5 Dumb Things Investors Say... Repeatedly

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fellow TheStreet contributor Richard Saintvilus knows I love him. That's why I can refer to something he says as "dumb" without fear of violence.

I hope that you -- yes you -- feel the same way. Like we're in a bar talking trash about sports, the opposite sex and money. No matter what, we leave it all on the ice.

With that, Saintvilus kicks off my list of five dumb things that investors incessantly repeat.

1. "So-and-so should buy so-and-so."

I am a recovering buyout-rumor-aholic. That makes me want to stage an intervention when I see somebody I care about go down a similar path.

During the month of August, Saintvilus suggested that Dell (DELL) or Facebook (FB) should buy Research in Motion (RIMM).

In Dell Should Buy RIM or Die and Why Now is the Time for Facebook to Buy RIM, Saintvilus offers similar reasons why Dell or Facebook should scrape RIM's dead and cold corpse off of a Canadian curbside. Simply put, he thinks RIM could give these companies the mobile presence (Dell) or push (Facebook) they apparently need.

Just because something is cheap doesn't make it inexpensive. One hurting company -- Dell more so than Facebook -- plus another hurting company does not equal a resurgence. It equals two hurting companies.

A more-than-logical strategic connection between companies must exist to keep M&A speculation sane. Generally speaking, it makes more sense to speculate about two strong companies hooking up than it does one strong and one weak or two weak.

For example, I expect Viacom (VIAB) to search for M&A. It makes sense for another media conglomerate to listen. Disney (DIS) or Time Warner (TWX) could fill Viacom's holes, such as an absence of sports programming, while Viacom compliments Disney's existing kid properties or Time Warner's male-skewing properties.

2. "I'm going to all cash."

Here's what bugs me: Unless you are my grandfather's age, stop sounding like my grandfather. There's one reason, maybe two, for going all cash.

One, you need some money within the next two years -- or possibly five to seven years if retirement is approaching -- and, two, being in stocks fuels an unhealthy amount of anxiety.

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