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Bullish On Books
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James Altucher, President and founder of Stockpickr (think “MySpace for finance”) and managing partner at Formula Capital has just written "THE FOREVER PORTFOLIO How To Pick Stocks That You Can Hold for the Long Run.”
Before I tell you about his book, I have a confession to make: I’m a huge fan of his—I fell in love with his writing and wit when I read his columns in the Financial Times.
James is, how should we put this politely, oh yea, “TV—challenged” in that he looks more like Lyle Lovett than Brad Pitt—BUT—let’s not forget Julia Roberts, the ultimate pretty woman, fell hard for Lyle and yes, I’ve fallen for James. The first time I met him he drove up to CNBC in a white limousine (right out of the movies, huh?) but more important than his transportation choice, James has an amazing gift for finding investment opportunities.
In “Forever Portfolio” James offers readers a real strategy on how to pick investments for the long-term—those investments that won’t take a fatal or severe hit when the market fluctuates. He writes, “…This book is about how to eliminate the distractions so that you can make sound investment decisions, rest easy, and enjoy all of the other aspects of your life. You don’t want to have to look at your investments every day for the rest of your life. You don’t want to have to follow every tick of the markets or panic if they plunge 10% in a week, as they often do.”
Altucher is a keen observer and his book teaches you how you too can open your eyes to the opportunities that are here now and will be for—well, forever.
One example—the huge profits in the world of fat. James points out that we spend about $33 Billion each year on weight-loss services—in his opinion, this a great opportunity for investors. And when you think about it—he’s right: we’re ALWAYS going to be on a diet and then go on a new diet when the old diet fails. It’s a global problem—the entire world is getting fat and fatter. It’s a huge health crisis and a huge investment opportunity and let’s face it, it’s going to be around “forever.”
Other “forever” observations/opportunities in his book range from things the world needs (water) to what we want or don’t want (tattoos). What you’ll find in this book is a pattern to use in your own investment strategy to find stocks you can hold on to for the long-term, a strategy championed by the Oracle himself, Warren Buffett who famously said, “My favorite holding period is forever.”
James has made his investment mistakes in the past and he shares those stories in the book and I like that, it’s real, it’s authentic. Investing is a lot like life, it’s not a one-way street to the top, there are many detours and set backs, but again to quote from his book, “…the great thing about a global economy is that it does recuperate as opportunity finds its way back into the financial system. The key to investing, then, is staying in the game, consistently looking for opportunity and not worrying about all of those things that are meaningless or out of your control…”
This book offers some good ideas to put control in your life and in your portfolio—and isn’t that something you’d want, forever?
Questions, comments?
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