Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, March 8th):

...[T]he insightful Puru Saxena’s writes:

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, March 1st):

“Here’s the paradox: the odds are overwhelming I will end up richer by aiming for a good return rather than a brilliant return – and sleep better en route. Folks who seek a killing usually get killed. Gunslingers get shot, and often in the foot, with their own guns. While there is always some guy around on a red-hot streak, his main function is to tempt the rest of us into becoming fools and paupers. A return of 15% to 20% annually is a lot more than most folks realize, or need. If a 30-year old with $10,000 in an IRA gets 15% annually, he’ll be a millionaire before normal retirement. That’s the power of compound interest. If that same 30-year old were to sock away another $2,000 per year at 15%, he would end up as a 65-year old $3 million fat cat. At 20%, it’s an incredible $13 million. That’s a lot, but it’s not too much to ask. The two most definitive studies ever on long-term returns, the Ibbotson/Sinquefield and Fisher/Lorie studies, both point to average annual returns for stocks of 9% plus per year going back to the mid-1920s. So 15% to 20% per year is really 66% to 100% better than the market as a whole. That’s tough but doable. Consistency is the key. It is close to impossible to get a good, long-term, rate of return if you suffer serious negative numbers en route. It’s the math. A single year that is down 30% means you have to get 30% per year positive returns for the next four years to get back on track for a 15% annual average. Or, if you score 20% annually for four years, and then suffer a 30% decline, your five-year average return is only 7%.”

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, February 22nd):

...“I should have bought Walter Energy (WLT/$79.70/Outperform) at $67, or North American Energy Partners (NOA/$10.03/Strong Buy) at $8, or (insert the stock of your choice), a week or so ago” . . . was the cry on the Street of Dreams last week as the “selling stampede” seems to have bottomed in the typical 17- to 25-session timeframe.

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Tuesday, February 16th):

...[T]he weather...has crippled the Northeast corridor over the past few weeks. Fortunately, communities are more capable of dealing with such storms today than they were more than a century ago. Still, the loss of productivity is likely going to be impactful in some of the upcoming economic reports.

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, February 8th):

“Who framed Roger Rabbit?!”... except in this case we are referring to Roger Blough. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The year was 1962, John Kennedy was President, and Roger Blough, the then CEO of U.S. Steel, had signed an agreement with President Kennedy not to raise prices. However, just four days later he raised steel prices right in President Kennedy’s “face.” The outraged President went after Mr. Blough and when Roger Blough tried to argue his point, Jack Kennedy stated, “My father told me that all steel men are #@Q&%!” The battle lines were thus drawn; government contacts were switched from U.S. Steel in favor of steel companies that didn’t raise prices, and with that governmental incursion into corporate America, the D-J Industrial Average (DJIA) shed 26% in just six weeks.

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, February 1st):

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Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, January 25th):

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Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Tuesday, January 19th):

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Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, January 11th):

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Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay (published Monday, January 4th):

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