My Favorite Bank Has "First-In Advantage" in Maryland's Legal Weed Business

Hey, I admit it: Back in the day, I knew a few folks who sold marijuana.

Now, these weren't your evil, violent drug lords. They were mostly just regular guys looking for a little extra cash to help pay the bills.

But those friendly felons of old actually share the same problem as the same legitimate businesspeople who run legal cannabis ventures today...

What the hell do you do with all that cash?

You couldn't just drop a bunch of cash in the bank without someone asking a bunch of pointed questions.

The guys I knew put it in air ducts, under the floorboards, or stuffed it anywhere else they thought they could safely hide it.

The best solution I ever heard of was from a guy I knew who had some unusual pets. He would put the cash in a shoebox, and then put that box... in a glass cage that also happened to be the home of his two six-foot Burmese pythons.

It's safe to say he never worried about losing any of his money.

But then again, not everyone - especially pioneering cannabis firms navigating tricky, virtually incoherent federal regulations - is lucky enough to have Burmese pythons guarding their earnings.

Fortunately, just in the nick of time, a local bank I know is stepping into the breach to service this decidedly ­­underserved sector, and you can own it for the unreasonably good price of less than $8...

Tim Melvin

About the Author

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Tim Melvin is an unlikely investment expert by any measure. Raised in the "projects" of Baltimore by a single mother, he never attended college and started out as a door-to-door vacuum salesman. But he knew the real money was in the stock market, so he set sights on investing - and by sheer force of determination, he eventually became a financial advisor to millionaires. Today, after 30 years of managing money for some of the wealthiest people in the world, he draws on his experience to help investors find "unreasonably good" bargain stocks, multiply profits, and build their nest eggs. Tim tirelessly works to find overlooked "hidden gems" in the stock market, drawing on the research of legendary investors like Benjamin Graham, Walter Schloss, and Marty Whitman. He has written and lectured extensively on the markets, with work appearing on Benzinga, Real Money, Daily Speculations, and more. He has published several books in the "Little Book of" Investment Series and a "Junior Chamber Course" geared towards young adults that teaches Graham's principles and techniques to a new generation of investors. Today, he serves as the Special Situations Strategist at Money Morning and the editor of Peak Yield Investor.

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