Wolf Of Wall Street Jordan Belfort Says Ignore Investing Experts, Humans Are 'Crappy Stock Pickers'

Jordan Belfort, best known as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” touted disreputable companies and engaged in securities fraud schemes in his younger days, but Belfort shared some surprisingly conservative financial strategies for building personal wealth last week on “The Tucker Carlson Encounter.”

What Happened: Belfort warned individual investors against listening to “experts,” which he said includes Tiktok gurus, money managers, financial analysts and TV hosts.

“Ignore the experts, especially Jim Cramer,” Belfort told Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Investors who follow buy and sell signals from experts or invest in actively managed mutual funds are often exposed to unnecessary fees, commissions and increased tax liability, he said. 

Belfort also advised against selecting individual stocks or trying to time the market. He noted that a vast majority of people, including professional analysts, are terrible at predicting market moves.

“Human beings, by our nature, are crappy stock pickers, and when you try to pick individual stocks, you tend to lose most of the time,” he said. 

Why It Matters: Instead, Belfort recommended that investors buy and hold high quality stocks for long periods of time, reinvest quarterly dividends and lean on compounding growth.

One of the most efficient ways for individuals to access the consistently profitable companies is by investing in ETFs that track the S&P 500 index, such as the SPDR S&P 500 SPY.

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Belfort encouraged investors to manage risk by diversifying investment portfolios with bond funds, again cautioning against trying to make predictions like which bonds would offer the best returns.

“You’re trading against bond professionals that are, like, going to rip your eyeballs out trying to beat the market,” he said. 

Belfort acknowledged that his advice would have been much different in his younger days as he stressed the importance of passive investing.

“Passive investing, not active, passive investing — exactly the opposite of what I told people to do when I was in my twenties,” Belfort said.

SPY Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, the SPDR S&P 500 closed Wednesday down 0.83% at $468.90. 

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