This week, I thought I’d take a break from my regular energy commentary.
You see, this week marks the one-year anniversary of Lehman’s collapse — an event that rattled the financial markets, set off a chain reaction of failures, and ensured recession was on the minds of all.
We’ve seen the fallout since then: The blaming. The bickering. The bailouts.
And we’ve heard the tales of people being affected from Wall Street to Main Street with respect to unemployment and mortgage foreclosure. But those consequences are directly tied to recession. . . the unavoidable outcomes of unsustainable lending practices.
But what about the optional outcomes of this recession? How are we as investors choosing to react to an entirely different free market than the one that existed a year ago?
The Force is with You
I’ve been reading more and more about how investors are adapting to a very different post-recession market.
And I can’t say the results are surprising.
Since the collapse, investors have pulled more than $100 billion from full-service brokerages like Citi’s Smith Barney and Bank of America-Merill Lynch.
Those are people like you and I. . . pulling funds away from traditional money managers.
And can you blame them? Why would you keep your money with the same institutions that were complicit in the systematic degradation of the entire American economy?
These are companies whose brethren are being forced to shut their doors, thanks to years of mismanaged investments. . . and whose executives are still receiving bonuses worth 50 times your house.
Is it any wonder there’s an exodus from their pricey investment advice?
Instead of paying these big banks a flat fee or commission to put their money in the next incarnation of mortgage-backed securities. . . savvy investors are now turning inward.
One investor who lost $3 million with Smith Barney, interviewed by Reuters, said, “I will never again trust anyone who is commission-driven to manage my portfolio. If they’re not making money off you, they have no use for you.”
Another chimed in: “When the market took a hit, I thought, hey, these people don’t look any brighter than me. If anyone is going to lose my money, I want it to be me.”
And those two disgruntled investors aren’t alone in their sentiment. . .
Because while more than $100 billion has ebbed away from traditional brokerages in the past year, nearly $33 billion has flowed into TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, the two biggest purveyors of individually-managed online trading accounts.
And the number of accounts at online outfit TradeKing has grown 121% since Lehman said goodbye.
It seems hordes of investors are finally figuring out what we at Wealth Daily and our sister publications have known all along: No one is going to make money for you. You have to do it yourself.
The Last Plunge You’ll Take
The two investors quoted above took serious plunges.
The first says he lost $3 million in a Smith Barney account as the markets deteriorated last year.
And the other witnessed a 60% gain on a stock turn into a 70% loss under Smith Barney’s management as his broker told him to “hold.”
But both have now taken plunges of a different sort.
They each employ online accounts and do their own research.
I’ve been watching this trend mount. . . and have been helping disenfranchised investors conduct their own research and grow their capital.
The system I’ve built as a reaction to investors seeking no-nonsense investment advice has closed over 40 winners since July of last year. . . over 35 of them were double-digit gains. I don’t make fees or commissions. And I certainly don’t receive kickbacks for recommending a certain group of funds or securities.
I simply conduct in-depth proprietary research and send you an e-mail when it’s time to buy a winning stock.
What’s more, I insist that you make back you entire subscription fee on your very first trade.
Thousands have already used my research to buy their own stocks and manage their own wealth. And what they have to say is a lot more positive than those who lost money in brokered accounts.
Things like, “I can’t begin to tell you how great all your recommendations have been. I’ve made over 20% on almost all of them the last two months. I sold UNG when it was up around 30%. I’ve averaged 20% or more gains weekly.”
That’s what happens when your money isn’t tied up in an account managed by someone with a corporate agenda. The only agenda here is unadulterated profits.
To read more about how a growing number of investors are going it alone and profiting from independent research, click here.
Because the person who can make your money grow the fastest is you.
Call it like you see it,
Nick
