We are on a quest to find the best current stock opportunity for investors. All month we are pairing popular stocks from both “growth” and “income” style investing up in matchups to determine which will provide the greater upcoming five-year return. If you’d like to have all our our analysis and the voting results sent directly to your Inbox, click to join our Summer Stock Challenge email list. In this “Growth Style, Round 1, Matchup 2” bracket, our #3-ranked GPU chipmaker NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) squares up against our #6-ranked data warehouse provider Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW). Which of these two stocks will provide the better investment return over the next five years?

In the northern hemisphere’s sweltering summer days, Luke and Krzysztof talk about their recent swashbuckling travels to India and Sicily and the importance of shifting perspectives to deal with the wild mood swings of the market. Luke does a deep dive into his massively helpful Twitter post about his cumulative investing returns that were so good, Krzysztof had to defend his honor from skeptical minds. What does it take to be so consistently good? Is Luke a genius? Or just lucky? For those tech and cybersecurity minded, we discuss Luke’s hands-on experiment installing Crowdstrike. And despite reading a book about Italy, Krzysztof gets schooled by Luke’s two truths and a lie game — maybe more cannolis needed? We’re beginner friendly, so if you’re looking to get started in the investing world, join us on the 7investing No Limit podcast!

Our Summer Stock Challenge is here — to discover the very best current opportunity for investors. During the next two weeks, we’ll explore 14 total companies — many of which (but not all) are active 7investing recommendations. We’ll size each of them up as investments; discussing their business models, their leadership, and how they allocate their profit streams. Then, we’ll host a daily poll for YOU to vote on which company in each matchup is the better investment for the next five years. At the end, the votes will determine which company outshines the rest and ultimately becomes our tournament’s winner. Grab an iced beverage and a pair of sunglasses. This competition is just getting warmed up! To follow along with each tournament matchup, click here: https://7investing.com/growthvsincome/

You could think of the internet as a gigantic digital Monopoly board. Those who invest in and develop the right properties can reap incredible real estate gains over time. But how should a potential investor even begin his or her search? Just as physical homes are priced based upon the neighborhood and the beauty of the kitchen counters, are there similar things to look for in a digital property? And is advertising still the primary money-maker rfor internet sites -- or has it transitioned to other income streams such as subscriptions or affiliate marketing? To help us answer those questions, we've brought in an expert. Mohit Tater is a lifelong investor in digital real estate. His private equity firm BlackBook Investments invests in undervalued websites and improves their ROI over time. His company has delivered a 27% ROI annually (after fees) for its investors for the past ten years. Simon kicks of the interview by asking Mohit how the internet has changed the most during the past decade. Mohit says there are significantly more creators today and that video has become the predominant form of content. This opens up new forms of advertising, which command much higher rates and pricing than simple programmatic display or audio ads. Even though it's made headlines in recent years, it's likely the third-party cookie will continue to be used for tracking we behavior for quite some time. Mohit then describes what BlackBook looks for when making an investment. They target stable growth in revenues and traffic, with "low hanging fruit" that is available for them to improve upon. In the final segment, Mohit describes how GPT will augment -- not displace -- Google's advertising business and how the internet is different in India than it is in America. Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this podcast include Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Twitter. 7investing's advisors and/or its guests may have positions in the companies that are mentioned. Don't miss out on future conversations like this! 7investing will be publishing upcoming interviews with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more. Join 7investing's free email list to get our podcasts and investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox.

Episode 20 finds 7investing’s Luke Hallard, man of mystery and intrigue, swinging from the hammock in Sri Lanka, dodging monkey projectile coconuts. We catch up on the latest Black Mirror episode and what it means to read the terms of service in the age of AI, and the growing dangers of corporate overreach.  We also discuss Luke’s recent Twitter project, in which he’s doing a deep dive on his long-term buys and sells, company by company, and the lessons learned. Don’t skip this masterclass, friends! Your portfolio will thank you! Krzysztof, meanwhile, does a little math around a saved received in which Luke clowned his decision to sell Nvidia in order to buy a nearly bankrupt battery company. You’ll never guess who ends up wearing the clown shoes! We banter about the “exciting” world of options, Krzysztof promising to educate Luke on future episodes on some advanced strategies. Our trivia game concludes with two truths and a lie about Eos Energy, the little battery company that is powering Krzysztof’s portfolio, a janky operator no more? It’s summer, so kick back, grab a piña colada and spend some quality time Luke and Krzysztof and the 7investing mission to empower you to be a world-class investor!

There is an upcoming disruption of the food systems industry, and investors today can get in ahead of an exciting new S-Curve that's developing. Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO of VegTech Invest, and also advisor to the EATV ETF. EATV is the world’s only Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently interviewed Elysabeth for our 7investing podcast. In the first part of the conversation, Elysabeth describes how she got interest in food systems transformation and why it is important to solving issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and human health care. The global food supply system hasn't changed much in the past 1,000 years and it could be ripe for disruption. Elysabeth goes on to describe the limitations of our traditional supply chain. Animal husbandry isn't really innovating any more, whereas the plant-based innovation curve is just getting started. She explains that our current system isn't economical and is often bad for the environment. Beyond Meat has published research that says animal agriculture accounts for about 15% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions; with two thirds of those coming directly from cows. Consumers, governments, and businesses are all stakeholders who are interested in making food systems more efficient. Simon then asks what parts of the supply chain will require the most investment, in order to create a $290 billion new industry by 2035. Elysabeth says it will be investment from businesses into their processes and supply chains. Perhaps with support from their governments. In the final segment, Simon asks what the most common criticisms have been from people who are opposed to change in food products. Elysabeth also describes the investing methodology that she uses for her index. Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this podcast include Beyond Meat, Cargill, ConAgra, Costco, Dannon, Nestle, and YUM Brands. 7investing's advisors and/or its guests may have positions in the companies that are mentioned. Don't miss out on future conversations like this! 7investing will be publishing upcoming interviews with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more. Join 7investing's free email list to get our podcasts and investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox.

In episode 19 of No Limit, Luke and Krzysztof focus on Nvidia. It’s overvalued, so you should sell! But selling a great company is often the most expensive mistake investors make, so you should hold! But AI runs on Nvidia and AI is just getting started, so you should buy! If this kind of investing complexity makes your head spin, tune in to hear us frame this kind of difficulty into principles and a process you can follow with confidence. As a special bonus, Luke puts Krzysztof in the student’s chair and surprises him with a quiz about Nvidia. Does Krzysztof flunk or does he know a thing or two about? We discuss the investing lessons aplenty in the movie Air about Nike’s courtship of Michael Jordan, and Luke schools Krzysztof about innovation at Nike headquarters. Sometimes shoes are not just shoes. With the Apple reveal of its Augmented Reality device 45 minutes into the future, we captured a predictive time-capsule of what we thought Apple might reveal and what that signifies about the upcoming metaverse. How quickly has this segment aged? What did we get right and wrong? Aiming to retire early? Luke, our resident James Bond on a motorcycle, not only talks the talk, but walks the walk and offers insights into making that dream a reality. If you missed episodes 17 & 18, we also recap our insightful conversation with Krishna Bahirwani and how to approach investing in India, which we see as a massive opportunity in the coming decades.

Investors love dividends. There's something special about receiving cold hard cash into your brokerage account every quarter, which you can use to pay for expenses or reinvest and buy more stock. Over time, reinvesting dividends can compound your returns. But how do dividend-paying stocks compare against other segments of the market? Have they been impacted by the tricky macro of the past year? Are dividends more attractive in rising-rate environments? And what factors should investors consider before buying dividend stocks? To answer those questions, we've brought in an expert. James Early is the Chief Investment Officer of BBAE, and formerly the Advisor of Motley Fool's Income Investor. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with James about dividends and dividend-paying stocks. In the first part of the conversation, James describes what got him into dividend investing and the "3M" factors -- "management, moat, and money situation management" -- that investors should look for. He describes how dividends are a good way to keep management teams responsible in their capital allocation decisions. He also describes how dividend-paying stocks perform through different market environments. Simon then asks James to describe the tradeoff between dividend yield and dividend growth. Is it more advantages for investors to look for higher yields upfront? Or should we patiently wait for dividends to grow over time? In the final segment, James describes two of his favorite dividend-paying companies: Diageo (NYSE: DEO) and Unilever (NYSE: UL). Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this podcast include Diageo, and Unilever. 7investing's advisors and/or its guests may have positions in the companies that are mentioned. Don't miss out on future conversations like this! 7investing will be publishing upcoming interviews with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more. Join 7investing's free email list to get our podcasts and investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox.

