- A “rule of thumb” for portfolio asset allocation…
- Why I sold all my gold investments…
- Here’s how to think about the recent market volatility…
Dear Reader,
And there it was…
Like a beacon, I didn’t need any training to see it.
An ominous, dark blob on my magnetic imaging resonance (MRI) scan in the area of my pelvis.
Cancer. I was in the 1.7%.
I sat down with Dr. David Karow, the president and chief of radiology at Health Nucleus, at the end of my visit. He walked me through the first pass of imaging taken throughout the day.
The lesion found during the MRI indicated a high likelihood of prostate cancer. Dr. Karow was certain of it, and he was right.
It wasn’t what I expected.
After all, my trip to Health Nucleus wasn’t because I was ill. In fact, I didn’t have a single health concern before my trip to La Jolla. My goal was to put myself through the process so that I could research bleeding-edge approaches to predictive medicine, genetics, and human longevity.
I’m young, active, and train three or four times a week. I’m strong, energetic, and a third-degree blackbelt in Shotokan karate. I consume a gluten-free version of a largely Japanese-style diet full of fish and vegetables. It just didn’t make sense at all.
And that’s precisely the point of the Health Nucleus program. There was no reason to justify me getting a full-body MRI or even a prostate-specific MRI. The cancer would have likely gone unnoticed for years, and it could have potentially cost me my life.
As Dr. Karow walked me through the specifics, the natural thing that came to mind was, “Okay, what’s next”?
It’s disheartening to know that there will be a raft of tests, biopsies, blood tests, and hospital visits to follow. But it is also an empowering feeling, knowing that there are positive actions to create a better outcome.
And the great news is that we found the cancer early. My visit to Health Nucleus was back in the first week of August. Needless to say, I have been very busy managing my health since then. But what happened after I left Health Nucleus is equally important to share.
Dr. Karow and I agreed that we needed to get a prostate-specific MRI as soon as possible. That would provide the imaging necessary for a biopsy.
With his help, we identified a urologist not far from where I lived who specializes in an ultrasound fusion biopsy, which uses MRI images to help guide where the samples are taken. When used properly, this technique improves the odds that the cancerous tissue is taken from the lesion during the biopsy.
When I first met with the urologist, I was told that it was “highly unlikely” that I had prostate cancer. It was a tense discussion, and I had to push to get the support to authorize a prostate-specific MRI. At the time, a biopsy was out of the question.
It wasn’t a surprise to me when the prostate MRI came back confirming what we found at Health Nucleus, which resulted in a biopsy. And the biopsy confirmed what we already knew back in August.
I’m sharing these details with you because I want to demonstrate that we must take ownership of our own health.
Had I listened to the urologist – one of the best in his field – that it was “highly unlikely” I was sick and that we should just monitor the situation over time, the cancer would have had the chance to spread, grow, and potentially expand to my bones. That’s when things get really ugly.
It’s not easy to push back when we believe that we’re sitting down with an expert. But with the support of Dr. Karow, who even got on the phone to push for earlier appointments and tests, I was able to avoid a common trap of conventional medicine – that my symptoms weren’t significant enough to warrant attention.
And there’s more…
My other partner through this whole process has been Dr. Mona Ezzat-Velinov, a specialist in integrative and functional medicine. She took all of the data that we collected at Health Nucleus and combined it with the additional diagnostics we performed after I left to understand my entire health condition.
With her help, I’ve stripped out any and all foods that have even a remote link to prostate cancer. Since my visit, I haven’t had any dairy products, gluten, beef, pork, lamb, and almost zero processed sugar. I call it my “bird diet.”
I subsist on nuts, seeds, seaweed, fish, copious amounts of vegetables, and herbal tea throughout the day.
Why so extreme? Because I want to get better.
I have a family that needs me. And if I have a shot at eradicating the cancer and beating it with nutrition, diet, and exercise, then it is worth the effort. If at all possible, I want to avoid a radical surgery or radiation of any kind.
The funny part is that I felt good when I went to Health Nucleus, but I feel even better now. I’ve lost almost 30 pounds in less than three months. It hasn’t been easy, but I need to reduce my visceral fat quickly.
One way or another, I’m confident that I’m going to be fine. I didn’t miss any work through this whole mess either. As long as I had something scheduled that would help us understand my condition better, then work was a welcome distraction.
And with clear dietary and weight goals, I have something that I can aggressively work toward.
I’m grateful to Dr. David Karow and Dr. Mona Ezzat-Velinov for being such great partners through this process. The Health Nucleus 100+ program is like nothing else on the planet – clearly, I’ve experienced the value myself. And we need it to succeed in its mission if we are to change the way that health care works today.
For those interested in the 100+ program, you can register your interest here. As I mentioned on Monday, the full program runs $19,800, and it isn’t covered by insurance.
I wish the program were more accessible, but I am certain that, over time, access to this kind of preventative health care will drop significantly and eventually become the standard.
And thanks to all of you who have read along with me this week on my journey. You have shared one of your most valuable assets – your time – which is why I have chosen to share my experience with you.
And if I could wish one thing for my readers, it’s that you all live in good health to 100+.
