The Power Gauge Ended My Retirement

After years of success on Wall Street, I packed up and bought a home in Connecticut... It was supposed to be the start of a one-year sabbatical. [Chaikin PowerFeed]( Editor's note: As Marc Gerstein noted yesterday, [we don't want to be Harrison Bergeron](... We don't want to let Wall Street push investments on us. And we don't want to just blindly follow others with an index-focused approach. We can do better. We can think for ourselves. And if we do it well enough, our investments will outperform the broad market over the long run. That's our goal as investors. And our approach starts with the Power Gauge. We talk a lot about our one-of-a-kind system in the Chaikin PowerFeed. But many of you might be wondering how the Power Gauge came to life more than a decade ago. Today's essay first appeared in the PowerFeed on March 9, 2022. In it, Chaikin Analytics founder Marc Chaikin details what forced him out of retirement to build the Power Gauge... The Power Gauge Ended My Retirement By Marc Chaikin, founder, Chaikin Analytics After years of success on Wall Street, I packed up and bought a home in Connecticut... It was supposed to be the start of a one-year sabbatical. But the lure of early retirement was too strong. And I was soon ready to spend the rest of my days relaxing and playing tennis. My wife, Sandy, wasn't ready for retirement, though... After working for several years as a vice president at beauty-products company L'Oréal, she built her own business in marketing and consulting. And fortunately, her business was still growing in 1999. Despite my Wall Street successes, we managed our retirement funds separately. And since her business was getting bigger, she didn't have much free time on her hands. She was simply too busy to chase down the best mutual fund of the day. At the time, it made sense for Sandy to pay an expert to look after her retirement. So she made what was a pretty common and reasonable decision... She handed the care of her retirement over to a professional who actively managed her account. Sure, the fees were high. But as the overall market rose throughout the early 2000s, the fees didn't seem that important. Sandy was busy with her business. And her retirement nest egg was growing alongside it. In short, life was good. I was enjoying my retirement, and our wealth was still growing. Then, 2008 came along... Recommended Links: [The No. 1 Way to Protect Your Portfolio in 2024]( Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig is typically among our most upbeat and optimistic analysts. But today, he's deeply worried about the market: "Consumers have blown through their pandemic savings... corporate bankruptcies are soaring... the era of easy money is over... and what happens next is not going to be pretty," he says. The solution? A little-known "income loophole" that could save your portfolio and retirement accounts. [You'll be STUNNED when you see the proof right here](. [Sell Your Stocks by January 1, 2024?]( It doesn't matter if you have money in the markets right now or you're waiting on the sidelines. The early days of 2024 could have the power to make – or destroy – fortunes. And what you do with your money before January 1 could determine your wealth for the next decade. [See what's happening and how to prepare immediately](. "Marc, I'm paying him to ride my account to zero," Sandy said to me midway through 2008. As the financial crisis set in, Sandy's 401(k) account was bleeding value almost every day. And at the time, it looked like there was no end in sight. To make matters worse, her high-fee active manager didn't want to talk to her. The few times she was able to get him on the phone, he was dismissive. Even worse, Sandy's actively managed account was down a lot more than the overall market at the time. It was sitting on losses of about 50% at that point, while the broader market was down about 20%. Sandy's portfolio manager didn't know what to do. And she wanted out – rightfully so. Unfortunately, Sandy's investing horror story isn't that unique... Thousands of everyday Americans watched helplessly as their retirement savings were cut in half – or worse – during the Great Recession. It was awful. And then, many folks made the worst decision they could possibly make... They got out right at the bottom. Then, they stayed on the sidelines. They wanted to wait until things had settled down and weren't as volatile before they got back in. Of course, this line of thinking really means after stocks have recovered. But most folks don't realize it. Sandy was more fortunate in that regard. She had me at her side. And after more than 30 years as a Wall Street insider, I knew what we had to do. As I told her... "You have to stay invested. Stocks won't stay down forever. We need to ride this out." Sandy understood. But she had also lost all confidence in her portfolio manager. And I don't blame her since the guy still wouldn't give her the time of day. However, I knew that just "stepping aside" and waiting for things to settle down was the worst possible move. That's because of how volatility tends to work after a big crash... When it comes to the broad market, big volatility up follows big volatility down. A quick glance at the benchmark S&P 500 Index's biggest moves makes this clear... Major rallies have always come after a big bust. So in the end, Sandy fired her portfolio manager, and we took things into our own hands. We rolled her retirement into an index fund at Vanguard. The first priority was making sure she didn't miss the upside in the recovery that was coming. But after that, what was Sandy supposed to do? It was so painfully obvious... I had spent my career building quantitative tools for Wall Street. And I was darn proud of the work that I had done in helping many elite investors find success with those tools. But when it came to my wife and the thousands of everyday investors who lost a large chunk of their wealth just like her – well, I hadn't done a whole lot for them. Although I was enjoying my retirement, I knew that I had the ability and knowledge to fix this problem. After all, I had developed the tools used by many Wall Street insiders. As Sandy searched for a better solution, I promised myself that I would build the best set of quantitative tools for individual investors on the market. So I ended my retirement and got to work. And in 2011, the Power Gauge came to life. Good investing, Marc Chaikin Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors # Hld: Bullish Neutral Bearish Dow 30 +0.440% 11 17 2 S&P 500 +0.420% 168 279 50 Nasdaq +0.610% 45 47 6 Small Caps +1.270% 778 954 192 Bonds +0.290% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks are strongly Bullish. Major indexes are mixed. * * * * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Real Estate +0.70% Energy +0.65% Communication +0.61% Materials +0.60% Industrials +0.58% Health Care +0.48% Information Technology +0.14% Staples -0.08% Financial -0.21% Discretionary -0.64% Utilities -0.93% * * * * Industry Focus Pharmaceuticals Services 2 29 8 Over the past 6 months, the Pharmaceuticals subsector (XPH) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -10.66%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Weak, with more Bearish than Bullish stocks. It is currently ranked #20 of 21 subsectors. Indicative Stocks [rating] HROW Harrow, Inc. [rating] OGN Organon & Co. [rating] RVNC Revance Therapeutics * * * * Top Movers Gainers [rating] INTC +5.21% [rating] APA +3.70% [rating] MPWR +3.14% [rating] EIX +3.11% [rating] AMD +2.73% Losers [rating] NCLH -2.86% [rating] ETSY -2.78% [rating] CCL -1.69% [rating] BMY -1.61% [rating] AZO -1.51% * * * * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close No earnings reporting today. Earnings Surprises No significant Earnings Surprises in the Russell 3000. * * * * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, [click here](. You’re receiving this e-mail at {EMAIL}. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call [+1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.)](tel:18776976783), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. Please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized investment advice. © 2023 Chaikin Analytics, LLC. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from Chaikin Analytics, LLC. 201 King Of Prussia Rd., Suite 650, Radnor, PA 19087. [www.chaikinanalytics.com.]( Any brokers mentioned constitute a partial list of available brokers and is for your information only. Chaikin Analytics, LLC, does not recommend or endorse any brokers, dealers, or investment advisors. Chaikin Analytics forbids its writers from having a financial interest in any security they recommend to our subscribers. All employees of Chaikin Analytics, LLC (and affiliated companies) must wait 24 hours after an investment recommendation is published online – or 72 hours after a direct mail publication is sent – before acting on that recommendation. This work is based on SEC filings, current events, interviews, corporate press releases, and what we've learned as financial journalists. It may contain errors, and you shouldn't make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. It's your money and your responsibility.