  John Waggoner: Don't sell funds just because others are buying
4:18 PM, Feb. 4, 2013  |  Comments   • Filed Under  Have you
ever driven the wrong way on a highway because you thought you'd
get there faster than everyone else? Do you put your shoes on
before your socks? Have you put a $20 bill into a dollar-bill
changer just to prove it wrong?  If so, you're not a contrarian
- a bold thinker who does things differently to get better
results. You're a nimrod.  Real contrarians know that you make
money only by going against the crowd at key inflection points.
They also know that some indicators really aren't very good for
measuring key inflection points.  Today's Bad Contrary
Indicator: mutual fund flows. In theory, when people are pulling
money from stock funds, it's a good idea to buy. After all,
mutual funds are for small investors, and small investors
usually buy high and sell low.  Aside from the annoying snobbery
of this notion - most individuals handle their affairs pretty
intelligently - fund flows ju