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The stock market can be a scary place - especially if you're one of the millions of Americans counting on it to fund your retirement.

Maybe that's why so many highly paid prognosticators are filling the airwaves this time of year with all kinds of predictions on where the stock market is going. But do these people really know what they're talking about?

To find out, I went back to interviews I've done over the last 5 years with one famous analyst - David Wyss of Standard & Poors. The results? See for yourself...

We're looking for the market to up about 6% by the end of next year.

We're still expecting good earnings this year. Probably in the high single digits.

We're expecting to see high single digit gains, probably the 8% range.

By the end of the next year we'll be up by 10, 15%.

We expect the market to be up about 12 percent this year.

So what do we learn from this? Two things - first, nobody knows where the stock market is going, it's just too complicated. Second, if you want to make a living predicting the stock market, just guess up between 5 and 10% every year - you'll be fine.

I've been investing in stocks for 30 years. And I share exactly what I own and exactly how much I make or lose doing it. It's all right here at Money Talks News.com.