Buy-and-hold investors are mourning the fact that the S&P 500 has collapsed into a full-blown bear market (down more than 20% from its bull-market high), and the Nasdaq is in a true crash (down 30%). Meanwhile, investors who follow either of the two Muscular Portfolios have enjoyed watching their nest eggs retain their value or even rise during the carnage. See Newsletter #46.

On May 20, the S&P 500 index fell intraday below the 20% threshold that marks a bear market before recovering somewhat. Meanwhile, both of the two Muscular Portfolios have actually risen since the beginning of 2022. See Newsletter #45.

The S&P 500 is down 13.3% in the first four months of 2022. The Nasdaq caved all the way into a bear market, losing 21.2%. But the two Muscular Portfolios have actually gone up during these four months. This remarkable strength has given investors healthy gains, avoiding the stroke-inducing collapse of the equity market. See Newsletter #44.

A free service provides an alternative way to find out which ETFs are statistically the most likely to gain in the coming months. And did someone mention winning? From Jan. 3 to Mar. 10, 2022, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were suddenly way down: –11% and –17%, respectively. But Muscular Portfolios gave investors gains of +0.92% and +3.44% in the same time period when the indexes were collapsing. How do they work this? See Newsletter #43.

Fifteen years of tracking by two respected data-analysis authorities show that Lazy Portfolios perform poorly. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2007, the S&P 500 turned $100 into $449 by the end of 2021. Muscular Portfolios generated significantly better ending values: $486 to $523. Lazy Portfolios badly lagged, growing your $100 nest egg to just $193 to $323 in 15 years. See Newsletter #42.

Exchange-traded funds that claim to buy only shares of companies with good environmental, social, or governance policies — so-called ESG funds — are attracting more and more dollars each year. But experts say ESG products are primarily a way for sponsors to lure in unsuspecting investors and charge them outrageous fees without actually improving environmental, social, or governance practices. See Newsletter #41.

Some investors who follow Muscular Portfolios were surprised on Dec. 3 when PDBC, an ETF that tracks commodities, recorded a dividend of $5.39 a share — a yield of more than 26%. The truth is that PDBC gained over 90% in the 18 months since the “coronavirus” bear market ended in spring 2020. The big distribution is a sign of excellent performance and, fortunately, was nothing to worry about. See Newsletter #40.

Independent tracking reveals that, on the whole, top hedge funds far underperform simple financial-technology formulas in which low-cost exchange-traded funds are used, as well as vastly lagging the mainstream S&P 500. You can do better. See Newsletter #39.

Investors who hold solely US large-cap stocks are missing out on gains. The S&P 500 was the best-performing asset class in only about 1% of all months in the past 15 years, according to a new study. In about 99% of all months, some other asset class — commodities, real estate, even bonds — gained more than the S&P 500. See Newsletter #38.

The Papa Bear Portfolio has passed the toughest possible test, outperforming the S&P 500 by 46.7% to 39.7% in the latest 18 months, even during the shortest and sharpest bear market in history — as well as the swiftest recovery from a bear-market low in decades. See Newsletter #37.