(Note: Neither I nor Brownstone Research have any relationship at all with Health Nucleus. We receive no compensation of any kind for writing about my experience there. I paid full price to go through the program. My only interest was to research what I felt to be the most advanced preventative medicine and human longevity clinic on the planet.)
And now let’s turn to our mailbag…
If you have a question you’d like answered next week, be sure you submit it right here.
Advice for determining portfolio allocation…
Let’s begin with a question on portfolio allocation…
Hi, Jeff, and now for something completely different… 😇 When building a full portfolio based on your services, how should we split our investment budget between the different services percentage-wise?
Could you share some general guidelines about this? I realize that this may also depend on the specific profile of the investor in question, but I’m just looking for a general and dependable “rule of thumb” if possible.
Thanks in advance and already looking forward to your upcoming reports!!!
Greetings from Antwerp, Belgium.
– Arne A.
Hi, Arne. Thanks for being a subscriber. It’s great to see investors thinking critically about how to best allocate their assets. That’s the right thing to be doing.
Unfortunately, I can’t provide any individual investment advice. And asset allocation is a highly personal matter. It truly does depend on each individual person’s status as an investor, where they are in life, their financial objectives, lifestyle, investment objectives, and many other factors.
All of these things impact allocations to real estate, fixed income, precious metals, large-cap investments, small-cap investments, private equity, early stage venture investments, and so forth. The best general advice that I can give is to find a financial advisor who specializes in asset allocation and can help you put a plan in place.
I will say this, though. Asset allocation typically changes over time. A mistake that I see many make is that they use the same plan over decades rather than optimizing as things change in their lives and financial situations.
As I have been building out my research products in Brownstone Research, I have actually been keeping this concept in mind.
A key element of my publications is that I have designed my research to be complementary with basically no overlap. Each product is unique and designed to give my subscribers access to different investment asset classes.
More specifically:
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The Near Future Report is designed for large-capitalization growth stocks. These are safer, buy-and-hold recommendations that we intend to hold more than 12 months for long-term capital gains. Well-established, large-capitalization stocks in growth mode are some of the safest investments and therefore could take up a larger percentage of an investor’s portfolio.
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Exponential Tech Investor focuses on higher-risk and much higher-reward technology companies. These are small- or micro-capitalization companies that we want to invest in before Wall Street understands their value. Again, this is a buy-and-hold strategy. We expect to hold these positions for more than 12 months to capture long-term capital gains.
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Early Stage Trader is a trading service. We trade on high-probability speculations in early stage companies. Our goal is triple-digit gains in less than a year. So we intend to be in and out of trades in a matter of months. Generally speaking, this kind of trading would typically be a smaller percentage of an overall portfolio.
Each investment approach fills out an important part of an overall asset allocation model.
I’m also working on new investment methodologies to give my readers access to other investment asset classes. My goal is to further create a complete portfolio allocation model, which will include investing in non-tech/biotech stocks as well.
And within Exponential Tech Investor, The Near Future Report, and Early Stage Trader, my recommendation for each portfolio is to build a basket of companies with roughly the same amount of money invested in each.
The important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how many shares in a company you buy. What matters is the total amount invested.
If we invest $1,000 in a stock trading at $10, and we also invest $1,000 in a stock trading at $100, and both return 100%, then our gains – in dollar terms – will be precisely the same.
I hope this is useful.
Should we hold gold in our portfolio?
Next, a reader wants to know more about my thoughts on gold investments…
Hey, Jeff, what is your position on holding gold and/or silver as part of our portfolio? Currently my holdings include 40% real estate, 40% equities through ETFs and IRAs, 15% bonds, and 5% in crypto.
I have just recently started to add to the portfolio individual stocks, hence the subscription to your research. Again, thoughts on holding gold or silver as part of the portfolio?
– Quinn W.
Hi, Quinn, and thanks for sending in your question. Like I said above, I can’t offer personal investment advice. But here’s what I can share…
Readers may be surprised to learn that after the tech bubble burst almost 20 years ago, I began investing in precious metals. I invested in gold miners, gold indices, a lot of private placements in junior mining and exploration companies, and even several successful short-term gold trades. I remember I made 678% in under a month with a well-timed options trade on the Gold & Silver Index (XAU).
I also bought physical precious metals. I remember carrying a monster box of 500 ounces of silver bullion through airport security in Japan. The Japanese security was very confused. What was I doing with all these coins? I told them I was a collector, and they let me go on my way.
Why would I – a technologist – invest in gold?
Simple: I knew it was heading higher. In 2004, the markets were still reeling from the dot-com bust. In response to the crash, the Greenspan-backed Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds rate from 6.5% to below 1%. The yield on a 10-Year U.S. Treasury fell from around 6% in 2000 to just over 3% in 2003.
Then, in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis, the Bernanke-backed Fed slashed the federal funds rate close to zero. Again, yields on income-producing assets fell.
Low rates tend to be bullish for precious metals. Investors may buy gold when yields on income-producing assets like bonds fall to the level of inflation.
At the same time, the government launched a series of money printing programs. In late 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). This legislation “bailed out the banks” with the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Then, in 2009, President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The official reason for the law was to spur consumer demand and help the economy recover.
