To quote one of the best investors in the world today, George Soros, he says, “Investing is boring, if you’re having fun doing it, you’re probably losing money.” What does he mean? He’s referring to the many hours of research, analysis, and digging for good info required to invest successfully. Anyone can read a 5 minute article on Bloomberg or CNN Money, but these kind of resources rarely yield the kind of information you’ll need to be successful as an investor. I won’t get into why, but suffice to say that research is hard, and good research is harder, nobody gives it away for free, and if it’s that good, they don’t give it out at all, they use it to get rich.
Think of quality research as inside information; you have it, and if you let it out, you’ll lose your advantage. This is why it’s imperative you do your own research, or at least find a top notch service, which in all likelihood will cost you money. You don’t work for free, and neither do they. Knowledge is power, we live in the information age. Understand this, and you’ll understand why you won’t get the gold nuggets by spending 5 minutes on Bloomberg or CNN.
What’s more, practically nobody is willing to do the hard work of researching for good, solid info. The majority of investors reflect our society, they want it now, with no effort, and preferably no cost. It’s this attitude which makes them easy prey for the pros in the market, who put out these articles and all too often, have trades put on to profit from the lazy investors who will invest due to these articles.
This attitude also explains why so many traders lost so much money on oil’s fall. They didn’t understand the forces behind the fall, and nor were they educated on how the energy market had developed extreme excesses of production and supply over the last few years. The most in history in fact. Had they done their homework, they would’ve known that the EIA was warning about oversupply since 2013, and every US refinery was at or near capacity for supply. Instead, investors mistakenly believed that because oil had been at $100 so long, it had to go back there soon, market forces would drive it there. But market forces had changed dramatically, and there were many powerful changes occurring to bring oil down at the fastest rate in history.
We now know all the facts, and it’s all too clear why oil fell now. In fact, now that the facts are out, many mainstream sources are suggesting we could even see $20 oil. None of this matters though, the damage is done and the move has occurred. Whether we go to $20 or not is not as important as falling from $110 to $45. Nobody is making money in oil now, except the Saudis and a few Middle Eastern nations. They have the lowest cost per barrel of any producer in the world, which is why they don’t mind letting these prices remain, they know they’ll be the last man standing, and can then jack prices up as high as they want. But they can’t do that until the competition is removed.
See the game being played? You think traders would’ve bet on oil going down had they known this? No way, they would’ve made money shorting oil instead, like some did. So, the name of the game is information, the better yours is, the more money you’ll make. Don’t scrimp on it, but don’t assume that anyone who charges you big money will provide great info either. Choosing an information source is the most important decision you will make for your investments. At Wealth Management Vancouver, our edge is information. Our clients know the value of it, and because they profit from it, the cost is entirely justified.