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Midcap Dividend Wisdomtree

Trading Strategies

The Dirty Shopping Season Secret "They" Don't Want You to Know About

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I don't want to get into one of my "commercialization of Christmas" rants, but my biggest issue with the whole Christmas shopping season is that Americans fall for this blatant scam every single year.

Now, I'm not here to fight the culture wars, but I do have an agenda: to tell you the truth – and point you toward "unreasonably" good profits.

With that said…

They already screwed up Christmas, and now they've screwed up my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, with this destructive Black Friday con.

In fact, if I were ever CEO of a retailer, I'd gather all the executives during our first meeting and ask them, "What's your Black Friday strategy for next Thanksgiving?"

Anyone who had plans would be fired.

Hear me out...

The Fed

Why I Don't Care About Jerome Powell, and Why You Shouldn't Either

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The other day reader Mike M. asked in our comments section:

Hi Lee – What do you think of this Powell fellow as Fed Chair? It appears from an article I read that he is fond of the TBTF bailout.

Mike, you are not the only one to ask me this question. In fact, people right here at Money Map Press have been asking me. No doubt, the entire world wants to know. CNBC talking heads talk about it. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg and Reuters have probably written great tomes about it.

When asked a question to which everyone wants an answer, I always give it great thought. And I always think about the Fed chair, no matter who he or she is.

I usually end up not thinking much of them, Bernanke especially. He destroyed the lives of millions of senior citizens by taking away the interest income they depended on to supplement their Social Security. I despised Bernanke for that alone, not to mention the massive money printing that benefited only the bankers and speculators. Yellen I liked better. Other Fed critics, including some who are my friends, may still skewer her. I give her credit for stopping the madness.

Now here's what I know, and what is most important for you to know about Jerome Powell. They call him Jay. Other than that, nothing. That's right, nothing.

I'm going to tell you why and what you DO need to know...

Market Crash

Don't Just Count on a Crash - Bank on It

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Make no mistake, there's going to be a stock market crash.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be in the market. You absolutely should be.

In fact, being fully invested makes sense. Markets don't crash without giving investors a warning.

Despite the fact we're now more prone to a 1987-style crash than ever, there are strong reasons why you should be invested.

Being on the sidelines while stock markets are regularly making higher highs is a loser's game. Sure, the market can crash, but what if it goes up for another five years and you're still waiting?

Here are what the warning signs will look like and how you can make a quick fortune on the next crash...

Technology

Don't Let "Some Investors" Talk You Out of Beating the Market

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CNN Money'sDaniel Shane just put out a doozy.

Just take a look at this Oct. 5 headline: "China's Tech Stocks Are Partying Like It's 1999."

"Shares in China's biggest internet companies are on a tear this year," Shane went on to write, "but some investors think things have gone too far."

The guy didn't even have the guts to make this argument himself. Instead, he leaned on "some investors."

To me, this is just the latest rehash of the half-decade-old effort – among "some investors" – to prove that a Silicon Valley "tech bubble" was about to burst.

This time, there's a slight twist. The bears' latest "bubble" is across the Pacific Ocean, among Chinese web firms.

The idea at work here is that China's entire e-commerce sector is about to go the way of the "dot-com" crash that slaughtered the Nasdaq Composite more than 17 years ago.

Here's the thing. Shane's entire premise is based on a false analysis. I think "some investors" may have led him astray.

Today, I'll show you, with math, that the opposite is true.

I'll prove that China's web leaders are not in a bubble – and that they offer tech investors like you huge long-term upside.

Plus, we'll investigate a great way to ride this trend for maximum profits - the kind of profits that keep beating the market year after year after year...

Trading Strategies

Don't Let the Government Lock You Out of the Best Investment Opportunities on April 10

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As you might imagine, I work with a lot of numbers in my capacity as Chief Investment Strategist, so I'm pretty jaded when it comes to using statistics to make a point. But, every once in a while I come across something that stops me in my tracks.

Like the following data from Bankrate on the state of the American Dream:

…6 in 10 Americans do not have enough savings to cover an unplanned $500 expenditure

…and of the 41% who do, a whopping 20% would put it on a credit card. Still another 20% would have to cut spending to pay it, and fully 11% would ask family and friends for help.

If you're tempted to dismiss this information, do so at your own risk.

More than 3 billion people are going to join the global "conversation" we're having about money within the next decade and that means huge profits will be made by those who have an approach that works.

My goal is to make sure you're one of 'em.

Read More…

Options

What the Media Heads Don't Understand About the "Fear Index"

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Right now, volatility is the star of the financial news networks.

Now most of the pundits simply use the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX) – known as the "Fear Index" – to tell you where market volatility is heading from here.

Here's what they don't understand…

The VIX is not  the best way to gauge the amount of fear in the markets when it comes to options trading.

It's not even a good way.

But this is.

Continue Reading...

Options

Why You Don't Need to Fear a Market Correction

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This past weekend, I asked you to share your biggest worries about your money. And as I suspected, the Fed's pursuit of aggressive interest rate hikes and the potential for a major market correction are the most important issues to you right now.

So before the talking heads on the news convince you to pull all your money from the stock market and stuff it under your mattress, let's talk about everything they're not saying –

And how you can best protect your money…

Continue Reading...

Don't Let the Market Play You For the "Greater Fool"

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More than a decade has passed since the dot-bomb implosion, and many of us are still amazed that so many investors got sucked into such an insane speculative financial mania.

The thing is, it has happened many times before.

For instance, in the mid-1600s Holland literally drove itself to ruin over flowers – tulips, to be precise.

Referred to today as Tulip Mania, Tulipomania, or Tulpewoerde, it was the first recorded speculative mania in modern history.

Indeed, the financial frenzy that unfolded between 1634 and 1637 crashed so hard that it actually helped smash the Dutch economy, transforming one of the world's first superpowers into an economic backwater.

Writing nearly 200 years later in his classic work, "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," historian Charles MacKay said:

"In 1634, the rage among the Dutch to possess [tulip bulbs] was so great that the ordinary industry of the country was neglected, and the population, even to its lowest dregs, engaged in the tulip trade. As the mania increased, prices augmented, until in the year 1635, many persons were known to invest a fortune of 100,000 florins for the purchase of 40 roots."

For some context, the annual income of a middle-class urban family in Holland was 200 to 1,000 florins. (University of Kansas Prof. Mark Hirschey estimated that peak prices for tulip bulbs ranged between $17,000 and $76,000 apiece in today's money.)

Tulip Madness Takes Hold

Like most manias, Tulip Madness took hold during a period of prosperity, when credit was easy to obtain. The Netherlands had the world's most powerful navy, accounted for half the world's shipping trade, was a center of science and, with artists like Vermeer, was also the cultural center of Europe.

The country was newly affluent and tulips, which had come to Europe in the late 1500s, were difficult to obtain and became a way to flaunt that wealth.

Naturally, the DeVries wanted to keep up with the Van Dijks, and tulip prices began their upward march.

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Message to Bernanke: Don't Give in to Speculative Clamor

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When Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke addresses the Kansas City Fed's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, today (Friday), he’ll have to acknowledge that the risks to U.S. economic growth have increased – especially with the disruption to the credit markets and the tightening of credit in many areas. But Bernanke will also likely […]

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