Description
Monthly newsletter that generally looks for less-risky and dividend-paying investments, including mutual funds and stocks.
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I subscribed to this a long time ago. I took it for at least one year. He seems like a smart and successful man, also very reasonable and honest. He’s just too conservative for me. He always shoots for 10 to 12% per year return. Of course, I would have loved that kind of return last year, but other years, I wouldn’t like that. He’s not creative. One thing I do like about him is that he really tried to teach people his investing philosophy and approach. He doesn’t just recommend stocks and mutual funds.
Thanks John — sounds like you’re buying the debt of their respective finance companies, not too different from buying GMAC debt back in the good ‘ol days, I suppose. And yes, good point on the time horizon — bond laddering with shorter-term bonds is certainly safer from an inflation perspective, since the assumption is that the shorter term bonds will suffer less in an inflationary environment. Exchange traded debt like that I featured today is almost always very long term debt, The ones I focused on are largely 30-50 year bonds, but they sometimes go out as far as 100… Read More »
The Intelligence Report is a very comprehensive publication, providing a great deal of technical analysis to supplement the market commentary. Despite this, I ended up deciding not to renew my subscription for one primary reason: I grew tired of being forced to read through Mr. Young’s extremely conservative views (to include telling his subscribers of the disasters that await if one were to vote for a candidate or issue that would be Republican Party approved) before getting to the solid investment advice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an infrequent occurrence; rather, it appeared in practically every issue. If the editor would avoid… Read More »
I have heard of Wall Street Insiders, though I don’t think I’ve ever written about them — and I know there are some folks who expect gold to crash, even Jimmy Rogers thought that it might fall to $700 or so because of IMF selling and other pressures, but I haven’t seen this particular argument. Will keep my eyes open.
Do you mean the fact the stock market rose to new highs after the liberal socialist got out of office and a businessman put some policies in place that encouraged investment , getting off welfare and food stamps? That kind of advice.?
I have been a subscriber for over 10 years, and plan on continuing with this newsletter as long as he keeps writing. My single biggest success with him was Harley Davidson, of which he writes often. My cost basis after splits was in the single digits and at it’s peak I was up about 1400% or more after perhaps 10+ yrs. I sold as he advised, but foolishly I choose to not sell not all (for tax reasons). In 2007 he wrote that for many people 2008 would have the feel of a depression, which was another prescient call. I… Read More »
The publication is ok and usually right on the money. He is a thorough researcher but I can’t stand his right wing drivel. So far as he is concerned, if you aren’t a right wing republican you are just plain ignorant. I would have hated like hell if he were a senator when Joe McCarthy was calling everyone a Commie Pinko socialist.
Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Reports Overall Rating: 3 stars Performance of picks/advice: 2 stars Consistancy: 4 stars Interesting to Read/educational: 5 stars Customer Service: 3 stars Value for the money: 2 stars I have subscribed to the Intelligence Report for six months as of March 09 (cost $59/yr). Young is a very engaging and passionate writer and seems to know a lot about all venues of investment. I really like the research charts and graphs on his website, http://www.richardcyoung.com. However, His etf and fund picks suck. All of the domestic etfs and mutual funds he recommended are down 7% or… Read More »
If you are nearing retirement, or in retirement with a fair amount of moolah to invest, this is a very good choice to look at for good ongoing advice. Of course he isn’t always on the money, but he openly admits when he has misjudged a situation. He is very right wing in his opinions, so you have to keep some perspective on what he says, but more often than not he gets it right with his economic outlook, and with his analysis of sector opportunities. He can be a little stubborn re giving up on some of his stock/fund… Read More »
As someone nearing retirement, I like Dick Young’s conservative, consistent investing approach. His right-wing political views rub me the wrong way, but I manage to ignore them. His advice about the importance of building wealth through the compounding of interest and dividends has altered my thinking. His ideas on future market trends are an interesting read.
Dick’s smug “I-am-all-knowing-and-I’m-doing-all-you-twits-SUCH-a-favor-here” attitude can be at times reassuring, but is also often annoying. Since his most recent diatribe against the Chinese stock market (worst-performing in 2008 having declined more than 50%, and he asserted that despite China’s economic growth their stock market may well not recover and was not worth investing in) the Chinese market has risen about 50%. To his credit, his losses have been less than those of some other newsletter writers.
