TIME

Time Inc

Market Crash

The Last Time I Saw This Chart, It Was 2007

I recall the presentation vividly.

It was November 2007 and I was standing in front of a packed room at a really swank resort along the Mexican Riviera. Money Map Press was in its infancy and I was making my first public appearance as its chief investment strategist.

The markets were rocketing higher, the money was easy, and investors were greedy.

Until I got on stage.

I dropped a financial bomb of epic proportions by telling my audience two things: 1) the rally they were counting on was about to come screeching to a halt; and 2) they'd best shift their attention to harvesting profits.

You could have heard a pin drop.

I made my case as simply as I knew how… a "compressed range since 2005 shows [the] market ready to snap just like [it did] in early 2000."

Then I threw this chart up on the projector, knowing a picture is worth a thousand words - or a few million dollars in the hands of savvy folks...

Dow Jones

It's the Time of the Season... for Profits

One of the coolest and simplest band names of all time belonged to the "British Invasion" band called The Zombies.

Since the zombie horror subgenre has exploded in popularity in recent years, I'm sure there have been many an upstart band that would "die" to have that name…

If you don't remember the band by its name, there's a good chance that most of you will remember one of their catchy songs.

Both "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" were top 10 hits in the United States during 1964. Both were hummable tunes steeped in that classic mid-60s British Invasion sound.

But our title today comes from the band's most well-known hit, "Time of the Season."

The song, according to band members, was the last one written for what would be the band's breakup album.

In fact, the band did break up in the time between recording the album in 1967 and when it was finally released in 1969.

In contrast to their earlier work, this song (and indeed, the whole album) had a more modern psychedelic feel.

The haunting opening baseline punctuated by hand claps and the breathy "ahhh" vocal are instantly recognizable today.

Because the band was not able to support the album's release, it had only modest success in the United States (and was basically a flop back home in the UK).

But despite the lack of support, the evocative tune reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard charts and No. 1 on the U.S. Cashbox magazine charts.

And as icing on the cake, the album "Odessey and Oracle" (the album title was misspelled by the graphic artist and kept) continues to inspire critical acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine lists the album as No. 100 in its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Why the rock 'n' roll history lesson?

When I started to write today's article about an amazingly strong and profitable seasonal tendency in the stock market, that evocative opening lyric kept popping into my head: "It's the time – of the season when love runs high…"

And it is indeed the time of the season when profits run high.

Let me show you why...

Options

The Easiest Way to Time Any Market

I came across an article today about how the average mutual fund investor isn't making any money in the stock market (according to a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research). What's worse is that they're actually losing money – despite record highs.

The author concluded by making one point: "you simply can't time the markets."

But he couldn't be more wrong. In fact, he's wrong on multiple levels.

Continue reading...

Bitcoin

It's Time to Bury These Six Myths About Investing in Bitcoin

Many people in the mainstream financial media are convinced that investing in Bitcoin is a bad and dangerous idea. But they're mistaken.

Those who know and follow Bitcoin closely know better. Unfortunately many investors use the mainstream media as a primary source of information.

Usually that's OK, but when it comes to Bitcoin the mainstream media has a habit of spreading a lot of misguided arguments

Here are the six biggest myths you keep hearing about Bitcoin...

Technology

We Started Hating This Company Just in Time

My father was a defense analyst, and so the conversation could get pretty intense around the dinner table.

Usually, I could follow along, but when he started talking about the "credibility gap," I got a bit lost.

Having been raised on the folklore surrounding George Washington, I just couldn't believe that a president would ever lie. And so when my father said Lyndon B. Johnson had a "credibility gap" when it came to what he was saying about the Vietnam War, it just didn't compute.

(Did I mention I was only 10 or so at this time?)

Presidents, of course, aren't the only ones who can end up with credibility problems.

We took a look at a tech company with a huge credibility gap back on Jan. 10

We saw how they were always making excuses rather than money. And I told you to avoid any hype you heard regarding a "turnaround" in the making.

Turns out, my prediction was dead on the money. Since then, this company has been hit by wave after wave of bad news.

Investors who ignored my warning paid dearly for doing so. This once-proud company's stock has fallen by roughly 24% since.

Today, I'll show you exactly what went wrong – and why avoiding losers is so important.

In fact, if you want to make enough wealth to provide for a secure retirement, it's absolutely crucial

Read on…

These Tech Plays Are "Ready for Prime Time" in 2017

Technology will be the one sector of the economy you can count on for high growth in 2017.

That may sound hard to believe, because tech slightly lagged the broader stock market through the first 11.5 months of 2016. But that was largely because life sciences fizzled.

But tech stocks are going to resume their leadership position in 2017.

Therefore, if you're one of the millions of Americans trying to put together enough money for a stress-free retirment, technology is where your focus should be.