Every year I go to the Money Show in Orlando, Florida. Thousands attend. It is mostly an older crowd with the youngsters about 40 years of age. I have been saying for years that until you have lost enough money trying to make a fortune you will not become serious about investing. The under 40s are shooting for the moon and it has finally dawned on the over 40s (maybe its the over 50s) that they must find a better way to get rich.

The Money Show presents a forum of recognized experts in their field. It may be long-term or short term trading. It could be in stocks, bonds, mutual fund, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), oil and gas properties, options, commodity futures, managed accounts and other more esoteric venues.

Each one of the experts allows you to listen to him speak (at no charge) to tell you how he has found the secret to stock market success and why you should buy his Holy Grail service. You will receive his (daily, weekly, monthly) market letter for the ridiculously low price of from $250 to $5,000 or more. You may not have found the Holy Grail, but he has.

Almost all of them have a when to buy method, but very few have a when to cash in your chips method and fewer than that will have any way to protect yourself from losing it all should their Holy Grail method turn into Holy Cow.

The Orlando show occurs in February so every expert has his predictions for the coming year. The only bear I found was Martin Weiss, but he wasnt a bull in 1999 either. No one wants to hear dire consequences of a bad year for their stocks so the audience is fed the kind of food they like. Everything is going to be even better this years and with my super software (or newsletter) you will make a better return than ever before.

During the three day show there were 396 individual presentations most of which ran about an hour more or less and then there were the extra charges for having breakfast, lunch, tea, whatever with one of the speakers. And these werent cheap. You could also sign up for all day seminars. In the Exhibit Hall there was always an expert giving a lecture with a great slide show on how his Grail (I am getting hesitant about calling it Holy) will increase your portfolio.

Many investors came to see the guru whose market letter they were receiving. Very few of these mavens are making anyone rich, but there are some. My question to them is are they putting their own money on the line or are these results hypothetical?

After attending several of these seminars each day with each presenter showing his magic get-rich formula it would seem these folks would go home more confused than when they came. There is no Holy Grail of investing. At least I have not found it nor do I know anyone who has. Do not rely on someone else to make you rich. You have to do it yourself.

The real Holy Grail translates into two words Hard Work.