It’s an idea that the richest and most powerful people in the business world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… #-ad_banner-#Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock… Read More

It’s an idea that the richest and most powerful people in the business world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… #-ad_banner-#Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock market. They’re privately held… According to an investing trade group report, as of June 2013, the private market outperformed the S&P 500 (including dividends) by 1.2 percentage points and 6.8 percentage points for five- and 10-year periods, respectively. From June 2003 to June 2013, the private market has averaged 15% annualized returns. And it’s not limited to just recent performance. A study by professors at Duke and Ohio State covering a period from 1984 through 2010 found that private market investors earned 18% more than the S&P 500. It’s proof that when it comes to investing, the rich really are… Read More

Let’s be realistic. You’re NOT going to get rich in a hurry by investing in mainstream blue-chip stocks. The S&P 500 is a handy benchmark and a good proxy for the U.S. economy, but it’s not going to make anyone rich unless you have decades to invest. #-ad_banner-#If you want to truly soar above the market, you have to dedicate at least part of your portfolio to serious big-game hunting. With that in mind, my team and I just released a report on my boldest predictions for 2015. These are ideas that you won’t hear about in the mainstream financial… Read More

Let’s be realistic. You’re NOT going to get rich in a hurry by investing in mainstream blue-chip stocks. The S&P 500 is a handy benchmark and a good proxy for the U.S. economy, but it’s not going to make anyone rich unless you have decades to invest. #-ad_banner-#If you want to truly soar above the market, you have to dedicate at least part of your portfolio to serious big-game hunting. With that in mind, my team and I just released a report on my boldest predictions for 2015. These are ideas that you won’t hear about in the mainstream financial press until it’s too late. In the past, my previous predictions have made thousands of dollars for subscribers of my newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks. For example, in 2009 we told our readers to expect a big move in nanotechnology. We said, “This is an opportunity of enormous proportions.” Our nanotech pick shot up 293%. My prediction for 2010 we called the “best sci-fi speculation of the year.” The powerful technology called RFID would be the root cause of our three stock picks soaring 42%… 89%… and 310%, a year after being featured in my list. And last year I predicted there… Read More

It’s the best thing since the invention of coins, checks or credit cards… In fact, it could make all previous forms of currency obsolete. My wife and I recently traveled from our home in West Virginia to St. Louis, Missouri. Jen and I drove more than a thousand miles, spent six nights in a hotel, ate however many meals and did some shopping. We each have a debit card, a credit card and a gas card, and Jen has a few store cards. We were gone a week, and I came home with the same ten $50 bills I’d gotten… Read More

It’s the best thing since the invention of coins, checks or credit cards… In fact, it could make all previous forms of currency obsolete. My wife and I recently traveled from our home in West Virginia to St. Louis, Missouri. Jen and I drove more than a thousand miles, spent six nights in a hotel, ate however many meals and did some shopping. We each have a debit card, a credit card and a gas card, and Jen has a few store cards. We were gone a week, and I came home with the same ten $50 bills I’d gotten at the bank before we left. It dawned on me how seldom I have any physical currency in my wallet — usually only when I travel. It’s certainly not because I go without any of the things I need or want; it’s because I simply don’t need to carry cash. I do, of course, need my smartphone. And Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is onto something with its idea to put the two things together. “In the past few thousand years, the way we pay has changed just three times — from coins, to paper money, to plastic cards. Now we’re on… Read More

Nick Dreystadt is an unsung hero of American business. In 1933, the engineer knocked on the boardroom door at General Motors (NYSE: GM) and asked to be heard for ten minutes. He said he could take GM’s most problematic division and make it profitable within 18 months. It was a bold move. The historian John Steele Gordon said Dreystadt’s intrusion into the exclusive confines of the boardroom was roughly akin to a lowly priest knocking on the door of the Sistine chapel to advise the cardinals while electing a pope. It was also a very bold claim: The GM division… Read More

