For those of you who can remember bringing the new century in on January 1, 2000, several predictions were made about the new millennium, and numerous books were being sold that probably made some author or publishing house a substantial amount of money. Cars were supposed to stop in their tracks, planes were supposed to fall out of the sky and the prognosticators went on and on about the disasters ahead.

As it turned, out none of these disasters occurred, but it sure created a lot of anxiety for a lot of people.

Fast forward to 2015, and be introduced to a renowned economics guru named Harry S. Dent Jr., the founder of Dent Research. Good old Harry has predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will drop from its current 18,000+, down to 6000 by late 2016 or early 2017, so mark your calendars.

In his advertising, it is stated how many predictions of his actually materialized: Japan’s lost decade, the recession of 1990-92, the biggest bull market run in U.S. history, and most recently, the 2008 credit crisis and stock market crash. It sounds pretty amazing, except they omitted the many predictions that did not come true.

In 2000, Dent predicted that the DOW would reach 40,000, a prediction that was repeated in his 2004 book. He also predicted that NASDAQ would reach 13-20,000. In 2006, he revised his forecasts to much lower levels, estimating the DOW would reach 16-18,000, and the NASDAQ 3-4,000. In January of 2006, he predicted the DOW would reach 14-15,000 by the end of the year. It ended up at 12,463, 11% below the lower end of his prediction. It ended 2007 at 13,264, again significantly lower than his prediction of 15,000 by the end of 2008.

The list goes on and on, and although those forecasts have been swept under the carpet, Houdini Harry still claims that not only can you survive all of this, but prosper by knowing the future. And Harry claims to know the future. There’s an old saying; “If you throw enough mud on the wall, some of it will stick”.

There are many others with the same claims and the same strategy to lure you into what they’re peddling. The gold ads are particularly interesting in that these companies feel it’s alright to show the monstrous returns after they pick the time-frame to report. Let’s face it, if we all could look back and do what we should have done, (e.g. buy land when it was $400/acre or oil when it was $20/barrel) we’d all be billionaires. Many of the companies even have testimonies from people on their website.

But, the reality is that no one is going to include a testimony that has bad things to say about your company.

Jeane Dixon led a colorful life and gave us all something to think about with some of her predictions. Probably the most notable being the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. However, John Allen Paulos, a respected mathematician, coined the phrase the “Jeane Dixon Effect.”

This is where psychics prove a few accurate predictions and forget about the hundreds that never come true. Some of the most notable failures include: 1) World War III would begin in 1958. 2) A cure for cancer will be found in 1967. 3) Richard Nixon would be a good president. (Boy, did she miss this one. 4) The Russians would be the first to land on the moon.

So if you’d like to get rich quick, and don’t want to rob a bank or win the Lottery (remember for 1 winner there’s 100 million losers), take the same strategy that Harry takes. Talk about all the doom and gloom in the world, and let folks know that if they buy your book or subscription, they will be saved.

More importantly, don’t believe everything you see on Internet, or you might be looking at getting poor quick.

Quite frankly, it’s hard to get rich quick, but it’s not hard to get rich. Simply start saving and the earlier you start, the easier it is.

Tim Schumacher represents Strategic Financial Partners in Hays. [email protected]