Author/Editor
Jim Rickards
Publisher
Agora Financial
Description
“Entry level” newsletter for Jim Rickards, recommends trades based on his big-picture economic forecasting.
Overall Rating
Rating: 2.4/5. From 87 votes.
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2.4
Rating from 400 votes
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Rating: 2.4/5. From 87 votes.
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Hello Travis. I’m not sure if this is where you wanted subscribers to discuss letters that they subscribe to. I subscribe to Jim Rickard’s Strategic Intelligence newsletter. This is his entry level letter. He is a very intelligent and eloquent writer in this genre. Very well connected, he provides insights on macroeconomic trends resulting from actions of governments, central banks, the mega-rich, etc. Enlightening, if not always profitable. The stock (and ETF, etc) picks are well presented, but there are not enough. The letter previously summarized all the current picks with dates, prices, and performance. This has been absent recently. Rickard’s is definitely a “gloom and doom” guy. Big on precious metals and miners, he has had a lot of losers. Bearish on financials has produced the same. When the world collapses, he’ll be right and you’ll be rich in a crappy, unsafe world. I have made money on just a handful of his picks. The letter needs to return to listing all recent picks, with dates, prices, performance, closed positions, final results. It’s good reading, not practical for investing, relies too much on limited themes.
Stay away from Jim. He’s a crackpot. Put your money on Red on the roulette wheel
I agree with Jack, Jim is a very smart man but that does not mean he can be a good stock picker. His record is much less than 50%, I did make a detailed analysis and send a copy to you. He only deals in options, where you need to limit your exposure and hence very difficult to make any real money. He makes a lot of picks that are difficult for me to follow day to day, so even if there was some real bad news in Nigeria you would not hear or know about it and could not react. Byron has recently joined he record was good for a few years with outstanding investments and he started another couple high priced newsletter which in my opinion were disasters and closed. I read Jim and appreciate his thoughts and ideas because I am hooked into a lifetime deal but I never invested in any of his option picks………
He has started some even more expensive add on’s, not sure based upon what? not his track record. Even if he is right when the world collapses it won’t help because you can only put a small piece into each option he is recommending. He should stick to macro economics which is his strengths, picking stocks is alien to him
I am still skeptical of newsletter front-running. Why not do it before publish recomendations? That said Rickards is very clear about options riskiness and that his recommends should be bought as a basket to hedge along with gold and such. Agora’s marketing arm is irritating so another reasin to be skeptical. That said I agree with most of Rickard’s positions except how to peg gold (peg it at bubble levels…really?) and how useful SDR’s will be (I think massive inflation will hit before then and war threats/actions will shelve considerations).
Hi Chris how much u paid for lifetime deal
They suck, he Yak Yak Yaks doomsday,nothing happens.If you cry long enough it probably will happen. Once you buy they keep trying to get you to pay for other letters, (he’s teamed with Agora, they suck too). Glad I found Gum-shoeHey I already paid you send me the ifno you cheats.They suck I cancelled letter. Glad I found Gum-shoe.Thanks Travis
Absolutely agree – Strategic Intelligence – Jim Rickards – Agora Finanacial – just a scam marketing deal – one SPECTACULAR offer after another, each with MORE COSTS – why subscribe to PAY THEM to SELL TO YOU – very disappointing and FALSE MARKETING –
Last “BUST – October 26,2017 – AMAZON will be hit by antitrust and DROP – reality – IT WENT UP over 100 point the next day!!!!!!
Hi all
My comments on the “Currency Wars Alert” page apply equally to this Rickards newsletter. Also one subscriber gives an enlightening summary of investment performance from the Rickards letter…bad …
Good macro, based on fundamentals (doom & gloom, but it is a bit gloomy, looking at our debt, lack of discipline/responsibility, and some social trends). A bit too much name-dropping, e.g. “CIA insider,” etc. That gets old. Macro good, investing…not so good. Agree with others that Rickards will be able to say “I told you so” when the zombie’s walk the streets, but until then, the rest of us will keep working…and investing wisely, I hope! I will NOT renew. No more Agora Financial for me.
I would agree Rickards SI makes for interesting reading but is primarily marketing for his latest high price newsletter. What the $300 buys you is a lifetime of advertisements For the latest service newsletter of the week. For example, here is the letter of today…..
June 4, 2017
We Plan to Make a Major Announcement on June 8
Peter CoyneDear David,
In four days, we are “going public” with a brand-new way of ……..
He is indeed knowledgeable, but you will barraged with these.
Dave P
YES – a LIFETIME of ADVERTISEMENTS you paid to receive!!!!!!!!
Strategic Intelligence – Jim Rickards – Agora Finanacial – just a scam marketing deal – one SPECTACULAR offer after another, each with MORE COSTS – why subscribe to PAY THEM to SELL TO YOU – very disappointing and FALSE MARKETING –
Last “BUST – October 26,2017 – AMAZON will be hit by antitrust and DROP – reality – IT WENT UP over 100 point the next day!!!!!!
