According to Larry MacDonald of canadianbusiness.com don’t listen to anyone, trust no one and never buy “hot tips”. MacDonald’s post stated that through his year’s of experience as a business book author and economist, advise from friends and unknown sources have never served him well when buying stocks. Frequently asked to analyze “hot tips” (rumours about stocks) by friends and colleagues, Macdonald says these tips are unreliable and almost always leave you worse off with a negative ROI. Most of the tips are created to start a buzz about a company that may have no ability to follow up with the grandiose claims of “HUGE returns”. It is possible that these stocks could take off, but MacDonald says it is way too risky to invest for the most part. For the Average Joe trying to develop a stock portfolio, it is recommended that they never heed the advise from hot tips by sticking to more stable sources such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs).