As an actor Ben Stein is delightful. Of course, “actor” is but just one way to describe him. The man is also a lawyer, an economist, a professor, a comedian, a former White House speechwriter, and on top of all that in 1963, while on spring break in Mexico, he once boxed a one-ledgged kangaroo for beer money.1

Mr. Stein also writes a column for Yahoo!Finance that I try to stay up to date on. In his most recent column, I was pleasantly surprised to see him extolling the virtues of index funds. Now, you might ask why I would be surprised about that. After all, what’s not like about index funds? They have low fees, they’re low maintenance, they beat most actively managed funds in the long run, and they don’t hog all the covers at night, unlike some people who might be reading this but shall remain nameless. Yes, index funds are no doubt wonderful.

But Ben Stein? This is the man who co-wrote the book: Yes, You Can Time the Market! And for the record, you see that exclamation point in the title? I didn’t add that; it’s actually part of the title (and could explain why Yahoo!, the leader in superfluous punctuation, courted him to be a columnist).

What’s my gripe? Two things. First, if the title of that book wasn’t in fact the title of a book and instead was the subject line of an email you just received, you would probably delete it without opening it. Right? That is assuming it even got passed any spam filters you have, of course.

Second, there is no conclusive proof that anyone can time the market, much less a guy who used to host a game show on basic cable.

Admittedly, I have not read ‘Yes, You Can Time the Market!’ I suppose it’s possible that the title is merely a clever ruse to lure the gullible into reading the book, only to lay a verbal smackdown, snapping them back to reality. However, reading the reviews on Amazon.com, I doubt it.

So, what to make of this new development? Has Ben Stein seen the light? Is he off the mad money gravy train, now preaching a far more realistic and fruitful investing approach? It sure sounds like it. I say, welcome to the team, Mr. Stein. If we all stick together we can line our pockets with cash rather than those of the underperforming mutual fund managers of the world. I mean, really, is there any reason to think index funds aren’t the way to go?

Anyone? Anyone?

1 Okay, that didn’t happen.