Nick Dreystadt is an unsung hero of American business. In 1933, the engineer knocked on the boardroom door at General Motors (NYSE: GM) and asked to be heard for ten minutes. He said he could take GM’s most problematic division and make it profitable within 18 months. It was a bold move. The historian John Steele Gordon said Dreystadt’s intrusion into the exclusive confines of the boardroom was roughly akin to a lowly priest knocking on the door of the Sistine chapel to advise the cardinals while electing a pope. It was also a very bold claim: The GM division at issue commanded the highest prices, but it also shouldered the highest costs, and by a wide margin. Then there was the small matter of timing: It was the middle of the Great Depression. But Nick Dreystadt nevertheless thought he could sell Cadillacs. #-ad_banner-#His two-pronged plan was as simple as it was controversial. Dreystadt told the board he would end a longstanding GM policy that barred dealers from selling Cadillacs to African-Americans, thus opening up a huge new market. Affluent blacks, Dreystadt noted, could not move into “rich” neighborhoods. They couldn’t join country clubs. But many professionals could easily afford… Read More

I don’t fit in with the Wall Street crowd.  Raised on a farm in rural Kansas, I have quite a different background than your average Wall Street hot-shot. But I’m no stranger to the scene. You see, prior to my role as Chief Investment Officer of Game-Changing Stocks, I spent many years at the business desk of one of the nation’s largest newspapers, the Newark Star-Ledger. And in my time there, I got a first-hand view of how things operate.  Fast-forward to today, and I spend much of my time on the phone with small-company executives who are designing the… Read More

I don’t fit in with the Wall Street crowd.  Raised on a farm in rural Kansas, I have quite a different background than your average Wall Street hot-shot. But I’m no stranger to the scene. You see, prior to my role as Chief Investment Officer of Game-Changing Stocks, I spent many years at the business desk of one of the nation’s largest newspapers, the Newark Star-Ledger. And in my time there, I got a first-hand view of how things operate.  Fast-forward to today, and I spend much of my time on the phone with small-company executives who are designing the next-generation fuel source… Other times I might be looking through government reports to find Pentagon technology that could eventually be used to make life-changing new products.  The majority of Wall Street analysts simply don’t do research like this. Instead, they seem to enjoy sensationalizing companies that are way past their primes.  But there’s another difference between Wall Street and me that I want to talk about today.  While the Street likes to go bonkers over earnings reports, I don’t. I believe wholeheartedly in considering earnings reports in an organized, standardized fashion. And I’d like to share that method with you… Read More

Mark Twain understood the mind of an investor.  The world-renowned author once proclaimed: “A dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.”  Twain acknowledged the rush that can accompany earning money without any labor. He understood that the human brain is not wired for clear thinking in regard to money. That’s because the area of the brain that responds to financial reward is the same part that lights up from cocaine.  This… Read More

Mark Twain understood the mind of an investor.  The world-renowned author once proclaimed: “A dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.”  Twain acknowledged the rush that can accompany earning money without any labor. He understood that the human brain is not wired for clear thinking in regard to money. That’s because the area of the brain that responds to financial reward is the same part that lights up from cocaine.  This presents a major problem.  Investors become insatiable, searching high and low for the next “big winners.” What they’re really interested in is a get-rich-quick scheme.  That’s a terrific way to lose money — and quickly. #-ad_banner-# However, if you are a regular reader of my Game-Changing Stocks newsletter, then you know that I have been making the habit of finding stocks with the most “big winner” potential into a science for a while.  Take electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) for example.  On Dec. 20, 2010, I first profiled and recommended the company to my readers. Since then, it has… Read More

It’s an idea that the richest and most powerful people in the business world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock… Read More

It’s an idea that the richest and most powerful people in the business world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock market. They’re privately held… #-ad_banner-#According to an investing trade group report, as of March 2013, the private market outperformed the S&P 500 (including dividends) by 2.6 percentage points, 2.2 percentage points and 6.1 percentage points for three-, five- and 10-year periods, respectively. And it’s not limited to just recent performance. A study by professors at Duke and Ohio State covering a period from 1984 through 2010 found that private market investors earned 18% more than the S&P 500. It’s proof that when it comes to investing, the rich really are different — they invest in better companies. But exactly how… Read More

