Ask Doc Doc's note: I've joined forces with my friend Joel Litman for the first time ever to get an alarming story out...
Joel predicted the 2008 financial crisis and the demise of more than 40 different companies since 2020. And now, he's saying a wall of debt could crash hundreds of public companies in the coming weeks.
I know that may seem alarming. So we're sharing all the facts you won't find in the mainstream media and explaining what to do with your money right now.
You can find all the details right here.
But in today's issue, I have something special to share with Health & Wealth Bulletin readers... Joel and I also sat down to film a chat where we give a small peek behind the curtain of our history together, explain why Joel is sharing his incredible research with folks around the world, and discuss the reason he can't go to China.
You can read an excerpt from our interview (edited for clarity) below...
Doc Eifrig: Folks, welcome. I wanted to introduce you to – well, now he has become a friend of mine, Joel Litman, and tell the story, really, about how we met and why we're here today. We just figured out it was probably almost 16 years ago at the New York Society of Security Analysts in New York City...
Joel Litman: The CFA Society of New York. They've renamed it since then.
Doc: They've renamed it the CFA Society. Back then it was...
Joel: The big New York investment-trade association.
Doc: Yes, where the average age and wealth in this room is gigantic and really high. And Joel gave a presentation that I think people didn't believe and were skeptical about. I came up immediately. I was so impressed with what you were doing. I came up to you, and I asked, "Hey, would you manage my money?" And you categorically said no. I've since learned some stuff. But tell us about – tell my subscribers, tell folks at Stansberry Research what was that talk on and why do you think people ignored it then.
Joel: The presentation was called "Cross Capital Analysis," and what we were saying was, in Wall Street, as you know, the equity people sit in one group, the credit people sit in another group, [and] they never talk to each other. So you can have someone covering Sprint's debt, and you have another person covering Sprint's stock, and they'll never talk to each other. And the Sprint debt guy could say this company could go bankrupt, and the equity guy's saying, "Oh, there's 400% upside on this stock," like they never heard each other or that they even work in the same firm.
And so we tried to put together this unique group where we had credit and equity people in the same audience to try to get the mix, to say what you find is there are some really interesting things that happen. And the measures I showed, I said credit – this is June 18, 2008, that's the first time we met. I don't remember meeting that day. You remember meeting me, but I honestly don't remember.
Doc: I wanted you to manage my money.
But one of the things, when you came to join us [at Stansberry Research], I remember this... We were in the middle of negotiating your contract, and I happened to be in New York City.
What struck me was I'm a lover of strategic thinking and I read books about it. I imagine myself being a strategic consultant at some point before I die, and you mentioned – I mean, I can't believe this – you mentioned at lunch that you had written a book on strategy.
And I get goosebumps now thinking about that because literally at that moment, back in Baltimore on the front seat of my car was your book Driven.
And [by my] bedside was the book Driven. I mean, like, I literally had to have it with me almost all the time. And I had read it before, but I was really intrigued by it. So here I was [like], "OK, this is kismet that we're coming together."
So now, let's take it to today, where you've launched a group, you have a bond letter, you've got a newsletter service, advisories. Tell people, what is it about what's driving you to share this stuff with people? Because I think that's something that I figured out the first time I met you, the second time, the third time when we both spoke in China. You have the same love, I think, of the common man and folk and want to help, so I want you to tell me what drives you.
Joel: In 2009, the Wall Street Journal at the bottom of the market said the market was going to fall another 50%. And all our tools were saying, "Don't short the market. This isn't the time to start buying." How many people listened? And I went one by one, fund by fund. They're like, "Oh, I don't know. It's really risky. Things are really bad. It's financial Armageddon." Whatever else. And it was the perfect time to buy.
I mean, that was the best buying opportunity in probably forever. And so I think the partnership was that I had this institutional base, which is one-off, meeting clients and what have you. But I didn't have distribution or whatever, and Stansberry was like, "You know, we have readers that would pay attention to your work, that would actually act on it, that will value it because they have an independent mind, independent thinking. They want non-Wall Street independent research."
And that got me so attracted to it, and that's what has happened now. Because now, today, I'm reaching people that I don't meet. I don't see them – like the old-school traditional research. But we get people writing in and saying, "Hey, we used your ideas, it has worked." And so it has been a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to be with you at Stansberry. Really, Doc. I mean, fantastic, fantastic.
Doc: What do you want to share with subscribers and readers? Are you trying to help them with their accumulation of wealth? Or are you – is this a – tell me more about what's driving you to do this.
Joel: What good is our research if it doesn't get used, if it doesn't get executed on? And so if we know the right things about the market timing and we know when we're more likely in a bull market like 2009 or if we knew at the bottom of 2020, in the pandemic, we were telling everyone please buy the market.
It was March – you can look it up on my LinkedIn. I was even publishing because no one was paying attention anyway. So I was like, "Hey, everybody, here's a free idea." But the stock market in March 2020, April 2020... We published in Forbes in June 2020 saying [to], you know, buy the stock market. If people don't act and benefit from the research, what good is my research?
So I want people to value it and to see it is quality work and you will make more money than following other – certainly than following any Wall Street recommendation. Those are still horrible. If anything, I'm still anti-Wall Street. This could be a great forum for showing why Wall Street is not a great place to get stock advice or investment advice. And I think [that's] what we're doing. So the more it impacts people's lives and they see it, the happier I am, of course.
Doc: You've been so outspoken about how China is falling apart that I don't think you can fly into China now, right? I think they would arrest you...
Joel: I'm specifically not. I've been told by both friends and colleagues at the FBI and friends and colleagues in the [U.S.] Department of Defense, and specifically the Pentagon, they said, "You can't even transit through Hong Kong anymore." And even just a few weeks ago – now, this has been for years they've been telling me you can't go through. They just said it's just not worth the risk, and now there is a new law – so now it's not [to] just sort of be careful. There's an official law in China that has been passed just two weeks ago which specifically says...
Doc: Joel Litman can't go through – no.
Joel: Almost. It says if you speak the truth about the Chinese economy and it's bad, it is a security interest of the CCP, of the Chinese Communist Party, and you will go to jail for that. And so there is no question I'm violating the law every day.
Doc: Their law. Chinese law.
Joel: Their law, right, because I'm telling the truth.
Doc: The law of a dictator.
Joel: The Chinese economy is in an absolute collapse. At the Stansberry Research Conference, someone asked me, "But China's stock market has fallen so much. Shouldn't I put some allocation into it?" And I'm like, "Well, what if it falls another 50%? Then is it a good idea?" So we've said in our publications, there's a reason we have so many U.S. stock picks. It's because the underlying U.S. economy is still so powerful. And we have zero Chinese stock picks because the entire market is going to collapse another 50% from where it is right now... which will put me in jail if I go to China now because I will be violating the Communist Party's interests.
Doc: I'm sitting here with a Chinese criminal. All right, folks. Anyway, I just wanted you to meet Joel. Namaste, my friend.
Joel: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, brother. Thanks.
To see the full, unedited conversation, click here.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
February 16, 2024
P.S. Our offices are closed for Presidents Day next Monday. Expect your next Health & Wealth Bulletin issue on Tuesday, February 20.