Ask Doc More than 15 years ago, while I was researching genetic eye diseases at Duke, I met a publisher named Porter Stansberry.
He convinced me to share with his readers what I had learned during my careers in finance and medicine. Our initial conversations turned into a much bigger idea...
We believed that together we could help people lead better lives if we could teach them some key concepts about health and wealth... concepts they likely wouldn't hear about from their stockbroker or doctor.
The mainstream press is virtually forbidden from mentioning many of these concepts.
Huge corporate interests and corrupt government institutions would rather people didn't know about them. After all, the more ignorant the people are, the better for many government and corporate interests. This keeps people dependent... It keeps the "Nanny State" alive.
Porter and I wanted to take on the Nanny State. So, in 2010, we began publishing a service called Retirement Trader.
The goal of the service was simple: Teach regular folks how to safely create income in retirement by using the same investment techniques of Wall Street banks and traders.
While some people think of these techniques as "advanced" or "complicated," they're actually easy to learn and use. And they can drastically improve your investment results.
I recently went to New York to prove this and met with a newly retired police chief with over 36 years on the force. (His BS-meter is as finely tuned as a Swiss watch!)
He's not a Stansberry Research subscriber. In fact, he's 66 years old, and has never directly touched the stock market. I walked him through a trade and explained the details of what makes my method so different – and much less risky – from what most people do with their own money.
Over the years, I've shown stay-at-home moms, doctors, nurses, college professors, co-workers, engineers, retirees – even my own mother how to do this.
You don't need any sort of special experience or education for these techniques. In just a few minutes, you can learn how to instantly collect hundreds of dollars at a time – using publicly-traded companies – in a way that's safe enough for a retirement account.
And that's why I was excited to sit down and teach my strategy to a retired police chief and show him how to increase his income. As he said, "After decades of dealing with criminals, I'm as skeptical as they come... [But] I learned how to make $1,000 in 15 minutes."
You can watch it all right here.
Q: I am 77 years old and have already had shingles in my face when I was in my 60s. Is it possible for me to contact shingles again or am I somehow resistant to the disease? – J.C.
A: Shingles is a "gift" that keeps on giving...
People tend to think that if you've had shingles once, you can't get it again. But it turns out that there's about a 6% chance of re-occurrence.
And your risk increases over time. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop shingles. Also, if you have a compromised immune system (for instance, if you have rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune diseases), you're more at risk for shingles.
For anyone who missed our issue on shingles and why I feel it's important to get the vaccine, you can read it here. And you can find our special Q&A issue on shingles here.
Q: Could you tell me the title of that e-mail or provide another link to it? It was about harmful blue light and such from computers I think. – N.C.
A: We've written quite a lot about the dangers of blue light, including how it ruins sleep and hurts your eyes.
You can read more about blue light, and how to keep yourself safe from it, in any of the essays below...
These Creepy Creatures Signal Our Digital Doom
Turn Off Your Phone to Save Your Eyesight
The Killer in Your Bedroom
Q: My wife has [rheumatoid arthritis] and it seem[s] every drug prescribed has potentially horrendous side effects. Are there any natural remedies for this autoimmune disease? – D.A.
A: There have been some great studies on the benefits of rest, exercise, and physical as well as occupational therapy for folks with rheumatoid arthritis ("RA"). However, most of these are not in place of medications. They instead help reduce the severity of the side effects of RA medications.
Adding things like tai chi and an aspirin regimen can help, but you should always talk to your doctor before starting or stopping any type of treatment. You want to form a treatment plan with your doctor to find the best options for you (or in this case, your wife). Ask about treating flare-ups with things like exercise, stretching, aspirin, and heat therapy. But more than that, ask the doctor about the medications and how you can work together to lower the risk of side effects.
If you'd like to read more about these options, we'd suggest starting with UpToDate. This is the portal doctors use to see the latest treatment recommendations for different conditions. You can't see the full article without a subscription, but you can see all of the medical papers related to RA in the references section.
What We're Reading...
- Did you miss it? Be patient... and you'll get paid.
- Something different: The sun keeps getting stranger.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
December 6, 2019