“Standing in the pouring rain, as the bus driver relieved himself on the brick wall surrounding the gas station, two thoughts crossed my mind.One, whether I’d made a huge mistake hosting a company retreat in Middle-of-Nowhere, Nicaragua.And two, if the rickety bus with my luggage strapped to the top would actually make it to our destination…Three hours later, all sense of unease was erased from my mind. I sat comfortably, staring out over the Pacific Ocean alongside the undisputed titans of financial publishing…Charles Mizrahi, Ian King, Amber Lancaster, Michael Carr, Adam O’ Dell…Writing the next chapter of the Banyan Hill story.”These words come from the CEO of Banyan Hill Publishing, Aaron James, describing a weeklong retreat to a reclusive ranch on the Nicaraguan coast.He and the rest of the Banyan Hill team were there to regroup after the monumental shift we’ve seen in financial markets this past year. It was a time to take a step back, look at what we’ve achieved, anticipate what’s coming next and above all — to figure out how we can best serve YOU.After all, a lot changed this past year. While I’m sure historians will argue about the finer points over the next few decades, I have no doubt they’ll look back on 2022 as a major turning point in history.Not just because it was a year of record inflation, a rapid rise in interest rates and global tension.But rather, because of what lies underneath all the mayhem … a great economic, cultural and political shift toward de-globalization.I’m here today to share what we at Banyan Hill are convinced will be a major theme in the coming years.It’s something very few investors are talking about, let alone even thinking about…But we are. And it’s our duty to help you prepare for the headwinds the mainstream financial media refuses to see coming.Let’s first dive deep on what this shift means… And then I’ll show you how the next chapter of Banyan Hill is all about helping you succeed through it.
Deglobalization, Inflation, and You
The great globalization boom of the previous half century — which brought us cheap goods, cheap energy and cheap labor — met an unceremonious death this past year.The COVID pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a lot of reckless government policies formed a perfect storm to thrust us into a new financial era.Navigating this new era will be full of challenges, but equally full of opportunity for shrewd investors who know how to read the writing before it hits the wall.You see, while deglobalization will create a drastic change in what we’re all used to, it isn’t all bad.By necessity, it will spur a massive boom in robotics, artificial intelligence, automation, smart logistics … essentially everything that involves getting more productions out of fewer workers.It will make our country less dependent on countries that don’t particularly like us … and reduce our risk to industrial espionage.It will accelerate the green energy revolution … and even bring about the return of “Made in America”!But we won’t get there overnight. And it’ll be a strange experience getting there.No one alive today is old enough to remember the last period of deglobalization, after World War I. It snowballed into the late 1920s and, along with a host of other bad policy decisions along the way, culminated in the Great Depression and the rise of European fascism.There’s no telling what we’ll see this time, but history tells us to prepare for hard times and expect the unexpected.Odds are, you can already feel the strangeness around you. The notion that things are changing … and you’re not sure what comes next.You are not alone. Most Americans feel this way.In fact, Consumer Sentiment, which measures how confident people feel about their financial wellbeing, is at its lowest point in history…
(Click here to view larger image.)
The Federal Reserve isn’t exactly helping on the confidence front. When the most powerful central bank in the world is trying to drive unemployment UP and asset prices (aka your retirement) DOWN … that’s not the sort of thing to make you feel warm and fuzzy!The Fed has its reasons. They — like all of us — are unhappy with the stubbornly high inflation rates we’ve seen all year. They’re willing to engineer a recession in order to kill it.But here’s the thing … they’ll only be partly successful.You see, you can break inflation down into two component parts. There’s demand-pull inflation, which is when you have too many buyers bidding prices up. Higher interest rates tend to dampen this, and this is where the Fed will have some degree of success.But then there’s the other part … cost-push inflation. This is when prices rise because of a sudden unexpected scarcity that drives up costs. The oil embargo of the 1970s is a good example, as was COVID, which is a big part of the deglobalization trend we’re dealing with today.This type of inflation is a lot harder to kill because interest rates won’t make a dent in it. It requires massive investment in technology and infrastructure … things that can actually make inflation worse in the short term!What this all means is there will be major winners and major losers as this all plays out.And if you’re going to find the winners … while sidestepping the losers … you’ll need an all-star team behind you.The brilliant minds in our network fully understand these ideas.And at our retreat, we came to the realization that we could best ensure your success in this strange new era of investing by coming together and offering our guidance on a united front.And so, that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Banyan Edge: The Best of the Best
With The Banyan Edge, we’re bringing our top experts together under one masthead — each coming to the table with their best investment idea every single week.Ian King and Amber Lancaster bring their wealth of knowledge about growth investing, whether those opportunities are in disruptive small-cap stocks or cryptocurrencies… (The latter is how Ian’s readers landed a 18,000% gain in just one year. Not a typo…)Charles Mizrahi brings his no-nonsense “show me the numbers” approach to fundamental analysis and conservative investing … which is how he’s been able to sidestep every market crash of his career (the 1987, 2000, 2008, 2020 and 2022 crashes).Michael Carr brings his expertise in technical analysis, mastery of options trading and bottomless well of macroeconomic insight… Which explains how, even during 2022, he produced an overall 78% return with short-term trades even as the market fell as much as 25%.And my long-time friend and collaborator Adam O’ Dell brings his practical, systematic approach to moneymaking with trading systems and sector rotation… Which is how he’s made 25 triple-digit gains this last year.All of them are coming together, for the first time ever, to form an all-star team. And as the economy goes deeper into uncharted waters, this team is exactly who you want to help you navigate it.Today, I’m proud and honored to welcome you to The Banyan Edge — a huge step forward for us at Banyan Hill and you as an investor.Starting today, you can think of me as your VIP connection to the top investment minds in the Banyan Hill family.But who am I, you ask?
My Name Is Charles Sizemore
I’ve been writing about financial markets for 20 years, and if you’ve been a Banyan Hill reader for any length of time, you’ve probably stumbled across my work. I’ve been contributing to Money & Markets and Green Zone Fortunes along with Adam O’Dell since 2020.I started while a grad student at the London School of Economics, and in the years since, I’ve been a frequent guest on CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business News… Quoted in Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post… And contributed to Forbes and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, among others!I’ve also been in the trenches, founding and managing a quantitative hedge fund. My career has brought me to live, work and invest on three continents, and today I split my time between Dallas, Texas, and Lima, Peru.Today, I’ve been tasked with the great privilege of curating the insights of our best-of-the-best investment analysts, and delivering them to you.And that’s exactly what we’re putting together in The Banyan Edge.
What to Expect From The Banyan Edge
We’ve always known that each of our gurus stands strong on their own.But what the Nicaragua retreat taught us is that when they get together — bouncing ideas off of one another and, indeed, challenging each other … they are SO much stronger.We aim to capture that same lightning in a bottle with The Banyan Edge.So here’s what you can expect.Every Monday, I’ll share a new episode of The Banyan Edge Podcast. In it, I’ll sit down with our experts for an hour or more and discuss the biggest news in the financial world, and everyone from the team will give their take on how you can actively turn what’s going on into market-beating returns. You can expect the inaugural episode on Monday, December 12.Then, every Tuesday through Friday, you’ll hear the best idea from each of them individually. This week, since many of you haven’t met all the talent that makes up Banyan Hill, the crew will each introduce themselves, show you their investing style, and prove what it’s capable of.And here’s where it gets fun for you.We want you to be just as big of a part of this new effort. If you have questions or comments you’d like us to tackle on the podcast, or feedback on this new effort, write them in to BanyanEdge@BanyanHill.com.I’m also incredibly curious about where you stand as an investor today. As you know our mission is to publish ideas that help as many Main Street investors as possible…So, please take a moment and respond to this one-question survey. It will help us understand your biggest concerns, so we can guide you toward a bright future.Banyan Edge is my new baby, and I look forward to watching it prosper.Even more than that, I look forward to helping you navigate this new market paradigm … and ideally add a few zeroes to your net worth along the way.To New Beginnings,
P.S. Curious what readers have to say about Banyan Hill? Check out these Banyan Hill Publishing reviews by real subscribers.