For much of recent history in the United States, the logistics of financial security were reasonably straightforward. Individuals went to work for the duration of their high-earning years and paid into pension funds that were meant to provide for their needs after retirement. Unfortunately, given the lackluster returns of pension funds over the last four decades, the financial futures of millions of people have been jeopardized in a way that was unthinkable only a generation or two ago.
These days, for many Americans, the key to ensuring their financial future lies in putting their hard-earned money to work through investments, such as mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or other securities. These investors are called ‘retail investors,’ and they are essentially ordinary folks doing their best to navigate the exceptionally complex landscape of the modern-day financial markets.
While some retail investors attempt to do this themselves to varying degrees of success, most rely on the services of industry professionals. However, the sad truth of the matter is that the structure of today’s financial services industry fails to produce any meaningful support and research to retail investors, and as such, the information available to guide them in crafting their investment strategies is woefully inadequate. And the problem is not simply that this information isn’t made available, it’s also that the vast majority of retail investors aren’t made aware that it even exists.
In the past, the government has intervened in an effort to mitigate the situation. The Revenue Act of 1978, which created 401k defined contribution plans, was an attempt to augment the late-life incomes of those who were falling victim to declining pension returns, however, it failed retirees in one incredibly important way—it gave them the responsibility to grow their savings without providing an appropriate education or infrastructure to create and execute a successful investment strategy.
Further, a complete lack of proper financial education in American schools and universities leaves ordinary people in the dark about the true mechanics of the global financial markets. This lack of readily accessible public instruction on a subject so crucial to the long-term well-being of so many people puts retail investors at a distinct disadvantage, generally leaving them at the mercy of large asset management firms that charge fees for their services.
Due to the confluence of all these factors, the only market research and education usually available to most Americans is a glimpse of the traditional asset allocation and bottom-up strategies presented on the websites of top pension fund managers. But these strategies have demonstrably failed to even keep up with inflation. Indeed, financial markets remain a mystery to most, and virtually all retail investors are left with little recourse other than to take financial service industry professionals at their word, without a means of checking their recommendations or independently verifying their claims.
Although some retail investors cross-check the advice they’re given with financial journalists, an overwhelming number of these journalists are employed by large, multinational mega-corporations, and dispense their recommendations in line with their employers’ interests rather than the interests of average retail investors. The result of this dynamic often means that lower-income and middle-income retail investors are herded by the mass media to buy securities during high periods and sell securities during low periods—a strategy that will erode their savings and actively harm their financial future.
Wealthier retail investors fare a little better, but not much. Typically, they’re driven to keep their assets with the top-bracket wealth management banks. These banks produce mediocre research that helps them to sell bank-packaged investment products, many of which hide exorbitant fees. It is an unfortunate fact that high-quality market research is typically available only to the elite, top-tier investors, such as multibillionaires and perhaps a handful of their employees, because the cost of such research is usually unaffordable to all but the wealthiest retail investors; the 0.0001 percent.
But in a world rife with uncertainty, retail investors of all income levels desperately need to guard themselves against potential financial disaster from the fluctuating markets. The most effective way to do this is by focusing on self-education and finding high-quality market research products to aid themselves in decision-making pertaining to their savings.
Brickell Analytics, managed by Isaac Gilinski, publishes a newsletter that is a perfect example of a must-have for today’s retail investors. It’s an invaluable educational resource produced by a firm that develops an ever-evolving statistical market model based on behavioristic finance. This model uses past investor psychological behavior to predict the future movements of the markets, specifically noting trends of fear and greed, which have been proven to be reliable financial markers throughout history. Since its inception 12 years ago, the model’s track record has meaningfully outperformed the global markets. The concise Brickell Analytics newsletter provides clients with an up-to-date view of the present and future state of the market cycle, as well as which investments are likely to produce superior returns.
Anyone curious to learn more about the newsletter, the statistical market model, or Brickell Analytics itself is invited to visit the company’s official website.
About Isaac Gilinski:
Isaac Gilinski is the Head of Research for Brickell Analytics, as well as the company’s founder. Created in 2011, Brickell Analytics is a global macro research service based on contrarian analysis. Widely regarded as a leader in the arena of financial analysis, the company’s thorough and atypical research is used by hedge fund managers, investors, family offices, mutual funds, registered reps, and registered investment advisers alike in order to gain a measurable advantage in navigating the global markets. Additionally, between the years 2012 and 2015, Isaac Gilinski served as an independent researcher reporting to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a $30 billion macro hedge fund.
Raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Isaac Gilinski comes from a family of highly successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. Throughout his childhood in Colombia, the country suffered from a prolonged, major banking crisis which ultimately led to the privatization of Banco de Colombia, among other severe economic measures. In 1993, at the age of 15, due to increasingly hazardous conditions such as high-profile kidnappings organized by guerrilla groups, Isaac left the country to attend Choate Rosemary Hall, an elite boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut in the United States.
Upon graduating from Choate, Isaac enrolled in Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in the year 2000, where he eventually earned a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration (BSBA) in Finance and International Business with a minor in German. Isaac then went on to attend the University of Miami, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2004 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree specializing in Investments and Corporate Finance. To this day, Isaac Gilinski continues to be a life-long learner. He is fluent in Spanish, German, and Italian.
Isaac began his career as one of the youngest investment professionals at the global financial services firm Lehman Brothers. In 2001, he was promoted to develop the Latin American Sales arm for Global Capital Management, which was a new asset management group formed under the umbrella of Lehman Brothers. Less than one year later, Isaac founded the Brickell Family Office, a multi-family firm operating as a Fund-of-Hedge-Funds, successfully leading the firm for more than a decade. Isaac then shifted his focus, launching and leading Brickell Analytics.
Interesting Related Article: “What Are the Most Important Operational Things You Have to Care About in a Retail Store?“