My 2014 has sort of fallen out of the opening gate. I’ve been battling a tough case of the flu, something that they’ve always told me grows harder as one gets older, which sure seems true. I refuse to let it get me too far down, though. This is a great time for investors to evaluate the past 12 months, review opportunities both exploited and missed, and look ahead to a fresh start.  The S&P 500 has just wrapped up a strong year. Wall Street’s benchmark average had price appreciation of 29.6%. Its total return, including reinvested dividends, was 32.4%,… Read More

My 2014 has sort of fallen out of the opening gate. I’ve been battling a tough case of the flu, something that they’ve always told me grows harder as one gets older, which sure seems true. I refuse to let it get me too far down, though. This is a great time for investors to evaluate the past 12 months, review opportunities both exploited and missed, and look ahead to a fresh start.  The S&P 500 has just wrapped up a strong year. Wall Street’s benchmark average had price appreciation of 29.6%. Its total return, including reinvested dividends, was 32.4%, according to Bloomberg. That makes it the third-best year of the past two decades.   Interesting stuff. But as a great mind of our generation once posited, “So what?” #-ad_banner-#Should we expect a gain of 24.3% or 31.2% in 2014? No one knows. The fact is, we can expect, forecast or do a rain dance for whatever return we like. It doesn’t matter. Some rational guesses can be made, but there are simply too many variables to say with any degree of certainty what the year is going to look like 365 days from now. We do know… Read More

It’s turned scores of investors into millionaires. It goes against everything taught in business school… and against conventional wisdom… yet it’s helped many businesses go from nothing to a billion dollars in a few years.  We’ve all heard sayings like:  “Customer is king.”  “The customer is always right.”  “You’ve got to give the people what they want.”  If you search the Internet, you’ll find thousands of articles with headlines like this from Forbes: “Listening to Your Customers Yields Success.” But what truly great investors realize is…  If you want the potential for life-altering profits, you have to invest in companies… Read More

It’s turned scores of investors into millionaires. It goes against everything taught in business school… and against conventional wisdom… yet it’s helped many businesses go from nothing to a billion dollars in a few years.  We’ve all heard sayings like:  “Customer is king.”  “The customer is always right.”  “You’ve got to give the people what they want.”  If you search the Internet, you’ll find thousands of articles with headlines like this from Forbes: “Listening to Your Customers Yields Success.” But what truly great investors realize is…  If you want the potential for life-altering profits, you have to invest in companies that forget about customers. #-ad_banner-#That’s the great secret.  It’s the opposite of what you’d expect. But when you think about it, it’s absolutely true. And when you find a company doing this, you know you’re in luck. Ford Motors is good example. Henry Ford showed a total disregard for customers. When asked about adding color variety to cars, he famously quipped, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”  He’s also alleged to have said, “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said, ‘faster horses.'” And he’s… Read More

When I was a kid, I had a friend named Corey. His folks were loaded: His dad was a successful gynecologist, and his mom “came from money,” as polite people used to say. The family cars were all Mercedes-Benzes.  I was fortunate to have a relatively affluent upbringing, so luxury cars were not unknown to me. But one thing set Corey’s family’s cars apart: They had cell phones. #-ad_banner-#During the 1980s in Wichita, Kan., cellular telephones were an exorbitantly expensive device limited mainly to very serious oilmen and very important physicians. But when I could finally afford it a decade… Read More

When I was a kid, I had a friend named Corey. His folks were loaded: His dad was a successful gynecologist, and his mom “came from money,” as polite people used to say. The family cars were all Mercedes-Benzes.  I was fortunate to have a relatively affluent upbringing, so luxury cars were not unknown to me. But one thing set Corey’s family’s cars apart: They had cell phones. #-ad_banner-#During the 1980s in Wichita, Kan., cellular telephones were an exorbitantly expensive device limited mainly to very serious oilmen and very important physicians. But when I could finally afford it a decade later, during my sophomore year of college, I became an early adopter of the technology and bought a Nokia handheld model. It was expensive-ish, I suppose, but the convenience made sense to me, and it wasn’t like I had a mortgage to worry about. Well, you know what happened. It wasn’t much longer before the cell phone trend caught on and then took off. The technology grew better and better, and so did the service, which simultaneously became cheaper and cheaper. Now, of course, no self-respecting college student — or street-corner bum — lacks a cell phone. Think about how… Read More