscasters, that don’t at all have to have your best interests at heart, then so be it.
Assault with a Deadly Chart: And other analysis, especially if it’s presented quickly and moves the narrative along. If you do partake, then the pause button should be used liberally to verify authenticity of charts, as it’s so easy on so many programs now to make them now yourself. Half of them are done by AI and half the time AI hallucinates, so by my 10-finger math that means that one-quarter of the time you’re probably looking at the figment of a computer’s imagination. Not exactly the thing you want underpinning your investment strategies.
“This is Not Financial Advice!” – They say that because they are not actually licensed to give financial advice and think this STUPID statement will protect them from lawsuits, and they even include long disclaimers to emphasize that misconception. It’s amazing what we all can talk ourselves into isn’t it? But everything out of the YouTuber’s mouth after that statement is nothing but financial advice, including what stocks to buy, at what price and even when to sell. That person does not know you and cannot render that advice. They almost never possess a Series 65, meaning they likely haven’t passed the Uniform Investment Advisor Law Exam, and even if they did, they would not and should not want to render blanket financial advice to everyone. That’s why we tell you if you have questions or need advice to call us at the end of every article and video. Blanket advice is bad advice, especially stock advice.
Background Lighting – If your favorite financial YouTuber has light green, light blue, light pink or light purple string lights draped everywhere and Cool Jazz softly playing then you are the snake dancing for the snake charmer. Try instead the AI generated channels that show an image of a wooden porch with soft couches by an unbelievable waterfall or lake with the soft jazz in the background and find peace without the financial advice rendered from Mom and Dad’s basement.
Call-in Shows Dramatizing Real-Life Situations (with real stupid people doing really stupid things): There are now several of these. These shows are funnels. Do you feel yourself sliding down? I can tell you what you’ll likely land in at the bottom if you have any sort of wealth and are put through to “an advisor”: An expensive set of mutual funds. Surprise! Quick commissions are the game here. If a mutual fund product is the endgame then your hero’s journey will end by stepping on a trap door of expenses and inefficiency. And down the funnel you go …
This Stock Will 10X (or 100X); The SECRET blah blah blah; Buy This Stock Now; You’ll Wish You blah blah blah. BUY EVERY SHARE!!: That last one is of course the most dangerous one. It’s also the last Thumbnail I saw on YouTube before writing this. When luring you into a narrative, these YouTubers have a tendency to push you all the way to becoming a Maximalist, meaning that you are not diversified and you have much of your net worth in one position or perhaps one asset class. I’m thinking here of all the crypto enthusiasts pushing Bitcoin or Solana for example. Gold and silver bugs would also fit here. The further we get away from the last “real” crash of 2008, the easier it is to push for more and more return by investing into unproven technology stocks, things that might possibly but not likely go 10X or the elusive Hundred-Bagger. These are traps. The videos are clickbait. The odds are the presenter, who is likewise “not giving financial advice” and is egging you on to follow his or her calls, is not invested as much as they would have you do. How could they? They have a big call once every other day!
Radio Too-Easy Street: I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it, (just like Kermit the Frog in “Rainbow Connection”), and I have to call it out. If you hear any financial guy on the radio say an annuity is “Guaranteeing 6 or 7%”, it’s a lie. What they are referencing is called a “roll-up rate” and is how the income rider base grows on an income rider annuity. It’s not an interest rate because it is merely an input in a formula. It’s true that in most cases the income base will grow each year you defer your income benefit by that 6 or 7%. HOWEVER, that income base number is then multiplied by a percentage based on how old you are, or the younger of a married couple. I’ve seen those percentages vary widely with different insurance carriers to lower the eventual payout to their annuity holders. Bottom line: if the final dollar value can be manipulated by another factor, you cannot call it an interest rate. What’s more is that this income base value cannot be accessed via lump sum. Again, it’s an input in a formula. So … if you hear an ad offering a rate that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is! Of all the things I’ve mentioned above the most people fall for this one because the manipulation goes beyond coaxing and detonates the trust bridge with an outright lie (years later when the buyer figures it out).
