VRA Update: VRA Investing System. 33 Years in Development. Crushing Mr. Market, Year After Year.

A big recovery day in the markets yesterday with 1.5% moves higher across the board and dynamite market internals including 603 fresh 52 week highs to just 145 new lows. The VRA System continues to recommend buying dips, with 9/12 VRA screens bullish.

As we grow and welcome new VRA Members each month it’s important that we’re all on the same page. That means understanding the VRA Investing System, ensuring that we are positioned to crush Mr. Market.

VRA Investing System; 33 Years in Development. Crushing Mr. Market, Year After Year

After my first few years on Wall Street, reality hit me right between the eyes. Fostered by a series of enlightening conversations with my first mentor (RIP Ted Parsons) I discovered that Wall Street analysts primary objective was not to make my clients money. The primary objective of Wall Street analysts was to make the firm money, working hand in glove with investment banking, where the serious money was (and is) made for brokerage firms.

Once this reality set in I had two choices; quit and find another profession I could believe in or find a way to make money for my clients. The VRA Investing System was born out of that decision.

The VRA system was built to uncover the best investments (at the best time) and to remove emotion from my investing. It was built to have us out of the markets in times of turmoil (or short) and in the market when the bull wants to run.

The VRA System combines fundamentals, technicals and investor sentiment…the 3 most important elements of investing (in any/all asset classes). We use broad market positions, employing leveraged ETF’s for maximum returns, combined with my ability to ferret out world class, small to mid-cap “growth stock, story stocks” for the opportunity of several hundred percent to more than 1000% in profits.

I rarely recommend more than 10–12 investments at any one time. If you want to own 30–40–50 stocks, buy an index fund. While I am as aggressive as they come, it is a “controlled aggression”; I know the companies that I recommend. I know their management teams, I know their business model and I know how to pick winners. Period. I also put my own money in the stocks that I recommend. Anything else would be Wall Street-like hypocrisy. Still, my investment style is not for everyone. I would never recommend placing all of your investment dollars into VRA Portfolio buy rec’s. However, for your “risk capital”…those funds that you put aside to make your retirement account everything that it could/should be, the VRA has been designed to get that job done.

I encourage you to resist the temptation to go “all in” on just 1–2 VRA Buy Rec’s. I only recommend 10–12 stocks at a time for a reason. Diversification is a hallmark of successful investors and reduces the risk of becoming emotional about our positions. “Loading up” can also lead to large daily/weekly swings in your portfolio…the kinds of swings that can lead to oversized losses. Emotional investors tend to “buy high and sell low”, or just the inverse of what we’re looking to accomplish.

For our broad market positions in leveraged ETF’s, the VRA System employs “trend following” methodology. The game plan with trend following is to capture 80% of the move, in our investments of choice. It’s not about calling market tops and bottoms (although the VRA has caught NUMEROUS significant market turning points over our 15 years). Instead, we want to capture that middle 80% of the move…that’s our sweet spot…that’s where the most reliable and predictable profits reside. This makes the VRA System most important…its the major predictor as to whether a stock/sector/market is in a bull or bear market. It’s been my primary trend go-to for 30+ years.

The VRA System has 12 Propriety Screens. Today, 9/12 screens remain in bullish mode. 70% of the screens are fundamental and 30% of the screens are technical. Here’s the breakdown of my 12 screens:

This is how the VRA System works…in bull markets or bear. Sure, its MUCH more fun making money in a bull market; making money as we watch the US economy rock and roll and US stock prices soar. This, of course, is the market we are in today. Making money in a bear market means we’re forced to be “pessimists”. And who wants to be pessimistic? I’ve been a glass is half full guy my whole life…its highly likely that 90% reading this identity the same way…but it’s not our job to tell the market what to do, based on our emotions. Our job is to make money. Period. At least when it comes to investing.

We are quite likely the most unique investment advisory you’ll find, as our objective is simple; make money for you…our valued clients…as we crush the markets, month after month and year after year. The VRA has outperformed the S&P 500 in 14/15 years. Since 2014 we have more than 2400% in net profits. We are positioned to crush Mr. Market in 2018.

Investing Tenets and Observations of the Day

My mentors (Ted Parsons and Michael Metz, RIP) were smart, market savvy and most importantly, patient! Here are some of their favorite investing lessons…

1) “Don’t fight the tape, don’t fight the FED”. Yes, the FED has started raising rates…at some point the markets will have to deal with this…but the rising “tape” says we must remain bullish.

2) “The trend is your friend”. When the major averages are in confirmed bull market status (according to the VRA System), we want to be long. Conversely, in a confirmed bear market, we want to invest primarily from the short side. Today, if you’re not long, you’re wrong.

3) “There is no more bullish sign than an overbought market/stock that continues to rise”. This is exactly what we’re seeing today. Overbought markets that continue to rise. Highly bullish

4) “It’s not a stock market….it’s a market of stocks”. One of the best investing lessons my mentors taught me. There’s always an opportunity to make money, by focusing on both VRA fundamental & technical research. This rule is at the heart of the VRA System.

Until next time, thanks again for reading…

Kip