i have been a subscriber for about ten years right when i started investing what little money i had at the time and wanted some expert advice that i could afford. after researching several letters i picked his, for the most part he has given me some winners unp,plc,pny to name a few but also some losers lately with ge bing my biggest loss on paper as i haven’t sold it yet but bought in the mid 30’s as recommended tadeing at about 12 now but i guess even he couldn’t see this train wreck coming, but thats why i… Read More »
Total number of shares is an artificial number that on its own means nothing. They could solve the problem you speak of overnight by doing a reverse 1:10 split. If I have 100 shares worth .01 cents, 10 shares worth .10 cents or 1 share worth a dollar, besides some volatility difference is there a really a difference assuming they entitle me to the same ownership stake of the company and earnings? I think the main number you want to look at is how many additional shares beyond the publicly traded ones are out there, the fully diluted shares which… Read More »
Richard Young’s Intelligence Reports has ben a favorite with me for over 8 years.A conservative philosphy both financial as well as editorial.Most of all,a consistenly good read.Fundamentals for recommendations have generally been first rate.His weakness for me is that stocks are removed from the list without comment.Did I hear “caveat emptor”
Thanks, I was kind of leaning against paying such a high premium and since you agree I’ll watch for a pullback. Thanks
I took this letter for a year or two, and found it not particularly good,especially the fund recommendations. Although some of his diatribe was interesting, it became so right wing I was disgusted with it and did not renew my subscription. I signed up for investment advice, not political rantings.
I have used some of their currency CDs, but not the MarketSafe ones. I haven’t heard anything particularly bad about them, but do be careful to understand exactly how they calculate returns — they’re not as simple as “market goes up, CD goes up,” I think they use specific dates and average prices to calculate, and some of them provide a certain percentage of market upside (or gold upside, or whatever the CD is connected to).
I used to subscribe to this newsletter quite awhile ago, and dropped it for reasons I will explain later. The format of the newsletter was to recommend stocks, but never offer guidance as to entry and exit points. There was no portfolio to track so it is hard to say whether a person would make or lose money if they had purchased his stocks when he recommended them. No portfolio, no portfolio performance record, no accountability. Hmmn. A novice (as I was) would probably find the ‘special reports’ good reading. He would lay out some rules for certain investments, and… Read More »
The newsletters used to be a decent source of information. But now between the lack of portfolio, research/documentation, the political rants, and the wealth of other e-newsletters and online sources, it was no longer worth it.
I love Dick Young and I enjoy his political views as they pretain to the market. I think he is correct to asess politics as they relate to the market. I like his newsletter and his reccomendations. it is very conservitive, and you would not lose a huge amount of money if you follow his advice.
I think the reviewer Chick (June 14, 2009) hit most of the high points of this newsletter. Young seems like a honest (albeit right of Atilla the Hun) investment advisor. However, he offers nothing most investors could not figure out themselves. When I had the subscription he was constantly recommending the Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund. Really, do I need a newsletter to advise me to buy an Index fund? Also, he cleverly never keeps track of a portfolio return of his recommendations. I guess all that messy housekeeping would give an unwanted, accurate view at his real investment returns.… Read More »
I am starting to worry that Dick has inhaled too many fumes from his Harley. He is now touting something called the HydroPhi Car Engine, which appears to me (and I am not an expert in evaluating these things, so this is my opinion only) to be an automotive variant of the old perpetual motion scam. The gist appears to be to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then recombine them to liberate energy to run the car. Problem is, it takes more energy to do the initial water breakage than is provided by the subsequent re-joining of H… Read More »
Good points as always — I don’t think annuities are necessarily terrible, but thanks for mentioning the sales load, that’s a point I didn’t include. Like some other insurance contracts, the fees can definitely be onerous. I hesitate to even mention annuities because it is so easy to be conned into an awful one, but that doesn’t mean that the principle is bad, or that there aren’t reasons to use an annuity. For folks who retire without any kind of fixed pension, the promise of at least one guaranteed monthly payment to supplement social security is awfully nice, even if… Read More »
Thanks for the insights…
I have subscribed for several years. Advise has always been solid. I haven’t always followed it, but I wish I had. I very much like his editorial comments – I don’t see anything wrong with being conservative and right wing. He spends too much time on Harley Davidson – just ride the bike and forget the rest. I too have problem with his eliminating certain stocks and not explaining why. Overall it is o.k. – I will most likely continue unless I can find better advise elsewhere – anybody have any suggestions?
Hey JRM,
I have tried about all of them including the Intelligence Report. The best as far as I am concerned for low maintenance and effective portfolio management is the Chartist for individual stocks and/or Chartist Mutual Fund Letter. Totally missed the 2008-early 2009 meltdown by being in cash. Got back into stocks in July 2009. Not perfect all of the time, but pretty darn close. It does time the market with analytical tools. This letter is always rated high in Hulberts. You can still read Dick or watch Fox news for the Liberal “bad” and conservative “good” propaganda.
