About The Substantial Investor

INFORMATION is the most important element in building a successful investment portfolio.

• Where do you allocate assets?
• When is the best time to do so?
• How?

The Substantial Investor newsletter provides ideas to address questions such as these. It is a medium free of the conflicts of interest that are typically present in the investment industry.

Investment industry conflicts of interest

Among the numerous conflicts of interest in the investment industry, these two affect most investors:

• In-house product — When you think about it, Wall Street is not really in the investor results business, but rather in the manufacturing business. They manufacture products to be sold by wealth managers, and regardless of investment performance or fit, they generate large fees. With an investment universe that contains tens of thousands of choices, it's hard to believe that the in-house product of a single firm represents the best available.
• The objectivity illusion — Some investment firms are in the distribution business. They ink agreements to market the product of third parties, thus giving the illusion of being objective advisors. But here still, the choices are limited. And how can they truly be advisors if they accept commission or distribution fees from third parties to sell their product?

Unless you have retained a fee-only advisor, these conflicted interests can be present even when dealing with the most prestigious investment firms, private banks, and trust banks. Indeed, there are some competent professionals and fine firms, but we cannot forget that the business model is flawed.

How you can benefit from The Substantial Investor

Rather than being in the manufacturing or distribution business, I have chosen to be in the intellectual property business. I had a vision to develop a resource to help investors discover opportunities, avoid trap doors, and reduce investment expenses. To be clear, I am not an investment advisor, and The Substantial Investor is not personal investment advice. It is a delivery system that provides the intellectual property of a private investor who allocates personal capital to ideas presented in this newsletter.

The attributes of the newsletter business model are two-fold: (a) it removes the bias that can be motivated by commissions or fees, and (b) regardless of the magnitude of your assets, membership is a flat subscription fee.

The Substantial Investor has two primary goals:

• Consistently Compound Capital — To provide you with a source of compelling investment ideas and a blueprint to help construct a portfolio that can perform in any market environment.
• Simplify Complex Investments & Strategies — To make investments outside the mainstream understandable. Alternative investments and strategies are too important to the well-constructed portfolio to be misunderstood or neglected. I offer insights, both pro and con, from the unbiased perspective of a private investor.

To maintain your loyalty, we must perform. We don't have the luxury of distracting you with tickets to the US Open or an invitation to the country club. The Substantial Investor focuses strictly on performance and education.

About Richard Masino

Richard Masino is president of Private Investor Research, LLC, and editor of The Substantial Investor. He is a private investor who manages a family long/short investment portfolio that holds numerous positions across a variety of asset classes.

Before starting Private Investor Research, Mr. Masino co-founded a telecommunications company that grew to 500,000 customers. He sold 100 percent of his interests in the company in 1998.

He holds an MBA in Finance from St. John's University.

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