Stop Fooling Investors: Why Financial Media Cannot Help You Build Wealth

By
Hemant Beniwal
-
39
Stop Fooling Investors

Last Updated on April 23, 2026 by teamtfl

“The market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett

In 2009, I sat across from a client who had just lost a significant amount following stock tips from a popular business TV channel. He had watched every morning. He had followed the recommendations. He had traded accordingly. The channel’s “expert” had been wrong most of the time – but confidently, photographically wrong, with charts and targets and authoritative language.

The client was not unsophisticated. He was a senior engineer with a science degree and two decades of professional experience. He had simply been told what he wanted to hear: that there were people who knew where the market was going, and that they were willing to share that knowledge for free on national television.

They were not. They are not. The TV pundit problem has not changed in 15 years – it has simply migrated platforms.

⚡ Quick Answer

Financial media – whether TV channels, YouTube experts, Telegram groups, or social media influencers – optimises for attention and engagement, not for investment accuracy. Their incentive is to be interesting, not to be right. Research consistently shows that financial media predictions have no predictive value beyond random chance. The investors who build the most wealth are those who consume the least financial media and follow the most systematic, boring investment processes.

Financial media experts TV pundits and investor harm

Why Financial Media Cannot Help You Invest

A business news channel needs to fill 18 hours of airtime every day. The stock market, on most days, does nothing interesting. Stocks trade sideways. Volumes are unremarkable. There is no obvious news hook. But the channel still needs to fill 18 hours.

The result is that normal, uninteresting market behaviour is relentlessly transformed into narrative. “Markets nervous ahead of Fed decision.” “Nifty consolidating at key support.” “This stock set to break out.” The language implies knowledge, insight, and predictive power. It implies that the analyst on screen knows something you do not.

They do not. The direction of markets on any given day is not knowable in advance. The specific breakout point of any individual stock is not knowable. Studies across multiple markets consistently show that the aggregate of analyst predictions does not outperform random chance over time. The famous 1987 study by Philip Tetlock, extended across 20 years and involving thousands of predictions from political and economic “experts,” found that the average expert’s predictions were barely better than a dart-throwing chimpanzee.

The problem is worse with social media. TV channels at least have regulatory oversight and reputational consequences. Telegram channels and Instagram accounts have neither. A person with 50,000 followers, attractive charts, and confident language has no accountability for the recommendations they make. When a tip fails, they simply move on to the next one.

The investors who win are those who make fewer decisions, not more.

RetireWise builds investment plans that run systematically – SIPs, annual rebalancing, goal tracking – with minimal need for market commentary or reaction to financial media.

See How RetireWise Builds Systematic Portfolios

The Incentive Structure Explains Everything

A business TV channel earns revenue from advertising. Advertising rates are linked to viewership. Viewership is linked to how engaging the content is. Engaging content means dramatic calls: “Buy this stock – 40% upside.” “Market crash coming.” “This sector about to explode.” Boring content means lower viewership: “Stay in your SIPs, do nothing, review annually.”

The channel’s financial incentive directly opposes your financial interest. They make money when you watch. You make money when you do not watch and do not trade. Every trading decision triggered by media commentary generates transaction costs and tax liabilities for you – and produces no additional advertising revenue for the channel regardless of whether you make or lose money.

This is not a conspiracy. It is simple incentive alignment – or rather, misalignment. The channel is doing exactly what its incentives require. The problem is that investors often mistake entertainment designed to keep them watching for advice designed to help them invest.

What Actually Predicts Investment Outcomes

Decades of research in finance have identified the factors that actually predict long-term investment outcomes. They are not the factors discussed on financial TV:

Savings rate matters more than investment selection. An investor who saves 20% of income in index funds will vastly outperform an investor who saves 5% in carefully selected stocks. The savings rate is the primary driver of wealth accumulation, not asset selection skill.

Time in the market matters more than timing. Missing the best 10 trading days in any decade typically halves long-term returns. Those best days come unpredictably, often immediately after the worst days. Market timers – those who move in and out based on predictions – statistically miss more good days than they avoid bad ones.

Cost matters enormously over time. The difference between a 1.5% TER and a 0.3% TER on a Rs 50 lakh portfolio is Rs 75,000 per year in costs – which compounds against you. The financial media rarely discusses this because it is not exciting content.

Behaviour matters most of all. The investor who earns average returns but stays invested through every market cycle will outperform the investor who earns higher average returns but sells during corrections. The “behaviour gap” – the difference between what markets return and what the average investor actually receives – is documented at 1-3% annually in most studies.

