The latest

  • Thank you for reading about fintech

    After writing the book “Muscular Portfolios” in 2018, I revealed the secrets of financial technology in 15 MarketWatch columns, 75 StockCharts columns, several AskWoody columns, and 57 issues of the Muscular Portfolios Newsletter. I finally ran out of new things to say. Newsletter #57 was the final issue. Visit the links here to learn what Wall Street isn’t telling you. This website will continue. A bulletin about the end of the newsletter will go out to all subscribers in April 2024. Paid subscribers will receive a separate bulletin and are entitled to refunds for all undelivered issues. Thanks for your interest! —Brian Livingston

  • What can this site do for you?

    Muscular Portfolios are here to enable individual investors to enjoy great market returns with no fear of crashes. This is the first website that gives away Wall Street’s secret buy-and-sell signals — absolutely free. See the three model portfolios in the menu at right and read the FAQ page.

  • The 60/40 portfolio is debunked

    Individual investors have been told for decades, “You should allocate your life savings 60% to stocks and 40% to bonds.” Pundits have repeatedly claimed that a rather large allocation of 40% to bond funds would cushion investors against losses during bear markets in stocks. If that actually worked, it would be great. But it doesn’t. See Newsletter #57.

  • The S&P 500 has lost 9.9% since 2022

    Muscular Portfolios have given investors a much smoother ride than the S&P 500’s bear-market collapse in 2022–2023. (The index subjected investors to a maximum drawdown of 25% last autumn.)  JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic — Institutional Investor’s No. 1-rated equity strategist for 10 years in a row — is predicting that the S&P 500 is likely to fall another 20%. See Newsletter #56.

  • Even a 7-year-old beats the market

    It’s always been said that Muscular Portfolios provide better-than-market returns without the agony of the S&P 500’s periodic crashes. Now it turns out that the formulas are so easy that even a 7-year-old girl was able to start managing — by herself — the strategy known as the Papa Bear. See Newsletter #55.

  • How to avoid a flash crash

    A flash crash is a large, sudden drop in the price of an equity index. Despite the unlikely event that such a collapse will affect one of your trades, it’s good to know the secret to sidestepping them — which may save you a chunk of change some time in the future. See Newsletter #54.

  • The market is still bearish

    There are signs that the US and world economies are heading into a global recession. No one can predict whether equities will hit new lows or somehow magically recover. Thankfully, the two Muscular Portfolios are outperforming in the current bear market. See Newsletter #53.

  • More evidence for best day of month

    An independent data-analysis firm provides additional findings that Muscular Portfolios give you slightly better performance if they’re reallocated each month on a particular day. But tuning up a portfolio one or two days before or after also provides good performance. See Newsletter #52.

  • Your account passes the Monte Carlo test

    Monte Carlo analysis shows that a Muscular Portfolio is highly likely to put more money in your pocket than a buy-and-hold of a “vanilla” 60/40 portfolio. See Newsletter #51.

  • An unbroken 50-year track record of gains

    We now have a record going back five decades — with independent confirmation from different data-analysis services. When we stitch together the various time series, we see that the portfolios have outperformed the total return of the S&P 500 for 50 years. See Newsletter #50.