Right on the Money Review

By Doug Casey

My Introduction to Doug Casey: A Turning Point

When I was introduced to Doug Casey, it was a major turning point in my life. In 2008, my brother-in-law raved about a company that wrote newsletters, called Casey Research. He spoke about the massive gains he had made through their stock picks and about the glut of information they provided on the global economy.

My curiosity was sparked; what was with this gold obsession and why do they think the market is so screwed up? I started with Conversations with Casey, a free publication that was sent directly to my inbox, each and every Wednesday. Doug would have conversations with Louis James (Casey Research’s International Speculator Editor) about a ton of different things, but typically topics that related to what was going on in the economy at that time.

Needless to say, I was hooked on Doug’s view of the world and excited by the success he’s enjoyed while putting his world view to work to make money. I couldn’t get enough of his writing, I bought all of his books; The International Man, Crisis Investing, Strategic Investing, etc,. and I became an avid reader of a couple of his monthly newsletters, mainly The Casey Report and The International Speculator.

Right on the Money, at a Glance

I forget when it changed, but Conversations with Casey no longer exists in its original form. It left the free Wednesday publication and moved to the monthly newsletter, The Casey Report, and from there, has mostly vanished. You can, however, check out all of the best conversations in Doug’s latest book, Right on the Money.

Doug has chosen to include the conversations pertaining to investing and what he’s best known for – speculation. The book is broken down into five parts: An Economy in Trouble, The Art of Investing, A Moral Minority, You and Me and the Other 8 Billion, and finally, Wrestling for Countries.

Each of these sections is very different in terms of their focus, however, they all tie together to present a particular view of the global economy, and most importantly, to shed light on what it is that you need to do to survive and prosper. An amazing thing Doug does is that he ties philosophy and psychology with investing and/or speculation. With a great deal of travelling and successful business deals under his belt, Doug’s real-world experience gives him a leg-up on the average Joe investor, as he has a much better understanding of how the global economy works, and especially, how it’s all tied together.

Speculation

Doug earned his fortune from the speculative investments he’s made over the course of his adult life. In fact, Doug credits the bulk of his fortune to three specific specualtions; “an accident (Diamond Fields), a scam (Bre-X) and a psychotic break (Nevsun)” (Casey, 72). Doug talks about each of these winning speculations in great detail in the book.

If you’re new to this, you might be asking yourself, ‘what is speculation, anyway?’

“A speculator is someone who allocates capital in order to profit from distortions in the market caused by government intervention” (Casey, 68).

Currently, we’re living in a time where there has been unprecedented government intervention in the global economy through money printing and extremely low interest rates. If you haven’t already, educate yourself on this subject and Doug’s comments will be that much more meaningful, not to mention actionable.

Actionable Advice

Purchasing gold is an absolute must. I could go into all of the reasons why, but I think you’re better off reading about it from someone like Doug, or start with Mike Maloney’s, A Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver. In both cases, the authors’ theses with regards to precious metals are very clear, and in my view, undisputable.

Purchasing the physical metal is most likely the best way to start, as it’s the easiest to understand. And, if you believe the metal price is going to go up, this is what you need to buy. That said, leverage to the gold price, or the ultimate in speculative gains, junior mining stocks give you the best bang for your buck. The caveat to this is that you NEED to understand the risk of what exactly you’re getting into. These are the most volatile stocks in the world, and succumbing to emotion or investing in a company that you know nothing about can be the fastest way to separate you from your money.

In the chapter, Doug Casey on Winning Speculations (Casey, 67), Doug outlines his strategy; The Eight Ps of Resource Stock Evaluation, for speculating in the juniors. This is a must-read and a must-follow for anyone intending to buy junior stocks.

Doug’s best piece of advice within this chapter:

“The first P is people. No matter how great the rest of the Ps are, if you don’t have confidence in the people, you can’t have confidence in the rest of the story” (Casey, 71).

It’s all about the people and their track record. The resource sector has a bunch of serially successful people, these are the guys you want to speculate in because they’re the only ones with which you have any real chance of making money. Spend your research time finding these people and let them show you what you need to buy.

A Must-Read for Anyone Looking to Speculate

I’ve really only grazed the surface of what this book covers, because it’s impossible to condense everything into just one review. I believe Doug’s comments on speculation are the most important in the book, which is why I chose to focus my review largely in that area.

This is a great book to add to your collection and a must-read for anyone beginning their journey as a speculator. That said, I do feel that if you really want to glean as much value as you can from this book, you need to have some understanding of the current fiat monetary system, in which Doug’s views are rooted.

Until next time,

Brian