How to Use Financial Media (If At All)

Financial news is useful for one thing: understanding macroeconomic context. Knowing that interest rates are rising, that a specific sector faces regulatory headwinds, or that a company has filed for bankruptcy is useful background for a long-term investor. It informs asset allocation thinking without requiring immediate action.

Financial news is useless – and actively harmful – as a source of specific buy/sell recommendations. Every market call, price target, or “don’t miss this stock” segment should be treated as entertainment, not advice. The analyst making the call has no accountability for the outcome and no knowledge of your specific financial situation.

A practical rule: consume financial news to understand context, not to trigger action. If you find yourself wanting to buy or sell something immediately after watching a segment, that is the correct moment to stop, wait 48 hours, and ask whether this decision fits your existing financial plan.

Read: Behavioural Finance: How Your Mind Sabotages Your Money Decisions

The TV channel expert is not losing anything from your financial decisions. You are. That asymmetry should inform every moment you spend consuming financial media.

Turn off the noise. Trust the process.

Have you ever made an investment decision based on a TV tip or Telegram recommendation?

A RetireWise financial plan replaces media-triggered decisions with a systematic process – SIPs, rebalancing, annual review – that runs on autopilot and ignores the noise.

Book a Free 30-Min Call

Your Turn

Have you ever followed a TV or social media tip – and how did it actually turn out over 2-3 years? The honest retrospective is usually more instructive than any analysis. Share in the comments.

39 COMMENTS

  3. Dear Anil,
    I want some information on Guaranteed saving insurance plan. through icici , whether is this good to buy or not. please advice me and tell me its merits and demerits

  4. Hi Anil,

    Yes ,You are right.

    My age is 28 and i am not married and my expenses are less.Yes apart from

    Tax saving investments i need to look for other investment options in the market.

    I am planning to Investment in equity mutual funds through SIP.I read your post Best Mutual Funds for SIP. The information is really good.

    I will collect some more information and start Investing in equity mutual funds.

    Finally i really appreciate you and Hemant for sharing the knowledge and teaching us about Financial planning.Thank you thanks again:)

    Thanks and Regards,
    Anand

  5. Hi Anil,
    I know that lock in period of three years is involved in ELSS Mutual funds.I have choosen ELSS because of 3 years lockin period only( In case of FD term is 5 years and intrest is Taxable and PPF is 15 years lockin period)and I read income tax benefit is available for ELSS for this financial year.If i feel fund peformance is not good. I may consider to remove 2 funds from my list after lockin period of three years.As you mentioned i agree having so many funds of same type will not provide any diversification .But i read for starters who don’t know much knowledge about fund performance it’s okey to have 5 funds in there folio.
    My question : Apart from ELSS & PPF and Fixed Deposit What are the other good investment Tax saving Plans available in the market .Can you please guide me or share me if you know any better investments plans better than PPF , ELSS and FD for TAX saving.

    Thanks,
    Anand

    • Hi Anand
      You are a young person with risk appetite.At this time your focus should be on wealth creation to meet your long term goals.You should not be concentrating only on saving tax.Moreover you can invest only Rs one lac on tax saving schemes which you can easily do in the options you have mentioned.There is no need to look for something else.This is the right time for you to start investing in equity mutual funds.

  6. Hi Anil,
    Thanks for replying .I agree with your comments i have selected the above funds with the focus of Tax saving only. Let me clear , My income comes under 10 % tax braket .To save tax and get returns better than FD and ULIP or insurance i have choosen ELSS funds .I know risk is involved and i am ready to take risk.
    My investments in ELSS mutuval funds is 60,000 Per annum through SIP this is only for the present financial year. Next year i am not sure whether ELSS funds are eligibale for Tax excemption.
    My question was ?The peformance of below selected fund is good or bad?
    (1) Canara robeco equity tax saver
    (2) HDFC long term advantage.
    (3) Fedility tax advantage
    (4)Franklin india TAX sheild
    (5) HDFC Tax SAVER
    Apart form this i am planing to invest 15000.00 in PPF and 5000.00 in Term insurance . (No ..no not in ULIP:).).On more thing my deduction for EPF is 43000.00 Per annum this includes employer contrbution also.
    In the view of TAX saving my allocation is good or any thing is missing i want to know. ?
    If you feel i am asking same question again i am really sorry.Can you please explain breifly so that i can understand. I agree my financial knowledge is poor as i am in learning stage now.

    Thanks,
    Anand

    • Hi Anand
      I hope you know that lock in period of three years is involved in ELSS Mutual funds.Hence you will be able to get out of these funds only after three years.If no income tax benefit is available then these funds will be just like any other equity fund.Once you are already invested in these funds you can not do anything even if some of these funds do not perform.After the lock in period is over you can get out of these funds and construct your portfolio as already mentioned.Moreover you could have managed with only two ELSS funds.Using so many funds of the same type does not provide any diversification.Once you get out of these funds you can consider increasing your contribution in PPF.