To help us answer those questions, we've brought in a few expert tech investors. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster and Doug Clinton, who have been investing in technology for decades. Deepwater is a global asset manager based in Minneapolis, MN. The three kicked off their conversation by discussing Deepwater's investing philosophy and vision. Gene explains that their firm likes to dive deep into three core areas of technology: AI, automation, and the Metaverse. They use those as a starting point, to further screen for the best-in-breed companies with persistent growth. And finally, they look for the select few which they have the most conviction in; which is something that can't be easily found or simply modeled in spreadsheets. Doug goes on to explain the "three buckets" of investing timeframes. Some investors think only in terms of quarterly earnings and others only in terms of long-term trends. But Deepwater prefers to be in the third bucket -- from 3 to 5 years -- where they can more measurably assess what will happen in the near-term future. It turns out that predicting what the world will look like a decade from now is incredibly difficult. Gene and Doug both then discuss the FinTech sector, which is quickly transitioning from bricks and mortar to digital. Brazil's NuBank, Block, and Apple could all be opportunities for investors, as they are gaining share but without having legacy operational costs. The group then discusses the macroeconomic climate. Gene points to several companies like Home Depot still reporting disappointing earnings, and that is leading to institutional investors being cautious. But bigger-picture, it's more important to find quality companies and to size into positions over time. Simon asks them about valuation, and they described their methodical process for determining a fair price. In the second segment, the three discuss several of Deepwater's larger positions, including Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META),  CrowdStrike (Nasdaq: CRWD), ACV Auctions (Nasdaq: ACVA), and Everbridge (Nasdaq: EVBG). They conclude with a fun "lightning round", where Simon spots them up with questions about AI and the market's largest technology companies. Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this podcast include Meta Platforms, CrowdStrike, Everbridge, ACV Auctions, NuHoldings, Block, Amazon, and Apple. 7investing's advisors and/or its guests may have positions in the companies that are mentioned. Don't miss out on future conversations like this! 7investing will be publishing upcoming interviews with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more. Join 7investing's free email list to get our podcasts and investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox.

Welcome to 7investing in June 2023! We’ve just issued our latest stock recommendations, where we share reports on our favorite opportunities in the stock market with 7investing members. To see all seven reports, please click here to get started with a 7investing membership for only $1, to unlock full access to all of our recommendations and premium content. This month, our team chose a nice mix of companies across different industries, risk levels, and sizes:  Two advisors chose Moderate Risk recommendations this month. Luke Hallard went with an critical player in the energy industry, while Matt Cochrane chose a global e-commerce powerhouse. Two advisors chose High Risk companies. Simon Erickson re-recommended a semiconductor company who is focused on supplying electric vehicles, while Steve Symington re-recommended one of his very favorite Financial Technology companies. Three advisors chose Very High Risk companies this month. Dr. Dana Abramovitz chose a promising biotechnology company who just won an important FDA approval, Dr. Anirban Mahanti went with an international payments enabler, and Dr. Krzysztof Piekarski chose a small cap energy company who could be hitting an inflection point of upcoming demand. Investing is the stock market is a lifelong journey, and it involves much more than just reading a single month’s reports. We have built 7investing to be long-term investing advisors, who will help guide you through that journey and to learn which types of stocks are right for you. We purposely make recommendations of all types — from moderate risk to very high risk; from Financial Services to Biotechnology — so that you can find the right fit for your portfolio. And then enjoy reading our recommendation reports, and discussing them with us in our Subscriber Calls and Community Forum to follow along with how they’re doing. If you would like to sign up with 7investing and see all recommendations since our launch in March 2020, click here to get started with 7investing today! Questions about our 7investing membership? Please email us at [email protected]

In part II of our conversation with Krishna Bahirwani, 7investing’s own Luke and Krzysztof embarked on a wild ride through the bustling bazaars of the Indian investment landscape! We zigzagged through throngs of Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) where retail investors have a favorable set-up with low or no fees, thanks to its scale. We also discussed the information goldmine that was screener.in, where we could dig up 10 years’ worth of financials on any company. As we journeyed through the potential growth of India as a global powerhouse, we found tantalizing opportunities that came with the rise in per capita and disposable income. We also eavesdropped on the sophisticated chatter in the “Indians Invest Globally” community — make sure you ask Krishna about it on twitter. And just when you thought we were done, we took a detour to explore the exciting terrain of India-focused ETFs, especially those feisty small cap ones. So, buckle up and enjoy the ride through the emerging and thrilling world of Indian investment! Go to www.7investing.com/subscribe to support the 7investing podcast through your membership.

Join our 7investing FREE email list to receive our investing insights and conversations with the CEOs of PubMatic, Rocket Lab, and more at 7investing.com/email. We as investors often suffer from "home court bias", where we're most interested in the opportunities who are based in the country that we live in. We're familiar with the culture and the currency, so it's easier for us to invest closer to home. Yet the business world stretches to all corners of the globe, and investing is similarly an global phenomenon. Astute investors who are willing to put in a bit more research are often rewarded by the opportunities offered by other countries. So where are those opportunities today? Are there certain countries that are particularly lucrative for investors? Are there specific companies who are winning on the global stage? To answer those questions, we're welcoming back two of our favorite guests. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Comgest's portfolio managers Rick Mercado and Richard Kaye about international investing. Comgest is an independent global asset management firm based in Paris, who manages $30 billion and has a knack for finding long-term growth opportunities. The three kicked off the conversation by sharing perspective on the global macroeconomy. Interest rates are rising and threats of a recession are looming, yet bottoms-up research and stress-testing of companies still shows that the fundamentals of most businesses are still sound and attractive. Tech companies like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) appear well-positioned to benefit from AI, while the membership-based Costco (Nasdaq: COST) appears resilient to an economic downturn. Perhaps surprisingly, high-end consumer discretionary names like Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (OTC: LVMHF) and Ferrari (NYSE: RACE) have similarly shown a resilience to the challenging macro. Richard then discussed investing in Japan. He points out that Japan's growth rate is amongst the highest of OECD nations, yet its market valuation multiple is among the lowest. Several under-the-radar companies like Ibiden (OTC: IBIDF) and Advantest (OTC: ATEYY) are manufacturing the equipment necessary to manufacture the microprocessors to support high-performance computing. Due to the rising popularity of AI and machine learning inference, those are seeing a dramatic increase in demand. Rick and Richard together described how sometimes a country's equity markets could be a springboard for it's companies to enter other markets. Simon and Rick then dive into the computing industry, specifically about ASML's (Nasdaq: ASML) dominance of lithography. They discuss whether rising geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan could disrupt the semiconductor supply chain and the impact that might have on ASML. The three then discuss India, where mega-conglomerates with close ties to the government often "write the script" of emerging industries. One example is Suzuki, who is working with the government on the rollout of electric vehicles. Similar situations have happened with renewable energy and telecommunications. This can often make it challenging (and messy) for international companies like American Tower to compete in countries like India. But it can often also backfire, as seen recently with Adani Group's troubled financial statements. In the final segment, the group discusses investing in 2023 as compared to 2022. "Earnings matter now", as fundamentals and good quarterly reports are increasingly being rewarded by the market. Rick and Richard close out by discussing their approach to valuation, especially using a long-term mindset.

