American Investment Services, Inc.

Disciplined, Diversified, & Cost Effective

Mar. 2017 – Please Let Us Know

The investment newsletter industry has changed profoundly over the past 40 years, and for the better, from investors’ perspective. For many years it included purveyors who peddled too-good-to-be-true investment strategies to unsuspecting subscribers. So-called “sucker lists” became commodities traded among publishers, who prospered at the expense of unwary readers.

The expanded availability of investment information has changed all this. Investors today can obtain reliable information very quickly at zero (or very low) cost through the internet. An overwhelming body of data and analysis are available directly, literally at investor’s finger tips, through the click of a mouse. While irrelevant data and shoddy analysis has expanded as well, this technological progress has, on balance, made it far more difficult for shady publishers to survive, leaving truly valuable newsletters to continue.

We are happy to say that this publication is among those that have not only survived, but prospered. The Investment Guide, together with its predecessor, Investment Bulletin, has served as a pillar of AIS and AIER research for decades. This has in turn supported a steadily rising client base.

At the same time the ascent of information technology and availability of data undreamed of at AIER’s founding have vastly accelerated the application of statistical reasoning to financial economics. Factor-based investing has risen to the fore, while stock picking and market timing are met with unprecedented skepticism.

We like to think that, unlike most other advisors, we perceived these trends early on. While we have remained circumspect, we have embraced many of the insights that emerged as evidence mounted. The portfolio approach we advocate today is on the surface far different from our past recommendations, but at root simply reflects an evolution of AIER’s longstanding empirical approach to economics as applied to investing.

Also In This Issue:
The Cape Ratio Approaches 30
Are Small Cap and Value Stocks Still Worth Pursuing?
Greenspan on Gold
The High Yield Dow Investment Strategy
Recent Market Statistics
The Dow Jones Industrials Ranked by Yield
Recommended Investment Vehicles