  7. Hi Hemanth ,
    From past few months i have been reading your articles and i have shared few articles with my friends also please continue the good work.I am working as software engineer my age is 28 years and i am not married.Now days started learing about finance and investment because i donot want loose my hard earned money:) by choosing the wrong investment. I have started investing in ELSS funds through SIP option. This is the first time i have done my investment in ELSS Mutuval fund because of good salary hike my income is comming in 10 % Tax braket . My fund selection is below .
    (1) Canara rebeco
    (2) HDFC long term advantage.
    (3) Fedility tax advantage
    (4)Franklin india TAX sheild
    (5) HDFC Tax SAVER
    In all the funds i have selected Growth Option.
    Please let me know your thoughts about my fund selection is it good or bad ?
    Please be frank i am ready for any comments good or bad some times learing lesson also matters apart from earning.:)

    Thanks,
    Anand

    • Hi Anand
      Since you are interested in learning I would like to tell you to go through the post Best Mutual Funds for SIP.Investment in equity mutual funds is done to meet your long term goals like retirement etc.For this you have to remain invested for more than five years.First step is to construct your mutual fund portfolio.The amount to be invested per month will depend on the corpus required by you to meet your goals.To start with select one large cap fund,one large and midcap fund,one multicap fund and one mid and small cap fund in your portfolio.
      You have only mentioned the name of the fund house in item 1.Major portion of your portfolio consists of tax savers which is not the correct approach.Have a proper diversified portfolio as suggested.

  9. Hi

    Great collection. Though i knew about these jokers (learned the hard way) years back, was too good to see in the video play of 7min. Great work and keep going.

    Thanks

    Shinu

    • Hi Shinu,
      It’s important to learn…
      Few learn from others mistakes, most of the people from their own mistakes & remaining never learn.

  10. Hi,

    I used to listen to the views from these so called tech Gurus Ashwani Gujral and Shankar Sharma through TV channels. But I was having some doubt in mind that if they are really great in predicting the markets, then why are not they making money in markets and becoming like “Warren Buffet” and “Rakesh Jhunjunwala”.
    After seeing this article, I realized how much time I would have wasted watching their views in TV channels. Instead I would have spent time some where else where it makes sense. Really I feel they are chameleons. They will change their words immediately according to market conditions to survive.

    Thanks for opening my eyes.

    Thanks,
    Playboy.

    • Hi Playboy,
      As your name suggest you are a Casanova – similarly these analyst are Casanova’s of equity markets. 😉

  11. Hi Hemant,

    I completely agree with this Article….I myself have lost almost 30% of my portfolio during the past years.

    But Hemant, for an investor what should be the ideal source of correct/ true information of companies’ Direction? Since , not all investors are able to understand Balacesheet or Annual report of the companies, they (including me) rely on so called experts’ opinion.

    According to you,(besides following 4/5 * rated funds from sites like valueresearch or moneycontrol) what are the advisable ways of doing research on funds or equity….before investing?

    • Hi Sumu,
      I really appreciate that you shared your loss – its really tough to accept mistakes.
      My suggestion is to stick with mutual funds as we both don’t have a single quality that we can beat fund managers. Rating is one of the ways but they are many other things that people should watch – I will try to write few of them in my coming posts.

      • This is truly one of the finest example of making people fool on a large scale..And that too without any legal action against them. They never say anything about market and company PE and no fundamentals discussed. Actually these people have either very short term view about market or they seriously make people fool for their respective brokerage firm. I have never seen any of them saying market is trading at historical high PE in 2008. So what else to say…

  12. Dear Hemant,

    Superb article, drafted exactly how it should be read..

    Infact, most of the business channels are taking over from CRICKET MATCH telecast..Just like there is PRE-MATCH discussions, LUNCH TIME review, and POST MATCH analysis – these business channels are doing the same..Making noise with PRE-TRADING sessions, warming up with MIDCAP BAZAAR and AAJ KA SAUDA, then moving towards ANTIM BAAZI and FINAL CALL, to finally AAJ KA VYPAAR and MARKETS TODAY etc..