Jim Rickards talks a mile a minute and certainly sounds like an intelligent fellow. He’s easy enough to understand, mainly because he repeats himself enough times to give you a headache.
His stock picking/timing capabilities suck. Truly one of the worst stock pickers/timers I have ever followed in my 25 years of investing.
His partner Coyne is a first class shill. He asks obvious questions and Jim will follow through with equally obvious answers. I cant watch the webinars anymore because of Coyne.
If I sound like I’m angry, it’s only because I have lots money on every one of the recommendations, and I am stuck with my two year membership because they do not offer refunds past 30 days.
I agree with some of the comments above and disagree with other points. First, I agree this is not a great investment-advice forum. There simply are not that many recommendations – typically 2-3 per monthly issue. What I’ve done is review each and if it the analogy makes sense, I put in a limit order about 10% lower, as I’ve seen enough of them go down (and then back up) with regularity. However, I do not look at this newsletter as an investment advisory service, so maybe it’s my perspective.
What I do appreciate is Jim Rickard’s perspective. He’s not a genius but does have a great deal of experience across government and investing (as he’ll tell you over and over) that he gladly shares. I try to tune out his hyperbole and self-promotion and tune in the message/content he is delivering any given issue – and I find a great deal of it very interesting and thoughtful. I’ve extended my membership one more year as it was only $49 as I get more intelligent perspective on world affairs and documented details behind headlines from this publication than most others I read (although it is focused on just 2-3 topics for any one issue).
One point also mentioned that you have to control is the Agora Financial machine that is behind this newsletter. It is relentless in pinging you with offers and invitations to ‘take a look at this fantastic video’ etc, etc, etc. You can go on their website(which is very easy to navigate) and turn these emails off , which I’ve done and no longer receive as these free ‘newsletters’ that they provide are 5% content and 95% hyping of another paid service with sensationalized headlines.
Great analysis and good insight for macro economics. If you want stock picks, go elsewhere.
Hi Folks,
I just want to add that Richards gold miner pick service (STRATEGIC some such BS) I paid him $ 2000-$ 2500 for last year WAS A HUGE MISTAKE. Some of his recommendations that I held thinking the economy was sure to collapse are down 80+ %, costing not only money but lost oppertunity.
I must also agree that Agora literally hounds you daily touting the rest of their letter services plus their various levels ad nauseam.
No experience with customer service, hence voted only on the other items. Best for analysis & quality of writing., worst for investment performance. I gave it 3 stars for value, meaning “not very good.” I take investment advice with a considerable grain of salt, consistent with a precept from Michael Forbes’ dad (the late Malcolm Forbes) to beware of investment advice because “I make money giving advice, not taking it.” Having found Rickards’ books (New Case for Gold, and Road to Ruin) fascinating, I’m a fan of his macro analysis. It basically concludes that
(1) “Gold is money” and the central banks know this and treat it that way as they strive to keep its fiat-denominated prices down. (In the course of his detailed review leading to this conclusion he quotes legendary financier J.. P. Morgan that “money is gold, and nothing else.”)
(2) Current economic and monetary policies are systemically flawed due to reliance on outmoded economic theories that are uninformed about the relevance of the mathematics of “chaos theory” and “dynamical systems.” You will have to draw your own conclusions or guesses about this. I find it very plausible.
(3) Consistent with the views of many if not all leading economists, but in his view aggravated by the systemic incompetence of underlying economic thought, future (and likely near future) crises of either an economic or currency nature (or more likely both) are inevitable. This will lead to an international currency reset similar to Bretton Woods.
He does not claim to have a timeline but to be performing a dutiful public service by sounding an alarm nevertheless. As mentioned above, he is less adept at the $64 question “what to do about it,” for the individual investor. And though I suspect he might be better as an adviser to governments (his vita includes such practice, sometimes allegedly in writings classified “secret,” but which unfortunately were not among the Snowden revelations) he unfortunately is not earning his living in that capacity.
I say finally that despite his role as an advisory hustler, this is a man one should carefully avoid underestimating. He seems to have a great deal of economic historianship at his fingertips, and to have had a front row seat at some recent crises starting not later than his role as attorney for the collapsed hedge fund LTCM (Long Term Capital Management) — the “rocket scientists’ hedge fund” that was generating profits hand over fist until the denoument about 1998.
