This time of year magazines and newspapers are brimming with articles purporting the virtues of “buy-and-forget” portfolios comprised of “10 stocks to last the decade” and the likes.

Despite the exuberance of these articles and investors’ never-ending quest for the magic bullet to put their portfolios on the right path, these sort of recommendations are almost always categorically wrong and should be ignored.

We’re strong believers in making data-driven decisions when it comes to investments.  So what do the numbers say when it comes to the buy-and-forget portfolios?  In August 2000, Fortune magazine recommended “10 stocks to last the decade” based on their prediction of major trends that should shape the next 10 years.

Here’s are those 10 stocks and their share price on August 14, 2000  when Fortune published their article:

  1. Nokia (NOK: $54)
  2. Nortel Networks (NT: $77)
  3. Enron (ENE: $73)
  4. Oracle (ORCL: $74)
  5. Broadcom (BRCM: $237)
  6. Viacom (VIA: $69)
  7. Univision (UVN: $113)
  8. Charles Schwab (SCH: $36)
  9. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD: $89)
  10. Genentech (DNA: $150)

And here are these stocks’ value a decade later on December 19, 2012:

  1. Nokia (NOK: $4.22, -92.2%)
  2. Nortel Networks (NT: $0, -100%)
  3. Enron (ENE: $0, –100%)
  4. Oracle (ORCL: $34.22, -53.8%)
  5. Broadcom (BRCM: $33.28, -86.0%)
  6. Viacom (VIA: $54.17, -21.5%)
  7. Univision (UVN: $0, -100%)
  8. Charles Schwab (SCH: $14.61, -59.4%)
  9. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD: $14.20, -84.0%)
  10. Genentech (DNA: $95, -36.7%)

If you had taken Fortune’s advice, your portfolio would have tanked, falling 63.8% !  During the same 10 years the S&P 500 gained 23.4%.

Searching for the best thing for your portfolio?  Spend your time finding a very good adviser and avoid articles & TV shows that are overly focused on your investments.