I have been with Dick for 8 years and for my money he had done well for me. Lost a lot money with Morgan Stanley advisor and a couple other letters. But over all Dick has done a good job.As for the fellow( Oliver) who bought Bvd for 5 months and lost money,well any investment for that short of time will loose money. I bought BDJ four years ago and with dividends I’m well up big time. I never buy for a short holding time if so go with Vanguards investment grade short bond fund. Buy good stocks,ETF’s or mutual… Read More »
Thanks very much. I primarily trade commodity options and use data from Moore Research. The option IV tables are a must. Best wishes.
I subscribed for three years, and overall, find this newsletter rather average with some serious shortcomings. For one thing, Dick Young likes to rant about his political beliefs. I really don’t care what those beliefs are, but I am paying for investment advice, not political advice. Secondly, Young lists a whole bunch of investments, but he does not recommend any type of allocation. Furthermore, his exposure to equities is quite limited. So during up markets he will brag about how much % your investments grew (well, it depends on how many of the zillion selections you actually bought and also… Read More »
I subsribed to Youngs newsletter about six months ago. since then I received advertisments for additional stock recommendations that are his top picks (for hundreds of dollars more). When I suscribed I throught his monthly newsletter was his best stock choices, I guess not. I find this somewhat disgraceful if not close to being dishonest. I will not recommend nor renew my subscription.
Truly awful letter written by a total fraud. Aside from this fraud espousing his fascist, paranoid, tea party viewpoints in an investment newsletter nonetheless, one hears the same old broken record of how you need to buy commodities since the sky will fall tommorrow. Doing a little more research I found that this ultra right-wing fascist lives in super liberal Key West and in fact manages no money whatsoever. He is retired and his son manages an office about the size of most peoples’ closets in Naples. I then looked a little further and found that the few funds the… Read More »
Not as advertised.
The only logical explanation is the advertisement I received was created and sent to me by an independent (from Young) business who got a commission for reeling in a new subscriber. It appears to me that Young was not cognizant of the advertisement by which I judged him!
Been comparing Young to Leeb. the recent most notable separation is Unilever. Young says buy–Lebb says sell. The one thing that annoys me of all the newsletters is that I buy the product but then find out from all the e-mails is that to be “truly successful” I need to re-up my current subscription or I need to subscribe to their “cash cow/premium” news. I can subscribe for 6 months risk free and they will refund my money. If they are truly confident–how come you don’t GIVE me the trial period?? If you are as good as you think then… Read More »
BS … I just let a subscription run out. I got suckered in every few years from his mailings … never again. Guy writes cute stories and always says ‘make it a good month’ .. but rarely follows up on his huge losses. I bought some stocks only to watch then dump like 90%. The guy uses stops and never remembers his big losses. The ‘lost $5000 once in my life” is BS. His subscribers lost millions…
Been a subscriber to both Young and Leeb for some time. Neither one has made me a big winner in anything. Maybe because I can’t find it in me to blindly follow the picks and maybe because it seems lately the ones I have followed have immediately if not sooner go into the hole. As with others, I find it offensive that I pay good money for good advice only to find that I need to upgrade to a higher priced newsletter to get the “real story”. Also find it interesting that Young’s investment firm won’t touch you unless you… Read More »
You can mail him a check like I did or use Bill Pay from your bank. PayPal is easy to use–I did that too.
I have been getting Young’s newsletter for years now. I read some of the criticisms and there are no specifics. What’s up with that? If you have a problem, spell it out. With details. I do not invest through them. I read through their recommendations and pick and choose what I want to buy. I have not missed with his recommendations.
Subscriber for about 20 years.
Young suggests 32 stocks over $300K investable, Or mutual funds under that amount.
Gives a great opportunity to make money with that many dividend stocks even if prices dip.
He advises Vanguard Wellsley Income for anyones mother- he has been right. If you are near or at retirement, you will make money with this guy.
He also likes utilities, natural resources especially the pipeline stocks that move them
which are less affected than owning the gas and oil stock cos. outright.
I have watched my elderly father subscribe to this newsletter over many years, and watched the recommendations that this newsletter suggested essentially wallow about, doing little more than sitting where they were when initially purchased, if not devalued shortly after purchase. (This latter event always made me wonder if the recommendations had a double life.) My father liked the newsletter because he liked the conservative politics of the author. Not a good reason to buy a stock!!! It was gifted to me by my father, and when I read the first issue, I cancelled the subscription for the same reason… Read More »