The Crash, One Year Later : It Was the Worst of Times

THEY BARELY KNEW WHAT HIT THEM. Al Frank, publisher of the Santa Monica-based newsletter The Prudent Speculator ($200 a year), admits that he was "clobbered" by the crash and its aftermath. He regrets failing to warn his readers, saying, "We had a lot of new clients who had signed up at the top of the market. Their stocks did not do well. It was very sad for me." Frank, 58, lost $750,000 of his own money, and his subscriber list has dwindled from 5,700 a year ago to 2,500 now.

Georgia's Robert Prechter, 39, had become the hottest stock guru in...