Radio Fear, Loathing and Politics: Here’s the real slick trick, and it’s the one that makes me the most sick to my stomach. What if an advisor were to have a radio show in an area where many listeners shared a set of politics (which is common of course in most places in the US)? What if that advisor were to spend way more time talking about politics to have you repeatedly nod your head yes in agreement to their political takes? What if that advisor were to then lean into all the financial and economic reasons you should be afraid in the current economic situation, regardless of what that economic situation is? And what if that advisor’s goal all along was to simply sell you an annuity after they wound you into a yarn ball of angst and tucked you neatly into a fetal position in the corner? The real question is if you knew that was the goal ahead of time, are your politics so important that you would still let yourself get wound up and fall into the trap? Welcome to many financial advisors’ Weekend Radio Shows … (Ours excepted, of course). And that word “Fiduciary,” which used to mean something, just gets tossed around by all the people who really shouldn’t be using it.
I could go on … and on … and on. If you start me up … I could have gone into posts on X that lure people into monthly subscriptions. I could have talked about advisor’s TV shows. I have more than a few bones to pick. There’s a reason that financial advisors get lumped in with used car salesmen in terms of “trusted professionals”. The Bernie Madoffs and Home Gold and countless other scams are just the headline examples. There’s ugly stuff out there everywhere just wanting to lure you in for your life savings out there. X, Facebook, Instagram, TV, the old-fashioned radio are just clamoring for your ears and eyes to capture your minds and hearts. I wanted to point out just how much out there is this Attention Economy is set up for the benefit of the presenter both from a Click and a Commission standpoint (sometimes both!). As we all get older and maybe not as sharp as we were in our Twenties and Thirties, it’s all the more easy to fall victim to these conniving, and frequently charismatic personalities. Unfortunately, we’ve seen it happen.
But there are good people that can help you too. There’s an old Warren Buffett adage that you should “Invest in WHAT you know”. I might say that’s incomplete. We should add: “Invest with WHO you know.” I realize some of you reading this or watching our YouTube Channel might not know us. But we are inviting you in to get to know us. Our first meetings are nothing more than “a cup of coffee” meetings to get to know you and you us. There are no sales of anything designed ahead of time and no machinations behind the scenes. We don’t even begin to Solve for X until the 3rd meeting. Give us a call if you need someone to walk you through your retirement. I’m not saying we’ll never use a financial product to solve for a financial issue, but we sure are going to get to know you very well first. I’m not sure the same can be said for others who engineer the sale of the same thing to everyone, who engineer their marketing to accomplish such and pretend their financial advice is custom-tailored and not cookie-cutter commission sales. If you are a client reading this, please pause for a minute or two to think who might benefit from reading or listening to this epistle. If there are people in your life you don’t want to fall victim to those manipulations I mentioned, then please introduce them to us or help us set up a phone call with them.
I hereby reluctantly step down from my soapbox as it’s the only way I can stand over 6 feet tall. I hope you’ve lent me your ears for a few minutes and will think twice before clicking your remote and inviting someone into your living room who maybe shouldn’t be there. Remember … if you listen to us, we’ll change your financial world.
Sincerely,
Scott Wright
Portfolio Crusader
The Wealth Training Academy
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Investing advice is provided by Idle Hill Advisors, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser. Past performance is never a guarantee of future results. We offer a lot of services. Our planning, tax, and insurance strategies are designed to improve financial outcomes when implemented as recommended. We’re confident in these strategies, but results will vary based on individual circumstances. Investment results cannot be guaranteed. Unless otherwise indicated, no third party individuals mentioned in this article are clients of our firm, nor have they been compensated for appearing. This article is for educational purposes only – we do not recommend anyone buy or sell any security discussed here. Instead, we recommend readers call our office for personal advice about your circumstances! ~The Compliance Department.)
