RIP Bob Brinker - October 1st, 1941 - August 18th, 2024

RIP Bob Brinker

Robert John Brinker

October 1st, 1941 - August 18th, 2024

Robert J. Brinker passed away peacefully at the age of 82 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bob lived a life filled with love, dedication, and remarkable achievements.

Bob attended La Salle College High School and continued his education at La Salle University and Temple University, where he developed a passion for both radio broadcasting and finance. His career in these fields was marked by professionalism and a commitment to excellence.

Bob is survived by his wife Hilary, with whom he shared his life for more than 60 years. Together, they built a family rooted in unconditional love and support. He will be remembered by his daughter Denise, his son Robert, his daughter-in-law Lisa, and his son-in-law Peter, as well as his five grandchildren Ashley, Zachary, Lily, Viola, and Conrad. His memory will also be cherished by his brother Ken and sister Diane. Bob was preceded in death by his daughter Caroline, his brother Johnny, his sister Edna, his mother Edna, and his father Robert.

Bob will be missed by those who tuned in on weekends to hear his voice on their radio. For more than 30 years Bob hosted the nationally syndicated ABC radio program Moneytalk. The starship Moneytalk entertained and educated listeners on all topics relating to personal finance, helping guide listeners on their journey to the land of critical mass.

The family kindly requests that donations be made to UNICEF [ https://unicef.org/ ], a cause close to Bob’s heart. Your contribution will help continue the work he cared so deeply about.

From Robert Brinker Obituary | Rivera Family Funeral Home-Santa Fe Funeral at  https://rivera.mykeeper.com/RobertBrinker

Bob in 2000

 

AAII and II Sentiment Update

  🐂📈Kirk Lindstrom's Investor Bull/Bear Sentiment Charts for 11/2/23 📉🐻

Bob Brinker was the first radio host I knew who spoke of applying contrarian theory to investor sentiment.  There is an old Wall Street adage, "Buy when there is blood in the streets" but Brinker gets kudos for bringing this theory to the small, individual investor. 

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11/2/23 Notes:

• There is a large divergence between professional newsletter writers (II) and individual investors (AAII) sentiment.
• II is "neutral" but its decline is large enough to support another rally.
• AAII below negative 20% is bullish for contrarians

II Investors Intelligence & AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) Sentiment Updates.

Graphs below best viewed in full screen mode.

II Bulls and Bears Sentiment Graphs

AAII Bulls and Bears Sentiment Graphs: The AAII Investor Sentiment Survey measures the percentage of individual investors who are bullish, bearish, and neutral on the stock market for the next six months.

These charts are covered on page 6 of my newsletter with updates during the year for what the different types of sentiment charts mean to me. This is an easy place to give my subscribers updates of charts too numerous to add each month I cover.

To see what stocks and ETFs are in my "Explore Portfolio" and get a full list of on my price targets to both take profits or buy more:

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the November 2023 Issue for FREE!!! 
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Bob Brinker Closing Marketimer Newsletter

 Here is a copy of an email forwarded by a friend and subscriber to my newsletter. 

A friend forwarded this to me, thought you might be interested.  I know you’re no fanboy, but still, goes way back.

Received this in today's mail:

"Due to personal reasons, the Marketimer Investment Letter is closing.  The June 2023 edition was our final issue.

Enclosed is a refund for the remaining balance of your subscription.

Thank you for your support over the last four decades."

Hopefully Bob is well and wants to spend his twilight years with his family in full retirement. 

After missing yet another bear market last year leading to 15-years of underperformance, he may not have had enough subscribers to pay the bills for a newsletter that came in the mail.

If you are looking for a "more modern" newsletter that covers stocks, ETFs, fixed income and Bonds, then give Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter a try. 

To see what stocks, ETFs and fixed income investments are in my "Explore Portfolio" and get a full list of on my price targets to take profits or buy more:

 Subscribe NOW  and get
the June 2023 Issue for FREE!!! 
(If you mention this ad)

More about Series I Bonds

• Composite Rates for Older Series I Bonds
  
  
• Current iBond Rates     
  
  
• Historical iBond Rates

 

Market Update for March 31, 2023

 

Market Update for March 31, 2023

Five of twelve months into 2023, we have a split market with the Dow and the Russell 2000 indexes down while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes are up.

All four market indexes remain down double digits from their ATHs (All Time Highs) also summarized in the same table.

S&P 500 Stocks YTD Heat Map where the size of the boxes represents the market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding) .  Meta, AKA Facebook, more than doubled during the first five months of 2023.

My Results YTD are Impressive if I may say so myself...

• I'm roughly matching SPY YTD with only 57% in the markets AND I'm only 6.6% below my record high!
• My Explore Portfolio stocks on their own are up roughly 15.8% YTD!
• Over the long term, I've smashed the index which very, very few have done.

The best news, that my long-term subscribers are well aware of, is my mix of stocks (as opposed to Warren Buffets for example) are generally leading market indicators. That is they start going up early in bull markets, probably because they are mostly "picks and shovels" companies. Likewise, they start to go down while everyone else thinks the markets should keep going higher. Knowing this helps me improve my overall returns by being more or less aggressive buying dips or taking profits depending on where we are in the cycle.

To see what stocks and ETFs are in my "Explore Portfolio" and get a full list of on my price targets to both take profits or buy more:

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the May 2023 Issue for FREE!!! 
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Dow vs Oscillators

These wide images are best views in full screen

Bear Market Update - Brinker Missed Another

The bear market that began at the start of the year continues with all four major markets I follow down over 20% from their peaks.

Using two significant figure accuracy, the markets are down between 21% and 34% from their peaks.

If you have a horse in the November "off presidential year election" then President Biden has not made 401(k) investors happy unless their portfolios are filled with crude oil and natural gas.  Investors in Bitcoin, are even less pleased.

 Markets & Bit Coin Under Biden

Markets & Crude Oil Under Biden

Markets, Natural Gas & Crude Oil Under Biden

In case you were interested, this is how the markets did under President Trump. 

We may not like the way Mr. Trump treated people nor his contentious tweets, but the Saudis, Russians and North Koreans were much better "behaved" while he was in office.  The stock markets reflected this with a quick recovery after the 2020 bear market.

Here is an excerpt from my Newsletter.  SPY is slightly lower today...

9/22/22 After several great years, it was not a surprise that SPY had a 24.5% bear market, especially with such lofty valuations in many stocks. Last month SPY rallied to its 200-day moving average then headed lower to start testing the June lows. A new low to fill the “Head & Shoulder Top” target shown just off the graph below may occur. 

As the market is testing its bear market low sent in September, I was a buyer today and Friday with "Special Alert" emails sent to my subscribers.  

Bob Brinker's portfolios:  At the end of Q3 on September 30th, Brinker's fully invested portfolios one and two were down 26.9% and 26.2% YTD, respectively while the Total Stock Market and S&P 500 were down 24.9% and 23.95%, respectively. 

For comparison, my Explore Portfolio was down "only" 19.47% with my Aggressive Core Portfolio down 20.52% and my Conservative Core Portfolio was down 12.55%.

Three reasons I'm significantly ahead of buy and hold so far this year:

1. I recommend cash in money funds rather that the Total Bond or other regular bond funds.
   
   
2. I've recommended and hold significant holdings in iBonds that never go down and currently pay a very good return of between 9.62% and 9.83%! 
   Current Rates for New & Older I Bonds
   
   
3. I took profits in all portfolios at the start of the year just as the markets were peaking.

Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter

To see what stocks and ETFs are on my buy list and what are my price targets:

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the October 2022 Issue for FREE!!!
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New Series I-Bonds Will Pay 9.62%

 Series I Bond News New I-Bonds Will Pay 9.62%!

WITH THE 9.62% ANNUALIZED INFLATION RATE, SOME OLDER IBONDS WILL PAY AS MUCH AS 13.39% FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS AFTER COLLECTING 7.12% FOR THE PAST SIX MONTHS.

For the next six months, the Highest rate paid is 13.39% & the Lowest Rate is 9.62%

My top paying iBonds have a 3.0% base rate so they will earn 12.76% annualized for their next six month period after paying me 10.23% for the current period.

Historical iBond Rates

More Info and how rates are calculated at 

==>  Current Series I Bond Rates

==>  Current Rates for New and Older Series-I Bonds

More Articles by Kirk Lindstrom:

• Kirk's Stock Market Charts
  
  
• Kirk's Interest Rate Charts
  
  
• Kirk's Investor Sentiment Charts

My advice: I am not a fan of Series EE savings bonds and have other recommendations in my newsletter for 100% safe, fixed income investing. I happily answer questions about fixed income and my other recommendations via email from my subscribers if what I write isn't clear or if you have something not covered and want my opinion. 

Disclaimer: I own Series I Bonds in my personal account (some have base rates of 3.0%!  I also currently have them in my Newsletter Explore Portfolio.  

Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter

 Subscribe NOW  and get
the April 2022 Issue for FREE!!!

Market Update 11/27/2020 - New Record Highs!

Market Update 11/27/2020:  On Friday, 11/27/2020, we got new record highs for the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, the Russell 2000 small cap index and my Explore Portfolio!!! My Explore stocks are up about 28% YTD!  Details below.

I'm also mentioned twice in the most recent issue of Timer Digest!  I'm tied for first in the 6-month category and tied for fifth place in the 2-year category!

Subscribe to my newsletter service and get the November 2020 newsletter for free!
My Explore Portfolio is a mixture of stocks, ETFs, bonds and cash

A year of "Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Service" includes

1. SPECIAL email alerts when I buy or sell securities for my explore portfolio
2. A list of "Auto Buy" and "Auto Sell" levels set ahead of time so you can place limit orders with your broker. 
   
3. SPECIAL email alert reminders when stocks I follow reach my automatic buy and sell levels
4. Email alerts when I make changes to these target levels. 
   
   • The idea is you can set "limit orders" on weekends or evenings and not worry while you work.
5. An "online list" of my buys and sells for each security with graphs so you can check these from anywhere with any device that is connected to the internet without passwords.
6. 12 monthly electronic (PDF) issues of "Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter" that contains all the information I check monthly for each of the securities I follow plus updates on key sentiment and economic factors that help me decide what to recommend
   
   • and
7. Send you any back issues you want FOR FREE.
   

• Historical Performance - More Newsletter Info

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