To support the 7investing Podcast, go to ⁠7investing.com/subscribe/⁠. Your subscriptions allow us to keep making this podcast, so we can empower you to invest in your future. In this episode, Matthew Cochrane welcomes back Bill Brewster, the host of The Business Brew podcast, for a wide-ranging conversation that touches on a variety of investment topics and companies. The pair begin their talk with Brewster sharing his recent experiences at the Markel (NYSE:MKL) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B) annual investor conferences.     Markel's primary business offers niche insurance underwriting services. The company then uses its float and profits from the insurance business to invest in private companies and public equities. Cochrane asks Brewster if the right way to think about Markel is to think of it as a mini-Berkshire.    "I think they have looked at what Berkshire has done and seen the power of it. I don't know that you can sort of do the 'This is a mini-Berkshire' mental heuristic. I think that probably understates what Berkshire is."    The conversation then naturally shifts to Berkshire Hathaway and its bull case after Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are no longer there. Brewster believes Berkshire will prove resilient but is unsure if it can outperform the S&P 500 in the years ahead.     Brewster and Cochrane then discuss how AI will impact society and how it will affect Big Tech and the competition among them, primarily focusing on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).     Brewster and Cochrane then hit on:    Are U.S. investors letting home country bias impact their returns?  Why Brewster is more concerned about Alphabet than Meta over the next five years;  Why Disney is becoming a much more difficult company to value.    To follow Bill Brewster check out his podcast The Business Brew on any major podcast platform.  

The Super Mario Bros. Movie recently crossed the $500 million threshold at the domestic box office, placing it on an exclusive list of just 19 films. Globally, it has now amassed $1.2 billion and is now the fifth-biggest animated movie of all-time. For Nintendo's (OTC:NTDOY) first film venture in nearly 30 years, the film has been an astounding success.     7investing Lead Advisor Matthew Cochrane invited Ryan Henderson and Brett Schafer of Chit Chat Money to sit down to review Nintendo's investment thesis.    Henderson breaks down the movie's economics, explaining that Nintendo partnered with the animation studio Illumination, meaning that Nintendo does not take home all of the movie's profits. Still, after trying to use reasonable assumptions, Henderson and Schafer believe the movie can meaningfully impact Nintendo's bottom line.     Henderson and Schafer then discuss Nintendo's future plans for film and theme parks, and whether Nintendo's famously conservative management will finally look to monetize its intellectual property through additional channels. Inevitably, the question of the Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) comes up and whether Nintendo has aspirations and the capabilities to mirror the entertainment giant's flywheel that includes theme parks, movies, TV, and merchandise.     Cochrane wonders if Nintendo is destined to be a cyclical company, following a pattern of hits and misses with the consoles the company has released over the years. The Nintendo Switch was a hug success, selling over 125 million units, but this followed the disastrous Wii U which only sold 13 million units. Henderson and Schafer discuss Nintendo's past mistakes but believe the company has learned form them and will release an updated Switch sometime in 2024.     After wrapping up their discussing on Nintendo, Cochrane asks Henderson and Schafer what they think about the U.K. blocking the pending Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) acquisition of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) latest results.     You can follow Henderson and Schafer through the podcast that they co-host, Chit Chat Money: https://open.spotify.com/show/4SBtOWGEOmD9pmltgIXO8r    Henderson and Schafer also are the portfolio managers for Arch Capital Fund: https://www.archcapitalfund.com/  For more great investing insights, become a 7investing subscriber at https://7investing.com/starter-membership/    

Krzysztof & Luke join Indians Invest Globally founder Krishna Bahirwani to learn more about how Indian investors are making their presence felt in markets across the globe.

Things are really up in the air for the stock market. And we mean that in the most literal way possible. Morgan Stanley predicts the Space Economy will be worth more than $1 trillion dollars by 2040. Merrill Lynch is even more optimistic, thinking it will reach $2.7 trillion by 2045. Whatever actual number is eventually reveal, the key point is that it will likely involve a "t" in its order of magnitude. The space economy will soon become one of the largest and most important new markets that develops in our lifetime. Once reserved for well-funded government missions, satellites in orbit now enable regional television broadcasting, the GPS used for Smartphone apps, pinpoint imagery used for logistics and government surveillance, and high-speed internet provided for locations. Each of those opportunities will require an entire subsector as well. Launch providers like SpaceX and Rocket Lab will be needed to place the satellites into orbit. Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google will store and compute all of the data they collect. Support providers like Redshift will keep the satellites operational and in good condition. And with the FCC working through a backlog of nearly 40,000 new satellite spectrum applications, the million dollar question becomes how should we invest in the space economy? Three of our 7investing advisors tackled that question in an exclusive conversation. Simon Erickson, Luke Hallard, and Steve Symington together hosted a livestream discussion last month, sharing insights, key themes, and plenty of space-related puns. They first talked about defense contractors, such as how companies like Lockheed Martin were embracing collaborations and partnerships to support complex, billion-dollar government contracts. They then set their sights on launch providers, whose reusable rockets are drivign down costs and carrying larger and more sophisticated payloads for building constellations. They also discussed consolidation, especially as capital costs are increasing in a rising-rate environment and companies are finding ways to spread fixed cost across a larger number of offerings and income streams. Steve then described Virgin Galactic's ambitions for space tourism. Even with its sister company Virgin Orbit recently filing for bankruptcy, Galactic believes space tourism will eventually be an affordable vacation for many potential tourists. Simon then dug into defense applications, primarily in support of the escalation Russia/Ukraine war. He points to Maxar Technologies $6 billion acquisition by a private equity firm as a sign that M&A deals for mission-critical satellite operators will continue in 2023 and 2024. Luke chimed in with a few other 'fun' space applications, such as 3D printing components for satellite repair or asteroid mining for rare minerals. The three concluded the conversation by reaffirming their optimism for the space economy. This will take time and patience to play out, but it will also produce incredible returns for investors. Publicly-traded companies mentioned in this interview include Alphabet, Amazon, Astroscale, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, Redwire, Rocket Lab, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Orbit.

In this conversation, 7investing Lead Advisor Matthew Cochrane once again sits down with Ryan Krueger, the co-founder and CEO of Freedom Day Solutions, a family-owned and operated financial advisory firm located in Houston. Krueger is also the founder of the Freedom Day Dividend ETF (NYSE:MBOX).  The Freedom Day ETF is designed, as Krueger explains, to give investors growth of income, not growth or income. Krueger believes the ETF can accumulate a stable of quality companies that pay a rising dividend while avoiding many of the common pitfalls often associated with income investing, namely:  Not investing in companies with the highest yields; Avoiding companies that nominally raise their dividends every year to please income investors; Not investing in companies with unsustainable payout ratios. Cochrane listens to Krueger as he explains why he believes there's a problem with the 4% rule, which suggests retirees can safely withdraw 4% of their retirement savings balance every year. Krueger believes a much safer bet is holding a portfolio of financial instruments that pay dividends in excess of one's expenses.  Along the way, Cochrane and Krueger discuss several of MBOX's holdings. Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) and Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD) are two pipeline operators that transport and store natural gas. If global conditions don't change, the two operate profitable companies that pay a nice dividend to shareholders. However, natural gas provides much cleaner energy than coal, and Krueger believes there is a real chance both can experience significant growth as the rest of the globe transitions from coal in the coming years.  Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) is the largest domestic television station owner and operator with almost 200 stations. Even as the world consumes more media via streaming apps, live sports and news still command more viewers than any other type of content. At just 12 times next year's earnings and sporting a 3% dividend yield, Krueger believes Nexstar is undervalued as an operator of attractive and profitable assets.  As a father of five kids involved in youth sports, Krueger is well aware of the allure of Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS), a retailer that sells atheletic apparel and equipment. But Dick's also owns the GameChanger app that allows little league games to be watched online, giving the big box store a digital growth channel.  To see all of Matt Cochrane's top dividend stocks, subscribe to 7investing Premium. Krueger can be found on Twitter @RyanKruegerROI and you can find more information on his advisory firm (and excellent blog) at freedomdaysolutions.com. For more information on the Freedom Day Dividend ETF, you can visit freedomdaydividend.com. 

How do the supercharging powers of artificial intelligence change someone's ability to spy on your whereabouts? Learn your history? Pretend to be you? How do we as consumers and investors safeguard against these emerging threats? Krzysztof and Luke journey into the realm of cybersecurity, blockchain, and AI-assisted private investigators in this week's episode of "No Limit with Krzysztof and Luke." Along the way, their autonomous vehicle takes a few detours, leading to discussions about battery technology, Meta, Tesla, wanting to work at McDonald's as a kid, vegan cheeseburgers, and "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." To get more of Krzysztof and Luke's in-depth research on a variety of publicly-traded stock market investing opportunities, subscribe to 7investing: https://7investing.com/subscribe/

The tech world moves fast, and no one wants to get left behind. Emerging technologies like generative AI, large language models, and open-source platforms have the potential to completely transform individual businesses or even entire industries. Those who embrace them will profit, while those who don't will become irrelevant. Yet a "Hype Cycle" also tends to accommodate new technologies. Several new movements in the tech world that were believed to be the Next Big Thing turned out not to be. 3D printing and NFTs are recent examples. How should forward-thinking and growth-minded investors separate out the game-changers from the flashes-in-the-pan? What new technologies are actually gaining momentum, and which will never live up to their expectations? To answer those questions, we've brought in an expert. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Howard Holton, the Chief Technology Officer of GigaOm. GigaOm brings the decision-making executives of progressive companies up-to-speed about emerging technologies and then helping to implement them across their organizations. In Part 2, Simon and Howard discuss how the cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure are finding that cloud computing is becoming more commoditized. Each of the Cloud Titans is looking to create a platform for developers, who are comfortable with their capabilities and eager to deploy what they're already familiar with at their organizations. Howard then also spoke in detail about the Metaverse. While intriguing in theory, he also believes it will be very difficult to moderate or to control offensive content, and that monetizing the Metaverse for any corporations' profit interests could be counter-productive to furthering the interests of its users. He and Simon do agree that digital advertising is a likely income stream that will result from the Metaverse; a next-evolution of the personalized advertising we've gotten used to in display ads on websites or video platforms. In the final segment, Howard discusses the importance of trust in the future of AI. While he believes several AI projects are likely overhyped and will eventually go bust, some that are well-designed and execute well could be incredibly valuable and profitable. Companies should hire a "Chief Trust Officer" who can verify the biases purposely imposed on AI models.

The tech world moves fast, and no one wants to get left behind. Emerging technologies like generative AI, large language models, and open-source platforms have the potential to completely transform individual businesses or even entire industries. Those who embrace them will profit, while those who don't will become irrelevant. Yet a "Hype Cycle" also tends to accommodate new technologies. Several new movements in the tech world that were believed to be the Next Big Thing turned out not to be. 3D printing and NFTs are recent examples. How should forward-thinking and growth-minded investors separate out the game-changers from the flashes-in-the-pan? What new technologies are actually gaining momentum, and which will never live up to their expectations? To answer those questions, we've brought in an expert. 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Howard Holton, the Chief Technology Officer of GigaOm. GigaOm brings the decision-making executives of progressive companies up-to-speed about emerging technologies and then helping to implement them across their organizations. (You can also  see last year's conversation with GigaOm CEO Ben Book here.) In Part 1 of their conversation, Simon and Howard first addressed the status quo of generative AI. AI is being used for 'fun' things today -- like creating lifelike images through MidJourney -- but even this requires significant computing power. Howard explains that innovative companies are already deploying AI at scale, but that they need appropriate data strategies and governance policies in order to maximize their success rate. This is similarly true for the flood of recent large language models; those that endure will require filters to curate the noisy flood of data from all across the internet is a way that is actually usable and trustable for businesses. One key advantage of AI over human beings is that it does not have the same biases as humans. The two then turned their sights on hardware, specifically the custom silicon being designed by hyperscalers like Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. Chipmakers like AMD and NVIDIA will still have an endless runway of future demand, though niche applications will also continue to be served by customizable chips like FPGAs. In Part 2 (which we will publish on Thursday, April 27th), the cloud's Infrastructure-as-a-Service providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure are finding that cloud computing is becoming more commoditized. Each of the Cloud Titans is looking to create a platform for developers, who are comfortable with their capabilities and eager to deploy what they're already familiar with at their organizations. Howard then also spoke in detail about the Metaverse. While intriguing in theory, he also believes it will be very difficult to moderate or to control offensive content, and that monetizing the Metaverse for any corporations' profit interests could be counter-productive to furthering the interests of its users. He and Simon do agree that digital advertising is a likely income stream that will result from the Metaverse; a next-evolution of the personalized advertising we've gotten used to in display ads on websites or video platforms. In the final segment, Howard discusses the importance of trust in the future of AI. While he believes several AI projects are likely overhyped and will eventually go bust, some that are well-designed and execute well could be incredibly valuable and profitable. Companies should hire a "Chief Trust Officer" who can verify the biases purposely imposed on AI models.

AI is disrupting everything around us, right? Not so fast, say Krzysztof and Luke. Our 7investing lead advisors go through four major areas of society where they feel AI will be least likely to completely render obsolete or eliminate human involvement: the "Four 'C's of AI-Resilient Stock Market Investing."    Along the way, the pair also discuss Krzysztof's latest book recommendation, how Luke's mom is Krzysztof's biggest fan, and how to get banned from playing poker in an entire country.    To join Krzysztof, Luke, and thousands of other investors in the 7investing Premium community, go to https://7investing.com/subscribe/

All eyes are on the Fed these days. And for good reason, too. There's a high degree of correlation between the stock market and the American macroeconomy. Many investors are impatiently watching Jay Powell's every move and are obsessively analyzing every word he says. Yet the Fed's actions are actually just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Equities as a whole tend to follow a broader business cycle, which includes periods of growth, inflation, and policy that spans for several years and even decades. Each phase within the business cycle has implications for companies and also their equity shareholders. What exactly does that mean? And what exactly are those implications for us, as investors? To answer those questions, 7investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with Mike Singleton, who's the founder and senior analyst of Invictus Research. Invictus' business cycle analysis helps retail and institutional investors make more-informed financial decisions. Simon and Mike began the conversation by discussing the business cycle -- including what it is and how to measure it. They discussed why several leading indicators such as industrial manufacturing, CPI inflation, and the housing sector are worth monitoring to predict upcoming investing cycles. Specifically, layoffs within the manufacturing sector could indicate a shift in the business cycle -- especially is service-heavy economies like the United States. In the second half of the conversation, Simon asks Mike if he believes the Fed will ultimately reach its stated goal of 2% inflation and what a period of lower inflation would mean. Mike believes American will, in fact, see disinflation through the second half of the year. He also predicts an uptick in unemployment rates and a high likelihood of a recession. For investors, now could be a good time to consider defensive sectors such as consumer staples and health care. No individual publicly-traded companies were mentioned in this interview. Cryptocurrencies mentioned include Bitcoin. 7investing or its guests may have positions in the stocks or cryptocurrencies mentioned. This episode of our 7investing podcast has been sponsored by Stockscurrent. As a listener of our 7investing podcasts, you'll get an exclusive offer a 10% off as an executive membership by visiting stockscurrent.com/signup/podcast10. Their membership comes with a 30 day 100% money back guarantee no questions asked. 

Follow the 7investing Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7wBWhst8U3CqSeQ8fRGCLO?si=72004a7e131947d6 Subscribe to 7investing's Premium service here: https://7investing.com/subscribe Without living in a cave, it is nearly impossible to avoid today's negative headlines. Inflation persists and the Fed continues to raise interest rates. Russia is still at war with Ukraine and has openly talked about deploying tactical nuclear weapons. Many believe a recession is imminent. These negative events have taken their collective toll on the stock market as the S&P 500 is still off 15% from its all-time highs. Tobias Carlisle joined 7investing Lead Advisor Matthew Cochrane this week to help us walk through these challenging questions. Carlisle, the founder and managing director of Acquirers Funds, believes that while the indices are still not "cheap", valuations are down overall and there are plenty of opportunities within the stock market for investors willing to dig. Carlisle said while he is fascinated by macroeconomics, he does not let it affect his investment process. Cochrane asks Carlisle about the high number of basic materials and energy companies currently inside the The Acquirers ETF (NYSE:ZIG). Carlisle notes this is not due to any love for these particular sectors, but that even after recovering from the absolute lows these industries feature some companies that are still trading at multiples of just 2-3 times earnings. Even after accounting for their inherent cyclicality and political headwinds, he believes their valuations provide enough of a margin of safety for investors to find decent bargains. Carlisle used Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) as an example of one company in his portfolio. Even as it reported bad earnings, the stock rallied because its low valuation had baked in very low expectations. Carlisle calls this the counterintuitive nature of deep value investing. Cochrane contrasts this with stocks that reported great numbers throughout 2022, yet continued to be punished by the market, mostly because their lofty valuations had baked in such fantastic expectations it was almost impossible for real life results to measure up. Carlisle and Cochrane then dive deep into Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ), two stocks in which they currently both hold long positions.

Our "No limit" podcast features 7investing advisors Luke Hallard and Krzysztof Piekarski breaking down investing-related topics.Episode 14 of No Limit has Luke saying goodbye to the alpine slopes while praising Krzysztof for his wholesome view on paying for Twitter’s blue verification check. Meanwhile, AI is starting to really scare people, including people who know what they’re talking about and who wrote an open letter about slowing down and not advancing much further until we establish proper frameworks. Luke wonders if organizations and companies involved are ethically minded enough or just going full blast at humanity’s expense and doom. But, the tools we have now are truly staggering and Luke dives into some of his most recent use cases. Krzysztof’s book of the week is The Grid which made his April recommendation for 7investing a seeming no-brainer: our electrical grid needs lots of help and companies are positioning themselves to make lots of money by fixing the oldest machine without which our society would fall apart -- so lots of talk about batteries and electricity. We end the conversation with some fascinating stats about home-schooling in the age of ChatGPT and the rise of the Indian economy which Luke suggests may deliver some great investments in the coming years. Krzysztof wisely asks Luke to tell him which ones, but that’s for episode 15!

Banking is just a sleepy, boring industry, right? Ha! Not if you've read the headlines lately. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history) turned the financial world upside down almost overnight. Is the entire financial industry about to collapse?   Veteran banking analyst and writer John Maxfield doesn't think so. Maxfield is the executive director of the Wilmers Integrity Prize, named after Robert Wilmers, the longtime CEO of MMT Bank. He was formerly the editor-in-chief of Bank Director magazine.  For the second time in a year, Maxfield joined 7investing lead advisor Matthew Cochrane to walk listeners through what happened at the above banks that led to their insolvency and subsequent takeover by the FDIC. Maxfield explains that the ground for the error was laid in early 2020, when Silicon Valley Bank was overtaken by a deluge of deposits flooding in from the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The bank's deposits more than tripled over the next two years, climbing to $189 billion by the end of 2022.  Silicon Valley Bank treated this windfall as regular deposits and invested the money into long-duration assets, simultaneously betting that the deposits would be sticky and that interest rates would remain low for years. Neither would prove true. As interest rates rose, these assets declined in value precipitously. As it became apparent that SVB's paper losses were enough to make the bank insolvent, venture capitalists advised the startups in their portfolios to withdraw their money, leading to a bank run and a lightning-quick collapse.  Maxfield advises when the banking equilibrium becomes unstable, it implodes exponentially, not linearly. Meaning banking panics can get magnified as more banks fall and panic spreads. This helps explain why First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC), a "good" bank by all accounts, got caught up in the carnage, as it too had a large percentage of uninsured deposits that account holders rushed to withdraw as soon as the bank experienced a loss of confidence.  As the panic spread, even foreign banks, such as Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), experienced a loss of confidence and were rushed into a forced merger with UBS Group (NYSE:UBS).  Maxfield talks through the rapid fall of these institutions, peppering the conversation with a plethora of historical examples, using his rich knowledge of the banking industry. Along the way, Maxfield and Cochrane discuss 1) FDIC insurance and whether it should be expanded to include all deposits; 2) Why regional banks are necessary; and 3) whether banking regulation should be more robust. At the end of the conversation, Maxfield explains why fast growth at financial institutions can be a red flag and gives examples of banks that he believes are well run and worthy of a long look from investors, such as Hingham Institution for Savings (NASDAQ:HIFS) and M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB).

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this final first-round matchup, we have a battle of the semiconductor chipmakers: with Intel up against AMD! The two were very similar performers in 2022, with Intel’s stock falling (48%) and AMD falling (52%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, the entertainment empire Disney is up against the global chip designer AMD. Disney’s stock was down (43%) in 2022, while AMD was down (56%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: ⁠7investing.com/marketmadness⁠ Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — ⁠click here⁠ to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, search and AI giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) squares up against the cloud-based continual monitor platform Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG). Alphabet’s stock fell (38%) in 2022, while Datadog was down (60%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament: ⁠⁠7investing.com/marketmadness⁠⁠ Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how we’re already outperforming the S&P 500 by a convincing margin — ⁠⁠click here⁠⁠ to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Our "No limit" podcast features 7investing advisors Luke Hallard and Krzysztof Piekarski breaking down investing-related topics. Episode 13 of No Limit focuses entirely on Luke schooling Krzysztof about the banking industry and the reasons and fall-out from the Silicon Valley Bank failure. Krzysztof follows this tutelage with his views on why blockchain technology and smart contracts are a powerful paradigm shift that has become all the more important in response to the lack of stability and transparency in the banking system. https://youtu.be/X3d1m1DRlAw But if banking failures aren’t your cup of Joe, fear not, we talk March Madness and which company we think should win the 7investing tournament vs which company might deliver the best real-world results. Shuffle the deck, deal the cards, good luck to all the players!

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, i-everything consumer device maker Apple matches up against the social network pioneer Meta Platforms. Both stocks had a challenging 2022: Apple was down (30%) while Meta Platforms fell (63%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! To follow along with our entire Market Madness tournament, visit 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, mRNA and COVID-vaccine developer Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) is up against the electric vehicle innovator Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). Moderna’s stock fell just (30%) during 2022, while Tesla tumbled (69%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow our entire Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness  Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market significantly — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, enterprise software titan Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) takes on the digital financial services innovator SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI). Microsoft’s stock fell (29%) during 2022, while SoFi dropped (72%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow along with our Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market by 20 percentage points — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing March Madness competition! Throughout this campaign, we’re matching popular stocks up against one another to determine which will be the best investment over the next three years. And then, by voting in the poll at the bottom of the article, you can help us determine which stock will go on to the next round! Our rankings are determined by the total return of the stock during calendar 2022. The highest-ranked stock had the best overall return of those in our tournament, and our lowest-ranked stock had the lowest overall return. In this first-round matchup, the second-seed pharmaceutical powerhouse AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) is up against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN).  AbbVie’s stock returned 23% in 2022, while Coinbase’s stock fell (86%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow along with our Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market by 20 percentage points — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

Welcome to our 7investing Market Madness competition! We are on a quest to find the best current stock opportunity for investors. All month, we’re matching popular stocks up in head-to-head matchups to determine which will provide the greatest upcoming three-year return. And through voting poll we include at the bottom of each article, you can help determine which tock will win each round and ultimately the tournament. In this first-round matchup, the top-ranked energy juggernaut Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) squares up against consumer lending disruptive Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST).  Exxon’s stock returned an impressive 86% during 2022, while Upstart returned a dismal (91%). But past performance is not predictive of future returns. Which of these stocks do you believe will provide investors with the best forward three-year return? Read our investing thesis and cast your vote in the poll below! Follow along with our Market Madness tournament at 7investing.com/marketmadness Our Market Madness tournament is in support of our new 7investing Starter membership, which we are giving away free during the entire month of March. To get started with Starter — and to see how it’s already beating the market by 20 percentage points — click here to automatically apply your “madness” promo code.

No limit episode 12 features Luke’s explanation of his investing framework with Nvidia as a test case that will save you hundreds of future headaches.  We go back to the poker table to poke and prod at the meaning of “priced to perfection” and what to do when one of your stocks is feeling frothy — do you keep betting or do you fold the hand? Krzysztof meanwhile goes to some other kind of casino on the edge of town, where there are no high rollers but only old grizzled hucksters — can there be investing profit made on the fringes? Yes, if you can find reliable sources for who’s who at the table! Luke turns on the boosters and expounds on Orbital Aerospace as a big idea for future investing opportunities: reusable rocketry and low earth orbit is getting sophisticated and essential to the telecommunication industry. Meanwhile back on Earth, Krzysztof talks about his latest read, An Immense World, and the ways we can expand our senses both as human animals and as investors.  It’s another razzle-dazzle kind of show so step right up and push your chips into the pile! Everyone’s a winner at the No Limit 7investing podcast!

7investing CEO Simon Erickson and Marketing Manager JT Street introduce the Market Madness tournament. All month, 7investing will be publishing head-to-head matchups between 16 stocks in order to determine which represents the best current opportunity for investors.  7investing's Twitter account will also post live polls for you to vote on the matchups. And also host Spaces episodes to discuss the stocks with a live audience.  The tournament will run for the first three weeks of March and will support our new 7investing Starter membership. Starter is our lower-priced service, which offers two stock recommendations and Deep Dives for $17 per month. It's a great way to get started on a lifelong investing journey and to get introduced to 7investing's advisors, content, and investing approach. Learn more about 7investing.com/starter-membership. We'll be posting our Spaces episodes to our podcast all month. Welcome to 7investing's Market Madness!

It's relatively easy to argue that some type of exposure to emerging markets belongs in most U.S. investor portfolios. Emerging markets represent about 4.3 billion people, 50% of the global GDP, but only a relatively small percentage of global equities' market cap. Emerging markets are usually defined as a country with a developing economy that shares some, but not all, characteristics with a developed economy. To discuss emerging markets more, 7investing lead advisor Matthew Cochrane welcomed Perth Tolle, the founder of Life and Liberty Indexes, to 7investing's podcast. The two coincidentally talked on February 24, 2023, the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As the conflict began, U.S. investors were forced to quickly confront the geopolitical risks of investing in emerging markets as Russian equities were removed from the emerging market indices at $0. Investors in Tolle's Freedom 100 Emerging Markets ETF (CBOE:FRDM) didn't face this problem as the ETF had no exposure to Russian securities. The ETF is a freedom-weighted equity strategy that uses personal and economic freedom metrics as primary factors in its investment process. This means it doesn't have heavy exposure to countries such as China or Russia, markets that traditionally hold larger allocations in emerging market funds. Tolle and Cochrane discuss that even as China's GDP growth has exploded in recent decades, shareholders in Chinese equities have managed to capture very little of that wealth. With China's government in virtually total control of its economy, it can change laws and regulations on a dime. It will often dictate new rules for businesses as it deems fit. This environment makes it very difficult for shareholders to recognize any profits. Tolle and Cochrane also discuss emerging markets that enjoy economic and personal freedoms, such as Chile, South Korea, and Taiwan. Exposure to Chilean markets, for instance, rarely rises above 1% allocations in most emerging market funds. The Freedom ETF enjoys a double-digit allocation that has tremendously boosted FRDM's returns compared to the emerging market index, contributing to Freedom's relative out-performance. To get our investing podcasts and articles delivered to your Inbox every day, join our 7investing email list at 7investing.com/email.

As a host of macro concerns continue to weigh on the global economy, investors are increasingly reassessing their risk tolerances and looking to contain volatility as much as maximizing returns. With this in mind, 7investing lead advisor Matthew Cochrane welcomed back Value Stock Geek to see how his self-proclaimed Weird Portfolio held up in 2022 amid a worrying economic backdrop. The Weird Portfolio consists of six low-cost ETFs representing five different asset classes and geographic diversity. While each of the asset classes are highly volatile on their own, when combined in a portfolio they have an overall smoothing effect, as each asset class delivers different returns during different environments. In the interview, Value Stock Geek walks Cochrane through the asset classes of the Weird Portfolio and the role each one plays, including U.S. small cap value stocks (20%), small cap international stocks (20%), real estate (10% domestic, 10% international), long-term treasuries (20%), and gold (20%). The Weird Portfolio is just part of Value Stock Geek's overall portfolio, however, with the rest dedicated to individual stocks that he believes are wonderful companies at wonderful prices. Cochrane and VSG discuss their mutually shared positions in Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) and PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL), and why VSG believes both have durable economic moats and trade at attractive valuations. VSG also walks Cochrane through his investment cases for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD). VSG and Cochrane also discuss value traps and how they have each fallen for companies that looked cheap, but which were really declining businesses masked by cheap valuation multiples. To have our investing insights delivered directly to your Inbox, please join our email list at 7investing.com/email.

7investing's Episode 11 of No Limit has lead advisors Luke Hallard and Krzysztof Piekarski sinking their investing fangs into the new ARK Invest Big Ideas of 2023 paper, the dangers of being a futurist investor and the two essential elements to being a good investor— being right and being contrarian.  Luke and Krzys wonder whether they’re being contrarian about Alphabet given their latest kerfuffle with Microsoft. And if you want to know what TV episode is the best Luke’s ever seen, tune in to 7investing’s podcast for all levels of investors, from beginners to the sophisticates and beyond.

Morgan Stanley believes the space economy will be worth more than $1 trillion dollars by 2040. Bank of America Merrill Lynch believes it will reach $2.7 trillion by 2045.   If those estimates are even directionally-correct, outer space will soon become one of the biggest investment opportunities of our lifetime.  And it's more than just a science-fiction dream. The commercialization of space is already well-underway. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently granted SpaceX the right to launch 7,500 of its next-gen satellites, and it's working through a backlog of nearly 40,000 more applications. That would represent a quadrupling of the total number of satellites currently in orbit; as the whole sector is hitting an inflection point.   What's the best way to invest in this trend? Will satellite internet really account for half of the overall space market by 2040? Will we see a renewed "militarization of space", with demand for military intel vaulting defense contractors even higher? Will launch providers appeal to a new wave of commercial customers? And how should investors think of the newly-public "SPAC" companies who raised funding in 2021?   To help us answer those questions, 7investing CEO recently spoke with Procure Asset Management's co-founder Andrew Chanin. Andrew is a favorite guest of our 7investing show, and Procure's ETF with the ticker "UFO" offers pure-play exposure to the space economy.   In the first part of the discussion, Andrew describes the role of private companies in the militarization of space. Elon Musk's SpaceX played an important role in enabling satellite communications for Ukraine during its conflict with Russia. Other satellite operators are similarly assisting in military operations.   One of those companies, Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) was recently acquired at a 129% premium to its equity valuation -- which demonstrates how important military intelligence has become and the potential opportunity it offers to investors. Andrew goes on to discuss the implications of the Chinese spy balloon and how geopolitical tensions are escalating between the US, China, and Taiwan.   In the next segment, Simon and Andrew discuss how the FCC recently approved 7,500 of SpaceX's next-gen satellites for satellite-based internet. Other commercial enterprises are also interested in proving high-speed internet connectivity to enable new technologies -- such as 5G or the Internet of Things. This has led to a frenzy of applications for spectrum rights, as satellite internet will be one of the largest contributors to the future commercial space economy.   The two go on to discuss the role of consolidation, startups, and skilled labor in the space. Simon points out that Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) is investing in infrastructure that would enable an order-of-magnitude increase in its current launch capacity, while Andrew discusses how many companies are actually collaborating to achieve common goals and milestone.  At the conclusion of the conversation, the two discuss additional M&A opportunities.

Jake Taylor is a man that wears many hats. He is the CEO of Farnam Street, the founder of the new Journalytic app, the author of The Rebel Allocator, and the co-host of the Value After Hours podcast. Somehow amid his busy schedule, he recently found time to sit down with 7investing lead advisor Matthew Cochrane to talk about these roles and dive deep into the inner workings of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B). Their conversation begins with Taylor explaining to Cochrane the genesis of the idea for Journalytic, a journaling tool designed specifically for investors. Taylor says that one of the most challenging aspects of investing is that the only thing the individual investor has control over is their process, so he searched for an existing tool that could help him improve his investing process. When Taylor couldn't find anything, he decided to design something they could use in-house at Farnam Street and wield it as an advantage over other investment shops. This was before he decided to open Journalytic to everyone. Cochrane shows Taylor how he used sprawling Word documents for each stock he owned for years before it grew too tedious and cumbersome to continue. Taylor believes Journalytic can help investors organize data and opinions on stocks. By using it, he believes investors can improve their buying and selling processes by journaling their thoughts as they make investment decisions. Recording their thoughts and feelings as they own a company should help investors push back against many of the behavioral biases that have traditionally haunted investors and not let emotions overwhelm them in the heat of the moment. When Taylor wrote The Rebel Allocator, he started by writing a non-fictional thesis on capital allocation. He says it was so dry and dull that he could not envision anyone reading it. Taylor scrapped the non-fictional piece and started from scratch. He takes the same investment lessons he wanted to communicate in the earlier work and weaves them into a fictional story. The story follows a college graduate's journey into young adulthood, as the protagonist meets a fast-food mogul who takes him under his wing and teaches him the secrets to his business success. Meanwhile, the young hero falls in love, gets a promotion at work, and generally matures in his worldview as he learns about life. Taylor and Cochrane end their discussion by discussing Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's conglomerate that owns everything from Dairy Queen and GEICO Insurance to a significant stake in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Taylor discusses the advantages of holding a Berkshire position, including the ethos with which Buffett has run the business. Taylor believes the company's culture, including its decentralized structure, will long outlast Buffett's and Charlie Munger's tenure. Taylor believes Buffett made one investment that encapsulates some of his best teachings. Berkshire acquired See's Candies for $25 million in 1972. Before acquiring See's, Buffett made "cigar butt" type investments, buying companies well below their book value. At this point, See's Candies has paid back Berkshire Hathaway about $2 billion, illustrating how time is on your side when buying great businesses. To subscribe to our free 7investing newsletter and get daily insights like these, please visit 7investing.com/email

Episode 10 of No Limit has Krzysztof pontificating on his recent trip to Las Vegas and the difference between an investing and gambling mindset.    Luke offers insight into the company Wise and the difficulties and solutions of getting paid across international borders. We critique the merits of investing in what you know, that old tried-and true-is Peter Lynch framework.    There’s also an appearance by Zen Master Hakuin and his powerful method of asking “Is that so?” We announce Peter Zeihan’s new book about the end of Globalization as an insightful place to see where the world is heading and encourage a 7investing group read.    Of course Luke can’t help getting a little poker theory into the conversation and triumphantly announces his hourly rate at the tables— any guesses? Plus, we find more AI toy suggestions for you to explore.    If you’re investing-curious or just getting started on the journey, we’re here to help you learn the basics, so give us a listen and send us your inquires via our discord channel or on twitter @7flyingplatypus and @7lukehallard—we aim to include our members’ questions and challenges in each episode whenever possible, so step right up and don’t be shy, because investing is a community sport!

There are few industries more important to the world than semiconductors. $600 billion worth of chips are sold across the globe each year that go into everything -- from permanent-pressing washing machines to application-crunching datacenters to self-aware automobiles. The world's thirst for computing is continually increasing and the chip industry is shifting into a higher gear to keep up. Yet it's not just market demand that heavy influences this industry's key players. Significant geopolitical implications are present as well, with developed economies needed cutting-edge chips as a crucial part of their national security. Many countries are scrambling to find ways to guarantee domestic chip supply, to avoid a potentially debilitating supply disruption. What does all of this mean for investors? Are there companies who have efficiently leveraged their fixed costs to achieve massive economies of scale? Are there newcomers or less-well-known companies who are necessary to the process and are opportunities to investors? And is the gravitational pull of national interests serving as an advantage to certain companies and as a huge headwind to others? To answer those questions, 7investing hosted a special "Semiconductor Roundtable" this month. 7investing lead advisors Simon Erickson and Krzysztof Piekarski were joined by external guests Jose Najarro and Nick Rossolillo. In the roundtable discussion, each panelist presented a key part or factor of the semiconductor industry. They also introduced a few of the important companies within it. First, Jose discussed the chip designers. He described how consumer-facing applications like self-driving automobiles or OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot are powered by cloud datacenters, which use super-efficient chips designed by companies like NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) and AMD (Nasdaq: AMD). The computing horsepower necessary to run artificial intelligence algorithms is increasing quickly, meaning there's a skyrocketing demand for the world's most advanced chip designers. Nick then discussed the importance of validation software in the design process, to ensure new chips will pass specification and tests to perform as expected. One leader in providing electronic design automation software is Synopsys(Nasdaq: SNPS), whose subscription licensing business model has created a high-margin recurring revenue stream for investors. Krzysztof discussed the semiconductor manufacturing segment, citing Chris Miller's Chip War book as a key influence to his thinking. He described the importance of cutting-edge chips to national security interests and how two companies -- ASML (Nasdaq: ASML) and Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) -- are necessary for the developed world to continue to function. Fabrication facilities cost tens of billions of dollars to build, giving the companies in this capital-intensive segment high barriers-to-entry against potential competitors. Finally, Simon used geopolitical tensions as a frame for the investing thesis in Intel (Nasdaq: INTC). Intel has been one of the most important semiconductors of the past half-century, who pioneered the concept of "Moore's Law" that led to an exponential rise in the world's computing power. Intel has a boatload of problems, yet faces a unique opportunity of providing America with domestic chip supply. Selling cheaply at just 9x earnings, Intel could be an intriguing opportunity. At the conclusion, each of the panelists voted on which of the six stocks mentioned they believed was the best opportunity for investors today. We hope you enjoyed our 7investing Semiconductor Roundtable! To get daily insights like this delivered directly to your Inbox, please join our 7investing email list at 7investing.com/email.

In this exclusive podcast, 7investing CEO Simon Erickson speaks with hhhypergrowth founder muji about several of the new technologies and investment opportunities that are arising in cloud computing. Muji begins by describing the newest developments at Amazon's most recent "re:Invent" cloud computing conference. The cloud king continues to roll out new products and features for AWS, though they are often confusing to customers and even its own sales team. While Amazon itself coined the term "serverless" to refer to on-demand service and usage-based pricing, there is contention on whether its newest products truly adhere to this term. The two also discussed the potential implications of OpenAI's recent ChatGPT open-source conversational (and controversial!) chatbot. Muji believes the true opportunity for AI in is writing and sharing code, which could be useful for Microsoft's GitHub or its competitor GitLab. Usage-based software subscription licenses are quickly replacing per-user or per-device models within tech-heavy fields like cybersecurity or IT operations, though they're also expanding into ad-supported media for companies such as Netflix. This allows software platforms to better monetize their power users, who generally rack up more hours of viewership or induce higher costs every month. Silicon Valley is going through a round of layoffs, meaning there are fewer technology and IT workers today than there were a few months ago. This could impact software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies who price their products on a per-seat basis, such as GitLab, Zoom, or CrowdStrike. Speaking of CrowdStrike, Simon and muji compared and contrasted the company to its up-and-coming competitor SentinelOne. Muji believes CrowdStrike recently hiring two of SentinelOne's executives is a pretty big deal, though SentinelOne remains a very compelling option for small and medium businesses. The two went on to discuss the go-to-market strategies of companies, and how it is often difficult to pivot in their sales approach. Companies like Okta often sold to larger enterprise accounts and are now trying to sell to smaller development teams, while companies like Twilio who typically sold to developers building apps are now looking to move upmarket and land larger deals. The transition in software sales is rarely easy. In the final segment of the conversation, muji discusses three other publicly-traded companies he is a fan of: Datadog, Bill, and Zscaler. To see the full conversation and a complete transcript, please visit 7investing.com/podcast.

With Luke and Krzysztof on the same side of the Atlantic, the Force Without Limit is even more palpable! There’s lots of self-reflection from Luke about lessons learned in another year around the sun and why you should move to Tahoe, ride motorcycles, use fancy AI camera systems to make you look like a snowboarding bad-ass and remember what money is really for. Krzysztof pontificates about what the value of an education needs to be in the time of chatGPT and how both educators and investors need to turn toward the tool with a mind of creativity and potential rather than an enemy to be outwitted. We take the scenic road in answering a member’s question about Upstart and how to think about selling and the ever-present tension between hope and reality. If that’s not enough, confirmation bias tendencies are also discussed, which means we end up at a poker table with Daniel Negreanu (in theory)! What a time to be an investor! Welcome to 7investing. We are here to empower you to invest in your future! We publish our 7 best ideas in the stock market to our subscribers for just $49 per month or $399 per year. Start your journey toward's financial independence: https://www.7investing.com/subscribe Stop by our website to level-up your investing education: https://www.7investing.com Join the 7investing Community Forum: https://discord.gg/6YvazDf9sw Follow us: ► https://www.facebook.com/7investing ► https://twitter.com/7investing ► https://instagram.com/7investing

Investing in natural resources and commodities is a tricky business. Investors in these sectors must look at individual companies and the macro variables that go into intrinsic values, such as future precious metals and energy prices. These prices are known to go through volatile cycles, the timing of which can be hard to get right. Walking us through this process is Will Thomson, the founder and managing partner of Massif Capital. Thomson's fascinating journey took him from Afghanistan to Lloyd's of London before founding Massif Capital. The Massif Capital Real Asset Strategy is a global long/short equity strategy built around bottom-up stock picking.  The firm is focused on creating a portfolio of businesses within the Energy, Basic Materials, and Industrial sectors that balance the environmental and economic realities of achieving a carbon-neutral economy. Before founding Massif Capital, Thomson served as a strategic and economic advisor to NATO in Afghanistan. Cochrane and Thomson begin their conversation by looking at factors that might determine when emerging economies are ready for investment and when they're not. Specifically, Thomson details the elements that make Afghanistan a challenging place for profitable investments at this time. Thomson describes Massif's strategy to Cochrane as one that is not focused on future commodities prices, a risky proposition at best, but one that instead drills down to specific catalysts for individual companies. For instance, if a copper mining company is trading at a steep discount to its net asset value (NAV), Massif Capital will take a closer look to explore its long-term prospects and how soon it can come to realize its true value. When inputting the future prices of copper into the equation, Thomson looks at its historical prices, including its 10-year lows, highs, and averages, to determine a realistic idea of how copper prices can react to a range of conditions. Thomson also shares his unique perspective on ESG investing. To promote more meaningful change, Thomson believes investors should focus more on companies transitioning to a smaller carbon footprint than companies that will inherently enjoy such advantages because of their business model. Thomson also looks for opportunities in green energy from political catalysts. When the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law in August 2022, it included almost $400 billion in energy- and climate-related initiatives, making it one of the most significant environment-focused bills the U.S. Congress has ever passed. Thomson said while several companies will experience rapid growth from this sudden surge in revenue from the measures in this bill, only a few will be able to do so profitably. Thomson believes Siemens Energy ADR (OTC:SMNEY) is one such company that will benefit from the bill's passage. Siemens Energy is an engineering technology company that manufactures a wide range of products needed by electric utilities, including wind and steam turbines, natural gas generators, grid technology applications, and hydrogen energy solutions. This makes it a one-stop shop for energy companies with various needs across different ways of generating and distributing power. Centaurus Metals Ltd (OTC:CTTZF) is another company Thomson highlights as a compelling opportunity. Centaurus Metals is an Australian-listed mining company focused on developing a nickel sulfide project in Brazil. Geological tests indicate the project might ultimately produce 20,000 tons of Class 1 nickel annually, making it one of the world's largest, high-grade nickel mines. This is important because while lower-classed nickel can be used in applications such as stainless steel, only Class 1 nickel can be used for batteries. As electric vehicle usage expands, batteries may account for up to 35% of nickel demand by 2030 while only accounting for about 10% of nickel demand today.

The first No Limit Episode of 2023 is full of the goods Santa forgot to bring you! There are, sadly, lumps of coal as we discuss the Worst of 2023, including our worst investing habits, ideas and investments, not to mention Luke’s winner in the “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again” category. Hint: his gourmet palate is a work in progress.  There are also lots of goodies in the Best of 2023 bag, including Luke’s decision to watch the best TV show of all-time (finally!), YCharts, and our high esteem for the 7investing community, chatGPT shenanigans, a revolutionary CRISPR cancer cure, and @StockMarketNert.  Speaking of Nerds, Krzysztof of course had to go on and on about his Top 5 books of the year while Luke spoke to the cool kids about his great adventure at the Glastonbury Music Festival paying homage to some friendly rock n’ roll chaps. Plus New Year’s non-Resolutions galore and a jolly good time on this expansive year-end review episode. Happy 2023 to all! Welcome to 7investing. We are here to empower you to invest in your future! We publish our 7 best ideas in the stock market to our subscribers for just $49 per month or $399 per year. Start your journey toward's financial independence: https://www.7investing.com/subscribe Stop by our website to level-up your investing education: https://www.7investing.com Join the 7investing Community Forum: https://discord.gg/6YvazDf9sw Follow us: ► https://www.facebook.com/7investing ► https://twitter.com/7investing ► https://instagram.com/7investing

Happy New Year! While 2022 was a year that most investors would like to forget, 2023 is a fresh new opportunity to move onward and upward. We always love to use the new year to make a fresh round of reckless investing predictions. Last January, our 2022 prognostications included Peloton getting acquired, Facebook entering the health care space, and the SEC finally banning Payment for Order Flow. We didn't bat 1.000 last year (and we expect we never will), but it isn't keeping us from coming back for more! This year, listen to hear why... Luke Hallard believes Nextdoor (NYSE: KIND) could soon be acquired by a larger social media platform Matt Cochrane believes it will be a record year for small and mid cap software companies being acquired Anirban Mahanti believes Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) will make a significant investment into Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Krzysztof Piekarski expects AI will drive the combined market cap of Tesla and NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) to surpass that of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Dana Abramovitz believes digital health apps will see even more consolidation Simon Erickson believes Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF) will be acquired by Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Of course, all of our investing expectations aren't quite so reckless. Our 7investing team recently issued a free report titled "Best Stocks to Buy in 2023." In it, we introduce the seven companies that we believe are the stock market's best long-term opportunities right now. To download your free copy of our Best Stocks to Buy in 2023, please click here or visit 7investing.com/2023. Welcome to 7investing. We are here to empower you to invest in your future! We publish our 7 best ideas in the stock market to our subscribers for just $49 per month or $399 per year. Start your journey toward's financial independence: https://www.7investing.com/subscribe Stop by our website to level-up your investing education: https://www.7investing.com Join the 7investing Community Forum: https://discord.gg/6YvazDf9sw Follow us: ► https://www.facebook.com/7investing ► https://twitter.com/7investing ► https://instagram.com/7investing