Jim Cramer: Some People Shouldn't Own Stocks

I was mobbed this weekend by a group of guys who watch my show.

All they wanted to know was when this stock or that stock was going to come back. In every case it was a commodity stock, and in every case I had to say that I have no idea -- but that I wouldn’t wait because the market is just too hard.

They fought me. They all wanted to buy me a drink and talk me out of my position. They were wedded, deeply wedded, to their names and they thought for sure that if they plied me long enough they could win me over.

By the time I finished arguing with them I had to make a different point: NONE OF THESE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE OWNED ANY INDIVIDUAL STOCKS.
Their temperament was simply not suited for owning stocks. They regarded them too personally, and they were too involved and engaged.

I absolutely love it when people own individual stocks. We started TheStreet.com to cater to “the active investor.” My show is a resource for active investors.

Some of the greybeards out there resent the show because they say it encourages people to take risks and do things with stocks that they wouldn’t do otherwise. I argue that people are going to be involved with stocks no matter what and that we might as well try to make people as educated as possible.

But it sure isn’t for everyone. IF you are too emotional about stocks, you need to reconsider whether you should be buying stocks at all.

My advice is that if you are like the guys I’ve been telling you about, then go to mutual funds.

Too much emotion is the end of performance.