I attend investment seminars as half-monk, half-hit man. My time is a precious commodity, so if you are a speaker and see me in the audience, be prepared. My hot button is when speakers show a few elaborate slides, “share” their four favorite tenets to successful investing and then launch directly into their marketing pitch. They act as if they’ve given you the keys to the kingdom, proving their brilliance and justifying your attention. And those four tenets are invariably the same: