While it may be the understatement of the century to say that we at Empowered Investor Network are NOT big stock market fans, the reality is that most investors are likely to leave at least a portion of their portfolio on Wall Street.
So what do you do if you’re determined to participate in the stock market to some extent?
To get the answer to this question, Jason recently chatted up Chris Mayer, an up and coming stock market guru who has a very commodity oriented approach to stock investing. Believe it or not, Jason found himself agreeing with some of Mayer’s points. You can hear the entire interview in podcast #85 but let’s toss around a few of the salient points here.
In his recent book, A Tale of Two Markets, Mayer discussed the acronym CODE, which he uses to evaluate stocks. It breaks down like this:
C = cheap
O = owner operated
D = disclosure
E = excellent financial condition
When the above factors are met, you have a much better chance of investing in a real business with real value rather than the latest Wall Street star built on nothing more than the media drumbeat and rampant speculation.
Hard to argue with any of that. Furthermore, he made a friend for life in Jason when he expressed a strong preference for tangible assets and resources like food, water rights, timber land, and energy stocks. The theory behind this is that, even in this global contraction market, basic human needs must still be met. Throw in the massive leap forwards in consumption by nations like China and you have a steady upward demand that won’t be lessening any time soon.