    Its now become more of a joke rather than helping some serious traders or retail investor…

  13. Hi Hemanth,

    I Have invested
    DLFLIM 100 386.47 Jaiprakash Assocites JAIASS 540 112.20 Gujrath Nre Coke GUJNRE 528 59.92 United bewrages holdings UNIBRE 261 211.57
    National hydro power corp NHPC 191 24.69 Reliance power RELPOW
    3449 199 Suzlon Energy SUZENE 275 79.17 Reliance Industries RELIND
    286 930.00 . I will try to hold the stocks upto 3 years can you please suggest the stocks position . I am looking to buy another 3000 shares of reliance power in next one year and try to hold it upto 2013 (upto starting production) of reliance power.
    Please suggest me i am trying average all my shares curruntly in 3 lakhs loss.
    Please suggest valuble shares. In next mail i will ask you about My ulips and mutual funds

    • Hi Naveen,
      I don’t track direct equity but still can say what you are trying to do is wrong. Actually what you are trying to do can be explained by prospect theory. Prospect theory explains the occurrence of the disposition effect, which is the tendency for investors to hold on to losing stocks for too long and sell winning stocks too soon.
      Do You Know: Most of the IT stocks (more than 99%) have not reached their highs of 2000 – 11 years is a long period.
      My suggestion is think -> learn -> decide – rather than doing it other way round.

    • Hi Paresh,
      My post is on every analyst that appears on stupid box. If you go through the moneymantra article – 90% of analyst’s calls went wrong. Percentage was even higher in case of technical analysts.

  15. Hi Hemant
    I regularly watch Business Channels and also read Personal Finance Magazines but my investment in Mutual Funds is not influenced by the views of so called experts.

    • Hi Anil,
      Getting information is a good habit but thinking it is knowledge is a mistake. So in one senses you are on right track – that it is not influencing your investment decisions. But you never know…..

      • Hi Hemant
        I am reproducing below the message which I received today.

        Dear Reader,
        This is an interesting scenario that we are witnessing.
        Stock markets are volatile, going down one day and coming up on another.
        And many like you are wondering whether you should be
        investing now
        selling now
        or just holding on to your investments.
        What ever it might be, you should not lose your hard earned money.
        We would like to recommend a simple strategy here.
        If you need your money in the next 3 years, you should not invest your money in the stock markets. If you already have investments, it would be prudent to take them out now.
        OK, but then what do you do with that money?
        Invest in debt.

        Hemant my question is can such blanket advice be given without knowing anything about the investor ? I have read the message but decided to ignore it.

        • Hi Anil,
          I know who has shared this 😉 Blanket advice or software generated advice is of no use.
          Such message ends with………
          So, what are you waiting for?
          Do not miss on this fabulous opportunity!
          Take action now and start making superior returns. LOL

          • Hi Hemant
            What is interesting is that TV channels call a large number of experts for their views on the markets and all experts have different views on the present or future direction of the market.For an average viewer it is not easy to decide whether to believe the expert or not.For instance one expert said that the market will remain rangebound between 17000 and 20000 throughout the year.The other expert said that we can easily see the levels of 22000 by the end of the year.My question is how can you call levels between 17000 and 20000 as range bound.If this is the definition of range bound than I can also safely make this prediction.I think this is the right time for all Business Channels to start Astrological programs just like other TV channels and call these astrologers for their views on markets.This will definitely increase their viewership.

  16. i am investing and learning for almost 5 years but i never watched any TV Channels. so i really don’t know about these experts.

    i always look for fundamentally sound companies available at Low P/E for investment.

    • Hi Mohan,
      Same here – it’s just waste of time.
      Shows are build because they are interesting to the people, even if they are not necessary in public’s interest. 🙁

  17. Hi Hemant
    Calling such experts to give their views has become a regular feature of all business channels.What is surprising is that views are sought on Indian market by foreign experts who don’t seem to have any idea of Indian market.I think it is much better to become informed investor by first acquiring financial literacy than to rely on the views of the so called experts.

    • Hi Anil,
      I partially agree on this – yes one should become financial literate but even after that don’t rely on media experts or even bloggers(I hate to be called a blogger) including me.
      Do we (so called experts in TV, Newspaper or Blog) know IQ, attitude, financial status, objectives etc of each (or any) individual reader/viewer. Even we don’t know your job, family structure & even in some cases full or real name.
      Let’s take your case – we are interacting from couple of months but only 10 days back (retirement article) I realised that you are close to 50 years. So if I would have given you some personal advice before that assuming you are in 30s – you can just imagine I have ruined your financial future. If I have give you some personal advice don’t follow it. 😉
      That’s the reason I shy from answering specific questions.

  20. Sir,

    I very much like the last blogspot on Dhamani. I hope the same may be done with Shankar sharma, who 100% believe on decouple theory. But our market has proven something.

    Regards,

    Anuj Johari

    • Dear Anuj,

      Infact, shankar is facing legal problems with the regulator, so you can very well understand his anger with the markets. but like you i also feel that these guys owe a responsiblity if they are comenting on markets which affects lot of households and businesses.

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