James Altucher

From James Altucher, editor, The Altucher Report: I want to tell you a story about fear.

In 2009, the World Health Organization issued a pandemic alert on swine flu. I don’t want to discount the importance of this. Over 200,000 people died.

This is a far cry from the 50 million who died in the 1918 flu pandemic, but every life is important.

That’s not why I’m telling this story.

I did a video the day of the alert. How come? Because a stock with the symbol “HOGS” fell 20% in one day. HOGS was (or is, who cares?) China’s biggest pork packager.

Guess what? (I say that a lot, but only because the gap between news and reality gets funnier and funnier): You can’t get swine flu by eating pork products.

There was no reason for this company to lose 20% of its value in ONE DAY. It went back up almost immediately.

I’m not judging fear as good or bad. And, by the way, I’m not recommending people go out and buy the market at this fearful time.

The lesson to be learned from all this is:

  1. Don’t panic.
  2. Begin to look for opportunities when people are behaving irrationally.

The market’s going to crash much worse than this at some point. If you have an arsenal of good stocks—and opportunities that are well researched—you won’t waste your time looking at the day-to-day movement of stock prices.

That’s the beauty of good research. That’s why I’ve started to think about stocks again. Because opportunities like this are starting to happen.

Not short-term HOGS-style trades (although those will always be there, and I’ll try to keep people informed of them)… But long-term trades, based on ever-increasing American innovation… which can’t be stopped.

Reeves’ Note: On Sunday, James offered PBRG subscribers exclusive first access to his latest investment service. In it, he shows you “how to invest like a remora.” It’s the method he used in his hedge fund days… a unique way to book triple-digit gains through the world’s safest companies. Today’s your last chance to get in on his special offer. Click here to learn more.