Trading Ideas

We live in a culture of debt. In fact, many people will tell you that taking on large amounts of debt is completely normal. Overall household debt in the U.S. had taken a downturn for a while, but in 2013 it began to grow again and now stands at more than $13.67 trillion. Mortgages alone are responsible for 71% of household debt. (That being said, in almost all cases, mortgage debt should be the last debt you pay off.) If you are like many Americans, you may be buried under a mountain of debt that can seem insurmountable…but there is …read more […]

Precious metals isn’t a topic we discuss much here. But I simply couldn’t resist today. The outlook for gold and silver is just too good, and it’s getting better.
To me, the fundamental bullish case for precious metals is simple. Governments, people and businesses around the world have big piles of unpayable debt. And, unfortunately, most of the borrowed money isn’t being spent productively.
We’ve reached the stage where countries and companies are borrowing at an accelerated rate just to pay the interest on their debt. Look how extreme it’s gotten. This chart shows global debt as a percentage of gross domestic …read more […]

A serious lack of financial literacy has led some people to misunderstand the stock market as nothing more than a casino with its volatile ups and downs.
Today, Alexander Green explains why that may seem true in the short term, but there is no better way to grow your wealth in the long term.

In my recent conversation with Bill O’Reilly on his No Spin News, we talked about the surprising fact that fewer Americans are invested in stocks today than before the financial crisis.
Why?
There are several reasons, starting with ignorance.
Blame that, in part, on our abysmal public education system. As the …read more […]

Each year, Bankrate releases rankings that compare each and every state’s retirement benefits. Many factors are used to determine who takes the top spot. These factors include affordability, crime, culture, weather and wellness. However, the best places to retire in the U.S. will be different for each person.
You may have a unique set of needs when you begin your search for the perfect retirement destination. You may want to remain close to your family, and you’ll always have to narrow your search to fit within your financial means. Some retirees prefer specific retirement villages that provide more assistance, support and …read more […]

A few weeks ago, I noticed a large insider buy at AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), the giant pharmaceutical company that sells best-of-class drugs like Humira. It caught my eye, as the buy was for more than $1 million.
But that was not enough for me to issue a buy alert to War Room members.
One insider buy doesn’t represent anything unless it’s followed up by more buying from other insiders, especially officers of the company.
When only one insider buys shares, even if he or she makes multiple purchases, it’s not a good indication of anything more than faith in the company and a …read more […]

Most investors think about farmland as the place where their food grows – or grazes – rather than as an asset class. That is in part because there have not been many ways to invest in farmland. Although, it’s a huge missed opportunity…
Farmland has outperformed almost every major asset class over the last 30 years. Investors have averaged 11.5% annual returns. And due to steady cash flows and the low usage of debt, farmland has been a stable asset. You’ll see this below along with other benefits of investing in farmland. You’ll also find both traditional and new ways to …read more […]

The fallout from the vaping health crisis continues to grow.
Massachusetts has banned all e-cigarette and cannabis vape pens for the next four months.
Altria (NYSE: MO) and Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) have abandoned their merger talks.
The CEO of nicotine vaping giant Juul has stepped down.
And already, two states have banned the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.
At the moment, there are more than 500 cases of the vaping-related lung illness across 38 states. And at least 10 people have died.
So for today’s episode, I reached out to our go-to medical cannabis professional, Dr. Jordan Tishler, president of the Association of Cannabis Specialists and …read more […]

The economics profession has worked hard to make its insights inaccessible to even the most highly educated layman.
Today, Nicholas Vardy explains why you should ignore Nobel-Prize winning economists despite recent attempts to make financial economics relevant again.

“A man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his life as if he were recounting it.”
– Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher
Stories are important. They drive our lives.
As toddlers, we come to understand the world through bedtime stories. As students, we …read more […]

The United States has the largest pipeline network in the world. About 2.4 million miles of pipeline snake across the country, bringing natural gas, oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), refined petroleum products and petrochemicals from production centers to consumers.
As long as the U.S. remains dependent on fossil fuels, pipeline stocks could be a great investment.
Midstream pipelines connect upstream companies (the extractors of crude oil and natural gas) and downstream companies (the refiners and processors). Upstream and downstream companies usually own and maintain a smaller pipeline infrastructure. Usually, the biggest pipeline stocks are the midstream companies.
Pipelines are one of the most …read more […]

I was on the phone with Hermie this morning. Hermie is the vice president of finance for a cannabis company. And he asked me how interested Early Investing is in the healthcare and medtech industries. I told him that healthcare and medtech will generate a dizzying number of technological breakthroughs in the coming years. So we’re very interested.
Healthcare is just one sector we’re interested in. There are several other sectors we’re watching that are ripe for disruption. But, in truth, sectors don’t dictate our choices. We’re “sector agnostic.” We don’t chase particular sectors. And unlike many public stock investors, we …read more […]

A handful of very important trends will shape the communications sector in the years ahead.
It seems like some we’ve been hearing about forever. And the suspense is killing me.
Of course, no trend has captured the imagination of businesses, consumers and investors alike more than 5G.
This leap forward from 4G is what will make other disruptive digital trends possible… or, at the very least, bring them closer to reality.
Goodbye, 4G
We’ve already started to see carriers dip their toes into the 5G rollouts.
A few months ago, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) flipped the switch on parts of its 5G network in Chicago and Minneapolis. …read more […]

In 1969, a man from Tennessee named Dan Evins realized that the country’s interstate highway system was quickly expanding.
This new network of roadways was now connecting people from all over the country – allowing them to jump into the car and have access to places that were never available before.
It was an exciting time. And for Evins, it gave birth to a new, unmet market need…
You see, Evins quickly realized that families on road trips didn’t have a place to stop along the highway that offered them a quality, home-cooked meal at a fair price.
So 50 years ago in Lebanon, …read more […]

The financial illiteracy crisis in this country costs us a fortune – and this will only continue.
It has already crippled the retirement lives of almost half the boomers, and if something isn’t done, the Gen Xers and millennials aren’t going to fare much better.
It’s a sad fact, but 47% of boomers have nothing saved for retirement. And a full 21% of elderly married couples, and 45% of unmarried people, rely on Social Security for 90% of their income.
The average Social Security check this year is $1,422. That’s $17,532 per year. Most of us spend more than that on restaurant meals …read more […]

We’re entering my favorite time of the year.
Not because I love fall or a cornucopia of pumpkin spice-flavored goodies. Or because I’m a fan of winter. (In fact, I hate all of those things.)
But the reason I love this time of the year is it’s the busiest season for trend traders like me.
Think about everything that’s going on around the world…
It’s September. The kids are back in school, the eldest ones off to college. And we just exited back-to-class shopping season. This represents nearly $81 billion in consumer spending.
We celebrated Labor Day and all the sales that came along with …read more […]

Some of the world’s best investors stick to dividend portfolios. They know that a steady stream of income is a top wealth building strategy. And finding the best deals is vital. So today, we’re going to review another one of the best dividend stocks around. Let’s take a look at Target’s dividend history and safety…
Business Overview and Highlights
Target (NYSE: TGT) is a $56 billion business. The company is based out of Minnesota and it employs 360,000 people. Last year Target pulled in $75 billion in sales and that breaks down to $209,000 per employee.
The company runs within the consumer sector …read more […]