The Best Trade Idea of the Decade

*You can give a man a fish……..  

OR...

You can tell him which waters are best for fishing.  

You can offer a fishing rod.

Advise on which baits work well.

You can even suggest a recipe for cooking the fish.  

*You can give a man a stock/trade idea……..

OR...

You get the point; it's better to teach someone a process than to provide a tip.

I recently read an incredibly well thought-out article by NYC Hedge Fund manager Brian Shapiro. It would a disservice on my part to not share his article.

Titled, “It's Time,” is about the next big investment of the decade--gold. Its profound, informative, and an overall elegant argument for why gold could be a great trade over the next ten years.    

But beware of trading on other people’s beliefs. While using other people’s trading ideas, one may neglect to recognize that there is an entire system behind a trade.

A trade idea is worthless without the system to support it.

Questions to ask yourself:

Can I assume gold will rise over the next ten years?

Do I just “buy-and-hold,” and hope for the best?

How big of a position do I take?

When do I sell?

Do I buy physical gold, gold futures, an ETF, a gold mining company, etc.?

If you cannot specifically answer these questions, it will do you more harm than good to participate in markets.

In the long run, a reliable process will outperform unstructured individual trade ideas.  

Here's the water, a fishing rod, bait, and a recipe. All the answers are there if you’re willing to look and ask the right questions.

Here's the fish: an amazing nugget of knowledge, but worthless without a trading plan.