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Portfolio’s That Maximize The Probability of High Performance

Portfolio’s That Maximize The Probability of High Performance

This week we’re preparing for our upcoming September Options Webcast. Here at Iron Gate we consistently preach the value of a thoughtfully devised and executed options strategy to accompany your core portfolio efforts. Options can be the key to the difference between mediocrity and over-performance for many portfolios primarily because of their ability to generate income when income is often scarce, and secondarily because they can provide a valuable hedge to your core portfolio holdings when managed properly. If you aren’t using options, you should be. If you are, this upcoming webcast will provide an excellent opportunity to refine your options process and improve your approach to options. Plus the question and answer portion of the webcast will valuable for anyone wanting to dive deeper. Register For the September 21st Iron Gate Options Webcast And here is a valuable refresher, or tip of the iceberg if you will, on what
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August 31, 2017
Categories: Income Genius and Strategy.
Do You Have Home Country Bias and Other Behaviorally Driven Investor Topics

Do You Have Home Country Bias and Other Behaviorally Driven Investor Topics

In this week’s podcast I’m basing my thoughts on the string of client questions I have been receiving over the last couple of weeks. You may have heard me say before, as a financial advisor I consider myself a behavioral advisor as much as a markets advisor. Investors are antsy and they’re asking questions like: “The market is at an all-time high is it the time to sell?” “This political environment is making me antsy, how do I trade it?” I address these topics head on. What does history and what does probability tell us about them? The answers formulate our response. Finally, I also address a critical behavioral weakness of many investors: home country bias. You like many others may have this. It can hamper your portfolio’s performance. So click below to listen as we discuss these very important topics and see how you would grade yourself against our recommended
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August 18, 2017
Categories: Markets, Personal Finance, and Strategy.
This Client Asked Two Common Questions: Here’s Our Answer

This Client Asked Two Common Questions: Here’s Our Answer

A client recently asked me two questions: 1) What is the market going to do over the course of the next year? 2) What is the secret sauce that has led to our success in the markets? What I did was walk him through why those aren’t the right questions to ask an adviser. I walked him through what I believe any client or potential client should ask their investment adviser. The reasoning for my answer is deeply connected with why I believe a large number of investors, either on their own or with an adviser, don’t achieve the success they should be able to. Today’s podcast is a simple review of that conversation. I hope you enjoy. What We’re Reading The first rule of Investing is . . . This is a fantastic, quick read that we agree with wholeheartedly. The key to any “rules” is to implement them.
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August 9, 2017
Categories: Markets, Personal Finance, and Strategy.
How To Think About This Market And The Non-existent Volatility We Are Experiencing: Podcast

How To Think About This Market And The Non-existent Volatility We Are Experiencing: Podcast

For almost the entire year this has been a smooth sailing market. What does this mean for investors? This week in our podcast we take a dive into the data around this Bull market, how it compares to other low-volatility markets of the past, and what you should be thinking about when it comes to your portfolio. Click below to listen and enjoy.   What We’re Reading Malcom Gladwell: There are no shortcuts to success – here’s what will up your chances. We agree 100% with this! It’s what we do every day for our clients to help them build and manage their wealth. It’s what we’re trying to teach our children daily, and it’s the one thing that you can’t succeed in life without. Investors, Stop Worrying About Why ‘Nobody’ Is Worrying. Jason Zweig’s article falls right in line with our podcast for the week. We have no idea
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August 2, 2017
Categories: Markets and Strategy.
Volatility Is The Price You Pay For The Returns On An Investment: The IGGA Podcast

Volatility Is The Price You Pay For The Returns On An Investment: The IGGA Podcast

If you are one of the many investors, who, like one of my client’s, has a misplaced notion of risk, you’ll get a lot out of today’s podcast. Also, you will probably want to talk with us about assessing how risk and returns play into your portfolio decisions. I can’t tell you the number of truly bright, hard working individuals that have deeply limited their portfolio’s value because they misunderstood risk. I hope you enjoy the podcast, and encourage you to give me a call to discuss how you should be looking at risk and investments for your time frame. Listen below.
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July 14, 2017
Categories: Personal Finance and Strategy.
Investing to Beat a Benchmark: FREE Access to the Online Investors Conference Presentation

Investing to Beat a Benchmark: FREE Access to the Online Investors Conference Presentation

As you may have seen in the last few weeks in our newsletter, I was recently invited to be a presenter at the Online Investor Conference. My topic was “Investing to Beat a Benchmark.” But it really was a fairly good overview of our end-to-end value investing approach at Iron Gate. A look into what has made our past sixteen years of performance stand out. We are now making it available to IGGA newsletter subscribers to view at your leisure free. It will be beneficial for both the investor who has a financial advisor and the investor who manages their money for themselves. If you follow the video through, it will be a good way to assess whether you are investing with an eye towards value – i.e. the Buffett approach. So click below and enjoy a look at our perspective on Investing to Beat a Benchmark. Disclosures: All investments
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June 28, 2017
Categories: Events, Markets, and Strategy.
Podcast: Only 10% of Investors are Fundamental Investors – What?!

Podcast: Only 10% of Investors are Fundamental Investors – What?!

This week I am kicking off my first podcast edition with a discussion of an amazing insight from JP Morgan: only 10% of current market trades are from investors who are fundamental traders.   I’ve discussed in the past why stock picking is so important to our firm. It’s why we have the performance track record we have. This news makes us very excited moving forward, as it should anyone who invests similarly to Warren Buffett and other fundamental investors.   If you are an index investor (i.e. buy and stick with a basic bundle of ETFs or other vehicles) you may not be thrilled with what we have to say.   Regardless, you should have a listen as we believe the knowledge that only 10% of investors are fundamentally focused is a big deal.  
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June 15, 2017
Categories: Markets and Strategy.
Forecasting The Stock Market: A Fool’s Game

Forecasting The Stock Market: A Fool’s Game

It’s that time of year again. We are entering the season of vacations, family reunions, boating, fishing, golf and everything else that makes summer time one of the best times of the year. We are also entering the summer doldrums in the stock market where volatility seems to always rear its head. Almost every summer the end of the world occurs. Last summer it was Brexit. It was going to destroy Europe. The summer of 2015 it happened in August when China’s growth was over, and the country’s progress into a developed market was over. The forecasts that come out generally discuss the stock markets bull run ending, the economy going into a recession and gold becoming the best investment possible. At this point in time, when this volatility occurs, you will also be email bombed or receive some other type of advertising from newsletter writers all predicting “the end”.
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May 23, 2017
Categories: Strategy.
If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

What a glorious time to be invested in the stock market! The market has rallied 14% since the election on Nov. 4, the major indexes have rallied to hit all-time highs. We are far from the “euphoria” that Sir John Templeton discusses as being the end of a bull market. Despite all the good news, it’s impossible to know with certainty when it will come to a screeching halt. The hardest thing to do—we may even call it impossible—is time the market consistently. Someone may get luck once, or maybe even twice, but to time it again and again is a fool’s errand. At Iron Gate Global Advisors, we have what we call a “Bear Market Game Plan.” It’s part of our process that we implement when that Bear Market rears its ugly head. Below are a few of the characteristics of our plan. Know when to sell your stocks:
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April 5, 2017
Categories: Markets, Personal Finance, and Strategy.
Value Investing The Right Way: Four Keys To Buying a Stock

Value Investing The Right Way: Four Keys To Buying a Stock

For the past twenty years, we have been perfecting the science of picking stocks. Since the early days of our firm, our methodology has improved dramatically and continues to do so every year. Like every investor, when we first started in this industry we searched and searched for the one “system” that would produce the results we were looking for. The easier this system, the better for us and our clients. In our attempt to find a single system, we learned one thing: there is no easy, simple, or ultimate system. In fact, we learned that the work that needed to be done to analyze a stock was long and exhausting . . . but well worth it. What we have deduced, however, is that there are four keys every stock investment should have. We did not invent these four things. They are core principles that investors, including Warren Buffett,
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March 29, 2017
Categories: Markets and Strategy.
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