Forget the Bears - It's Time for the Alligators to Run the Markets

It is that time of the year again...

Halloween's over; the skeletons and pirate zombies are back in the attic.

My wife and I are now having animated discussions about just how soon the Christmas Pelican can take up residence in the yard. As always, I shall initially insist on the second week of December and stage a gradual retreat eventually settling on Thanksgiving weekend.

College football is in full swing, and the all-important Army-Navy game is now just weeks away. Once I manage to overlook the absence of baseball, it really is an excellent time of year.

This year, though, there's a fly in the ointment: the markets.

They've gone stark raving bonkers, staging some gut-wrenching declines and breathtaking counter-rallies.

Personally, I don't pay much attention to daily price moves, at least until my numbers tell me it's time to get interested in a particular company.

The truth is, I find the constant "What's the market gonna do next?" questions decidedly un-festive.

In short, all this noise, the ridiculous questions, the endless punditry... it's harshing my autumnal vibe.

I'm guessing you feel the same way, so here's what we're going to do about it...

[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]

Channel Your Inner Deadhead: Be an Alligator Investor

When the markets go nuts, when they're volatile and other people's stocks are declining, I find its best to remember the Grateful Dead, and consider my favorite toothy green reptile.

Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun, sleeping by the river just like he usually done.

Did You Miss This Epic Event? An undefeated strategist exposed his secret to 119 wins, 0 realized losses. Hurry - because if you don't watch the replay now, you may miss out forever...

I have found that the alligator is the secret to dealing with market swings, especially steep declines that sent most of our friends and neighbors running for the cheap gin and storm shelters.

Since moving to Florida, I have been fascinated by alligators. I see them all the time walking the dog around the neighborhood. Some people find them scary, but the truth is, to get eaten by an alligator, you pretty much have to either get in the water with them or practically step on them.

You see, alligators don't really hunt; they're opportunistic feeders. They hang out on the bank or float along the surface and wait for some tasty morsel to come into range.

The gator doesn't know when it will happen, but he does know that, sooner or later, some luckless but tasty critter will mistake him for a log floating in the pond, or just not pay attention to its surroundings... then it's ding-ding dinner bell.

It's a pretty sweet way to live, all things considered, and I'm here to tell you, it's the best way I know to be invested.

You Can Grow Very, Very Rich Practicing Alligator Investing

Just ask the richest alligator in the world.

He's a very nice, affable man from Omaha, Nebraska - has a fantastic sense of humor, too.

Undefeated: It took 11 years of searching, but we found a man with an undefeated track record. Watch his video while you still can!

You may know him as Warren Buffett, but in reality, he's the king, the "Granddaddy" Alligator Investor.

Buffett doesn't look for deals - the deals look for him. He ignores most of them, in fact. Instead, he waits until prices are tasty enough... and then he pounces.

Take the pair of $5-billion-a-piece deals he made with Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) to essentially bail them out during the credit crisis.

The deals are the stuff of legend, of course, but more importantly, they're among the greatest examples of alligator investing you will ever see.

Buffett made a big fortune even bigger - to the tune of perhaps $12 billion - solely by lying there on the riverbank and striking quickly when the deal "wandered" by.

What's the takeaway here?

It has to be that falling stock prices should not be feared at all. Instead, they should be celebrated.

Be Brave and Get Paid

If you can keep your wits about you as terrified individuals and fund managers trying to protect their jobs create waves of selling and plummeting prices, and step up, like Buffett, to be the "buyer of last resort," you can make more money than you ever thought possible.

Back in 2003, you might remember, we were buried in a recession. The stock market had pretty much imploded behind the dot-com crash and post-9/11 chaos, leading to a deep bear market.

Well, those buyers of last resort who stepped in and took shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) off scared investors' hands have seen their money multiplied more than 200 times by now. Buyers of last resort in Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) have done even better, reaping life-changing returns of something like 300 times their original investment.

Alligator investors have eaten very well more recently, too...

Investors who understood that lower prices are a cause for celebration have seen unreasonably huge gains in the last decade.

Anyone who opened their eyes to notice that their young adult sons and daughters spent an enormous amount of time playing video games like Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2k and jumped into Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) has seen gains of over 1,700% since those dark days.

If you looked at the ever-changing world and thought that there might possibly be a crushing demand for highly skilled technology, life sciences, digital, and creative professionals, you'd have snapped up shares of On Assignment Inc. (NYSE: ASGN), good for gains of more than 3,000%.

Lying on the riverbank, basking in the sun, and waiting for your opportunity to be the buyer of last resort is, quite simply, the easiest way to get stinkin' rich.

Sure, you'll be diving in as prices are plummeting. And you're just as likely as not to miss the exact bottom and experience at least a little pain originally, but remember: You'll feel a little pain downing a 32-ounce ribeye and couple of jumbo scotches, too.

But be secure in this: History and basic business math tells us that buying good companies at great prices in the worst of times will pay off... with the meal of a lifetime.

CRITICAL UPDATE: 35,489 People Just Tuned In to an Epic Event

For the first time ever, one man revealed how he's achieved an UNDEFEATED track record - yes, even in this market!

But this guy's remained silent about his secrets for decades.

And as soon as he finds out how many people got access to this exclusive video, he'll likely take it down.

Do yourself a favor and listen to what he has to say before that happens.

About the Author

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.

Read full bio