The Wall Street Journal today highlighted a new book by Harry S. Dent entitled, "The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History." I thought to myself it sounds like an excellent self-help book for the coming year. Then I did a quick look on Amazon and I discovered Dent's last book, published in 2004 is entitled, "The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History, 2005-2009." In the editor's description of that book, Dent predicts...

** The Dow hitting 40,000 by the end of the decade (2010)

** The Nasdaq advancing at least ten times from its October 2001 lows to around 13,500, and potentially as high as 20,000 by 2009

** The Great Boom resurging into its final and strongest stage in 2007, and even more fully in 2008, lasting until late 2009 to early 2010

In the editorial description of his new release, Dent predicts:

**The economy appears to recover from the subprime crisis and minor recession by mid-2009 -- "the calm before the real storm."

**Stock prices start to crash again between mid- and late 2009 into late 2010, and likely finally bottom around mid-2012 -- between Dow 3,800 and 7,200.

**The economy enters a deeper depression between mid-2010 and early 2011, likely extending off and on into late 2012 or mid-2013.

So, now we are all supposed to shell out $18 bucks to see how he got it WRONG by a few critical years but we should believe that now he's right!

Who is Harry S. Dent??? His website says he's an "economics expert" trusted by "financial professionals." In addition to book and audiotape sales on his website, you can also attend his seminars and hire him to speak for your group. It goes to show you that anyone can make money peddling any type of advice as long as it's what people want to hear.

The moral of this story for me is that I should continue to learn and absorb information, reflect upon it but be careful about applying "expert"  advice.