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Do You Have the "Guts" to Make Money in the Markets?By
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I have some "serious guts" when it comes to investing, according to one subscriber...
Do you have the "serious guts" needed to be a successful investor? Today, I'll show you how to have the guts you need to make money in the markets...
Getting the guts you need is actually a simple skill you can learn.
You don't need to be a tough guy. (I'm not.) And you don't need to have nerves of steel. (I don't.)
Let me explain what I mean, starting with a letter my publisher received from a subscriber named Mei last week:
I am constantly amazed by Steve Sjuggerud. While everyone is being cautious, he sends out some of the most bullish calls telling us to buy, don't cash out, get into muni bonds.
I mean, I'm sure he knows what he's doing but this guy has some serious guts. And he's been spot on.
I've always liked his approach but in the face of so much that can go wrong and is going wrong, I just couldn't bring myself to act on his recommendations. I haven't cashed out but I could certainly have made a lot more if I followed him. What can I say? Great job, Steve!
Mei, the truth is, I don't have serious guts...
I'm no man of steel. In reality, my mouse hand still quivers when I put in the "buy" order... and I've been in this business full time for nearly two decades.
I do two different things than the average guy:
First, I actually put the buy order in! I don't chicken out.
Second, I've learned my "quivering hand" is a good thing... The more my hand quivers when I enter a buy order, the more money I'm likely to make. Let me explain...
It took me a long time to get here. But now I know the way it works... The scarier it is, the better.
For example, when it seemed like the financial world was coming to an end in March 2009, I personally stepped up big to buy...
I don't recommend this for most people, but I actually borrowed money to invest, for the first and only time in my career. My house was already fully paid for... but I took a home equity line of credit out on it, and put it to work in the stock market. Stocks were downright cheap, fear was high, and we had a glimmer of an uptrend. So I bought!
For another example, subscriber Mei above mentioned municipal bonds...
I saw the same fears in municipal bonds in mid-January 2011 that I saw in stocks in March 2009. Like stocks in March 2009, municipal bonds became cheap, hated, and we saw a glimmer of an uptrend. So in mid-January, I recommended buying safe municipal bonds for my subscribers.
It's not easy to buy into turmoil. It's downright hard. But it is the right thing to do... Why? Typically you're buying in at a cheap price. Though risk is perceived to be high, it's actually low because of the low price you're able to pay for great assets.
Today, we're in the opposite situation in the stock market. Stocks have doubled since March 2009. There's not much fear in stocks today. Risk is now perceived to be low. And the price for stocks is much higher today.
You have the choice...
1) You can buy when risk appears high and assets have already crashed and are cheap.
2) You can buy when risk appears low and assets have already soared and are expensive (like real estate in 2006, or stocks today).
Almost all investors choose No. 2. But you need to choose No. 1.
So how can you be certain you're choosing No. 1? By how much your hand quivers when you place the buy order. The more your hand quivers when you click "buy," the more money you will make on the trade...
People will think you have serious guts if you buy like that – if you buy what has crashed where risk feels high. Actually... people will think you're nuts.
But the more people think you're nuts for investing in something – and the more your hand quivers when you click "buy" – the better the chance you'll make a lot of money on that investment.
It's worked for me for 20 years.
I don't have serious guts, as my subscribers think. Honestly, I have a quivering hand. But the more it quivers when I buy, the more money I make.
The same will be true for you if you stick with it... I'm certain of it.
Good investing,
Further Reading:
Steve has made some good contrarian calls over the years. But he's not magic. He just follows a simple strategy. Learn more about it here: Avoiding the Biggest Mistake Investors Make.
And check out some of his best ideas of the past year here:
Market NotesCANADA'S GREAT TROPHY ASSET IS SKYROCKETING The price of Canadian "oil insurance" is skyrocketing right now...
For the past several years, we've highlighted the virtues of owning one of the world's great "trophy assets," the Canadian oil sands. Canada's oil sands represent the world's second largest store of crude oil. And unlike the oil located in the unstable Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region, this oil is in a safe, stable country... just a pipeline away from the world's most voracious consumer of oil and gasoline. This is the reason Canada is the largest source of U.S. oil imports.
Because of its safety and reliability, the oil sands become more and more attractive with every negative oil market headline. Offshore drilling ban? Canadian oil is landlocked... so it becomes more valuable. Terrorist attacks in Iraq? Canadian oil is safe... so it becomes more valuable. And the latest: riots and protests in MENA? Again, Canadian oil is nowhere near the area... so it becomes more valuable.
There are many ways to invest in the oil sands, but the "poster child" here is Suncor Energy (SU). When fund managers look for a large and liquid way to take a position in the oil sands, they often turn to Suncor. As you can see from today's chart, the unrest in MENA has caused a surge in this asset... just like we predicted. Suncor is up 18% in just the last month... And it struck a 52-week high. The worse it gets in MENA, the higher Suncor goes.
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