I greatly enjoy Rickards. He sees things I don’t even know exist. He opens doors of understanding. The value of his service is OK. No, it’s not his investment advice, it is his take on what’s going on. I get most of my investment advice from MoneyMap Press and their team. I also like Stansberry, but am not interested in his investment advice. He, like you, takes complicated issues and explaines them in an understandable way. And YOU, you save me from numerous mistakes. I trust your investment advice and insight. THANK YOU
Hey Gang, a paid member of Gumshoe which has saved me money on lots of bogus newsletters and do appreciate Travis big time (heck, even got my 75 yr old mom reading him to fact check Newsletters! Mom says “Hello Travis”!) On Rickards, have to admit, NOT a fan of annoying Agora’s high pressure constant up selling but made a nice big profit on a rental house so splurged on life time membership to ALL of Richards programs including the strategic intelligence daily news letters. Right now I have decided to exit real estate and normal equities as I do believe we have another 2008 type correction coming “sooner than later” and already let Wall Street money mgrs lose half my A$$ets in 2008 and at age 56 I cannot survive another crash so decided to focus on what did well in 2008 and mainly use Rickards Gold Speculator Program. Despite being low risk I decided to go higher risk this time in hopes of making up for lost 2008 profits and heavily into gold mining/royalty-streamers and part in SGDM and SGDJ with some physical in CEF, 40% cash, Monster box of silver eagles and lots of stashed cash “just in case things get really bad”. I am more interested in macro/global/geo info and events and he does a great job of reporting on many things you’d never see in the News or in other Newsletters many of which I had taken or read. So, I am a fan of his and have read all 4 of his books and got quite the education in those areas of monetary policy, gold’s role in history, currency warfare, etc. I’ve yet to find anyone else with his depth of knowledge or insider experience so decided to down size so many diff financial guru’s letters and have “dropped my anchor” now before the next crash. Not smart enough to play the market, would rather just sit it out and hope to see gold/miners/streamers take off. The way I look at it, I lost 50% of my old 401K by letting Wall St. manage it and they did not protect me. After studying and seeing how the GDX went up 240% during the same time before FED intervention, well, that was recent history and we now have major countries buying up gold en masse. So, “when in Rome”…………very expensive service via life time access to everything but I really like the info/insight/opinions/insider connections/daily newsletter with updates. I don’t pay much attention to daily gold prices as I bought it for “crash day” so for now, just patient and watching the many concerning global events play out. One of these black swans has to eventually land. So, that is what this amateur is doing.
I like Rickards. I listen to him. Hes well connected. Hes a big gold bug. Hes very smart. This service is very cheap. Worth every penny. Take his advice or not. Just be informed. Always see the other side of a trade!
Thanks. A reasoned and succinct commentary on precious metals. You might throw Rogers in the mix as he claims he’
s never sold his gold/silver and hasn’t bought any for the last two years – is waiting for a price drop. Using Gore’s description, we have a consensus.
Newsletter is well written but results are not there. They never admit an error and they don’t have stops, thus driving results very low, for example Nomi’s pick BZQ was a buy at around 40 and now it’s around 9. A few good winners but overall poor performances.
Most of what I get are promotions which require more money. I feel screwed!
I’ve found Rickards’ work to be very valuable to getting a deeper understanding of the mechanics and nuances of macro-economic forces, from the nature of money, the interplay of the world’s central banks, the role of commodities and more subtle geo-political infighting. I’m sorry to see Rickards hooking up with Agora, which takes hyperbole to new levels. I don’t generally follow his trading recommendations, I subscribe ($49 year) for his unique perspective. I don’t really care for his neo-con foreign policy slant either, but I still find the financial analysis useful. Nomi Prins contributes now too, I love her.
Just offered a lifetime subscription for $149 and I am not even half-way into my 2-year subscription. Previously I was offered the same thing for $199 and $300. Never sign up without Googling for a better price. You may well find one.
I was just looking over my account, and like so many other newsletters, by default you are set up to auto-renew. In looking at the FAQ’s, I see that the auto-renewal takes place a whole MONTH before the subscription expires, unless you are doing a month-to-month subscription, in which case the renewal happens a WEEK before the subscription expires. This seems totally dishonest to me. I should not have to go looking in the FAQ’s to find out the renewal will happen so far in advance of the expiration. They say it is so I will be sure not to miss any issues. Hah! (Granted, they do send me stuff by snail mail as well as online.)
That said, I have (so far) always managed to get companies to cancel my subscription and refund the latest payment when I complain that I had not wanted to renew and certainly did not expect the renewal to happen before the expiration.
I find Rickards’ analyses interesting and would consider renewing for that reason at a low enough price, but I agree with others here that his timing and investment advice so far has been so-so. I also agree that Agora will hit you up with lots of ads. But a good email filter can take care of most of them.
(Someday I will blacklist everything Agora. The only reason I have not, except for Rickards’ stuff right now, is that my paranoid and financial sucker friend keeps forwarding these newsletters and then expects me to read them. He is sure Agora will make me my fortune and save me from losing it all. I like to be able to tell him I have already seen whatever it is – though I do not actually read it most of the time. One of these forwarded newsletters was probably the reason I found Stock Gumshoe in the first place – to refute my friend. Thanks, guys!)
The Strategic Intell is a fabulous way to lose most money invested from his advice. Maybe it’s just years too early, and after I am dead these investments “may” soar. Waste of time and money, and he will eventually leave you with zero confindence in his analysis, and less money in your account.