But another important consequence was that it expanded the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.
In fact, the federal deficit during every year of the first Obama administration was in excess of $1 trillion. This was the first time in American history a federal deficit had exceeded $1 trillion.
And it happened four years in a row. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. printed $10 trillion over eight years and amassed more than every previous presidential administration in the history of the U.S. combined.
Low rates and unprecedented levels of federal debt were incredible tailwinds for gold. When I first started investing in precious metals, gold traded for about $400 an ounce. By 2011, gold would sell for more than $1,800 an ounce. At the time, it was at an all-time high.
I’m happy to say that I did very well with my investment in gold. But starting around 2014, I began selling almost all of my precious metal assets.
In fact, in the time since, I’ve sold every single gold investment I had. After $10 trillion of printing by the end of President Obama’s administration, gold was only up about 40%, around $1,200/oz. And that sent me a clear signal.
That told me gold wasn’t going to $10,000 an ounce. If trillions in money printing didn’t do it, nothing would.
Aside from that, the reasons we buy gold are no longer as relevant to society. There are better places for safety, such as real estate – especially land that produces something like timber – and, of course, technology.
There has never been a better time in history to invest in cutting-edge technology. That may sound like hyperbole. It’s not. The technological breakthroughs of the next five to 10 years will dwarf all the advancements of the past 100 years.
We are on the cusp of seeing fleets of self-driving vehicles, a cure to all genetic disease, and the mass adoption of AI-powered assistants. And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll soon be able to take a vacation to space…
In the years ahead, the largest fortunes won’t be made with gold or commodities. They will be made by investing in technology and biotechnology. Of that I am certain.
How to handle election volatility…
Let’s conclude with a question about market volatility…
Hello, Jeff,
For a novice such as myself, I find your research head and shoulders above all other research I have explored! I find your work not only professionally superb but also personally honest and honorable. That is why I joined your service for life.
Due to very limited funds, I am extremely cautious. I have purchased quite a few of your recommendations. Some rose quickly, and I saw earnings of over $1,000 last month. Taking your recommendations seriously to keep stocks for three to five years, I did not sell them. But now I am at a loss of over −$200. To me, this is VERY scary!
I also hear predictions that the market may fall even deeper after the election. If so, could I lose all the money I have invested?
Should I sell everything I bought until now, even if at a loss, and wait until the market gets some sanity back? What do you suggest? PLEASE respond ASAP!
– Dr. Hagitte G.
Dear Hagitte, thank you for your kind words and for being a lifetime subscriber. I’m glad you wrote in with this question.
We are mere days away from one of the most contentious U.S. elections in history, and we’re beginning to see some turbulence in the markets.
In fact, since October 12, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 indexes have each dropped over 6%. And I forecast we could see additional market volatility in the days ahead.
We can also count on the media stoking fear and panic in the markets as much as it can, especially if we experience riots or violence surrounding the election results.
That being said, let’s remember to keep this volatility in perspective. The Nasdaq is still up over 61% since the March crash, and it’s risen in a straight line for most of the year. It’s got room to take a breather.
While I can’t provide personalized advice, I have a few comments on your concerns.
First, I always encourage readers to use rational position sizing in any investments. Position sizing will mostly depend on the amount of capital an investor has to deploy and their risk tolerance.
And I never recommend going “all in” on any one investment. This is always dangerous. No matter how well we think we know a company and the technology, there are always factors that are out of our control.
By not cherry-picking or going all in on one stock, we protect our portfolio. It ensures that there will never be a catastrophic loss.
It sounds like you’ve made a good start in this direction by forming positions in multiple recommendations.
So I believe the key is to be patient and wait for this volatility to pass. After all, while nobody likes to see losses on paper, any paper losses aren’t realized unless we sell. And there’s no reason to sell if our investment thesis is intact. In fact, many times market dips can be great buying opportunities.
And as always, I will be sure to keep my subscribers informed with timely alerts whenever I do think it’s time to buy or sell anything in our portfolios.
But overall, we can handle some short-term volatility. And the best part about great technology companies with disruptive products and services is that they will grow in just about any economic environment.
Whichever way the election goes, I am 100% certain that we are going to have great investment opportunities in technology and biotechnology over the next four years. And I can only hope that the U.S. in particular returns to a peaceful and civil society.
That’s all we have time for this week. If you have a question for a future mailbag, you can send it to me right here.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Jeff Brown
Editor, The Bleeding Edge
P.S. And as a final reminder, today is the last day to watch the replay of my “Beyond Exponential” summit.
As I’ve shared with readers in recent days, the 5G technology trend is going into high gear.
Not only did I experience the rollout of our nation’s new 5G networks for myself in places like Memphis, TN; Sioux Falls, SD; Cincinnati, OH; Indianapolis, IN; and more… but I also showed readers how they can position themselves for the trillions of dollars about to flood into 5G.
We’re at the very beginning of the next major exponential growth story. In fact, the 5G trend is 5X bigger than I originally thought. And if you want to have the chance to build a million-dollar technology portfolio, this is an event you can’t afford to miss.
Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].