But my dear, surely you didn't mean me? Stock pickers have NOT outperformed the markets in the last 2 years (unless they were shorters) and are not likely to do so here either. I posted the results of my picks from Monday through today: <A HREF="http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=391358" target="_new">http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=391358</A> I haven't been short very much at all this year. Put there are longs that can be balanced against shorts. I could use a vacation too <g Sam