By Sara Nunnally, Editor, Smart Investing Daily, taipanpublishinggroup.com
Back in September 2010, at our annual Taipan Publishing Group Global Opportunities Summit, I presented the “Lost Chapter” of Barbarians of Wealth.
Our executive publisher Sandy Franks and I had embarked on a mission of epic proportions. We dug through thousands of years of history, ages of ancient battles and modern-day assaults on American prosperity.
What we ended up with was a scathing report on how our government, our banks, the Federal Reserve and the filthy lobbying business all colluded to steal your wealth. We hunted through the annals of notorious barbarians like Genghis Khan and Rollo the Viking to find out how true barbarians tick…
And found that today’s Barbarians of Wealth have learned a lot from their predecessors.
Sandy and I felt like we needed to expose these modern-day villains for what they are — barbaric thieves, with one hand in your pocket, and the other pleading innocence.
In our book, Barbarians of Wealth: Protecting Yourself from Today’s Financial Attilas, we show you how politicians such as former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are no better than the terrifying Attila the Hun, who extorted millions in tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire. Their tactics may have changed… The tools are no longer trebuchets or Mongolian bows… They’re computer programs and toxic assets and stimulus programs. But they’re designed to leave you penniless and dumbfounded as surely as a barbaric invasion.
And readers are loving it. Barbarians of Wealth reader B.O. wrote in to say:
I am sending this email to say a huge “Thank You” to both Sandy Franks and Sara Nunnally for their thoroughly researched book Barbarians of Wealth. Whilst I can’t honestly say I understood all of it I was in awe of its contents and in particular of all the incredible work that went into the writing of the book. We need more like you girls with the courage to tell it as it is, for without the truth I believe we face a bleak future and in addition I would like to say as a member of your great organization, thank you.
Reader D.M. said:
I just want to say… how much I am enjoying reading the Barbarians of Wealth! Thank you so much Sara and Sandy for writing this book, it has been a real eye-opener for me — I think everyone needs to read your book and I hope it stays on the No. 1 best-selling book list for a very long time. I am so impressed by all the research you have both put into this book and also it is written in a style that is easy to read and enables me to understand what would normally be a very complicated topic.
In September, I decided to release a “chapter” that was not published in the book. It centered around the idea of putting a tollbooth on the Silk Road, as an analogy to how to play today’s markets.
What I mean by that is an investment that makes money from the two sides of a trade. More specifically, a financial tollbooth is the market itself.
(By the way, investing doesn’t have to be complicated. Sign up for Smart Investing Daily and let me and my fellow editor Jared Levy simplify the stock market for you with our easy-to-understand investment articles.)
For example, we could be talking about exchanges… I listed six publicly traded exchanges and specifically highlighted one of them: the NYSE Euronext (NYX:NYSE). Why this one in particular? It was one of the best-performing exchanges at that time, and compared to IntercontinentalExchange (ICE:NYSE) it was a better value.
Many of the exchanges had experienced big pullbacks after the global financial crisis, and NYSE Euronext (NYX) was starting to make a comeback.
Here’s what I said specifically:
A break above $31.50 for NYX could mean the start of a new uptrend. It would also mean a break through resistance from this level back in 2009. That might be a good point at which you can hop into the NYX.
On Jan. 12, 2011, the NYSE Euronext (NYX) closed at $32.23 after a huge day.
Now the NYX is trading at about $37, and news of a merger between it and Deutsche Boerse (DB1:XETRA) has thrust the company into the spot light.
Here’s the thing… You might think that NYX was the bigger company, but it’s not. At the time merger talks started up (again, as the two were in talks two years ago that fizzled) the NYX would have made up 36% of the merged company.
And that has me thinking there’s plenty of upside potential for NYX until the deal is done.
Indeed, Bloomberg reports that Deutsche Boerse might not be the only party interested in buying NYX.
This weekend the Sunday Times, covered by Bloomberg, said Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ:NASDAQ) and IntercontinentalExchange might make a joint offer for the NYX.
I think this could be just a simple “play the news” opportunity. With other potential bidders coming to the table, the NYX is bound to become more attractive to investors. The stock blew through the previous high price of $34.36, and if it can get past $40 a share, it’s got a clear rise to $50 or $60, particularly if there’s a bidding war.
Editor’s Note: The markets have made huge strides higher, and have erased 72% of the losses of the global financial crisis. But Barbarians of Wealth may be more relevant than ever before. Banks are hording mounds of cash, just like Attila the Hun, and they’re ready to extort more from you and our economy. More than that, they are able… Nothing much has changed since the global financial crisis, and you need to be prepared for the next invasion.
Visit Barbarians of Wealth to learn how to get your copy of this book.
About the Author
Sara is Managing Editor of Smart Investing Daily. As Senior Research Director and global correspondent, Sara Nunnally’s diverse resume includes studies in art history, computer science and financial research. She has appeared on news media such as Forbes on Fox, Fox News Live, and CNBC’s Squawk Box, as well as numerous radio shows around the country. Most recently, Sara co-authored a book with Sandy Franks called, Barbarians of Wealth.
As Senior Research Director, global correspondent and managing editor of Smart Investing Daily, Sara has traveled all over the world in search of the best investment opportunities to recommend to her readers, be they in developed economies like France and Italy, in emerging markets like the Czech Republic and Poland, or in frontier terrain like Vietnam and Morocco. Her unique “holistic” approach of boots-on-the-ground research has given her an edge in today’s financial marketplace as she searches for the next investment opportunities in hot sectors like alternative energy, currency markets and commodities.
