About

I have been a fulltime professional speculator since 1998 and the owner of a subscription-based web site about the financial markets since 2000. The web site is called “The Speculative Investor”, or “TSI” for short.

In an average week, TSI subscribers receive two reports: a Weekly Market Update on Sunday and an Interim Update on Thursday morning (NYT). The Weekly Update typically has 3500-5000 words and 15-20 charts, while the average Interim Update is about half that size. As well as containing information about the gold, currency, stock, bond and commodity markets, these reports regularly include discussions about macro-economics. The economics-related discussions are from an “Austrian” perspective, because the Austrian School is the only school of economics that is based on correct premises, is consistently logical and explains how the human world really works.

If something unexpectedly dramatic happens in the markets between the regular TSI reports, I usually will email a brief update to subscribers. Additionally, email alerts are sent when immediate action is warranted with an existing or new trading position.

TSI subscribers also get access to a list of stock selection ideas. The TSI stock selections have provided very good long-term returns, but due to the highly speculative nature of the stocks I tend to focus on at TSI the year-to-year returns have been ‘lumpy’. For example, since 2000 my own equity portfolio, which contains many of the stocks covered at TSI, has had six triple-digit years (years when the portfolio was up by at least 100%, without using any debt-based leverage and maintaining a cash reserve of at least 20%) and two years of 50%+ losses. The year-to-year ‘lumpiness’ of the performance that goes hand-in-hand with my focus on relatively risky (by traditional standards) equities will make the TSI stock selections unsuitable for some people, although the macro/top-down analyses included in the TSI commentaries still could be useful to conservative investors looking for guidance about financial-market trends.

In addition to the stock selections that are included in the TSI Stocks List and updated via the weekly TSI commentaries, I regularly mention ETF and options trading ideas that my readers, if interested, can follow-up on.

The price of a TSI subscription is US$240/year or US$25/month.

The TSI Blog was created in 2014, mostly for fun, but also to promote the TSI subscription service and to be a venue for me to make public comments that for one reason or another aren’t suited to the subscription service.

Steven Saville