Introducing the Way of the Renaissance Man

By Jim Woods

According to Dictionary.com, a “Renaissance Man” is 1) A cultured man of the Renaissance who was knowledgeable, educated, or proficient in a wide range of fields. Or, definition No. 2) A present-day man who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.

It is definition No. 2 that I aspire to achieve as a man, and every day I try to learn something new, integrate a new concept, or do something that will challenge my skills and push me toward a better understanding of life. It is because of my affinity for such a worldview, and because I love sharing that worldview with others, that I have created a passion project that I am proud to introduce to you today.

This new project is a podcast and website I call WayoftheRenaissanceMan.com.

The Way the Renaissance Man podcast and website is all about ideas, personal empowerment and celebrating the rational life. The goal of this project is to help each other discover the tools needed to better focus our minds, integrate our thoughts with actions and live the lives we really want.

To assist us on our journey, I’ll be eliciting the help of all sorts of interesting individuals. These are Renaissance Men in their own right, men (and women) who have a great perspective on life, or who have achieved high levels of success in their respective fields.

In some episodes, I will introduce you to people who have an inspiring story of struggle and conquest that can renew your sense of mankind’s goodness. In other episodes, I will just have casual conversations with interesting and entertaining people who are fascinating, humorous and able to help us learn valuable life lessons.

In my first episode, I am proud to present you with my interview of a man who has spearheaded the low-tax movement in America for some three decades, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

Grover founded this powerful organization dedicated to helping us all keep more of our money in 1985, at the request of President Ronald Reagan. ATR works to limit the size and cost of government and opposes higher taxes at the federal, state and local levels. The low-tax advocacy group also supports tax reform that moves towards taxing consumed income one time, and at one rate.

Grover is also a “notorious” figure in Washington, especially if you are a politician who wants to spend taxpayer money (and don’t they all!). His “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to the American people to oppose all net tax increases, has helped keep the otherwise free-spending members of the House and Senate under at least some semblance of restraint.

In this discussion, we talk about the goal of ATR, and how he’s been able to hold politicians accountable at every level of government. Perhaps more importantly, we talk about accountability as being one of the bedrock principles of Grover’s work, and why accountability is a fundamental concept in the life of a Renaissance Man.

Interestingly, you’ll also learn all about Grover’s other pursuits, which are largely unrelated to his work, including his experiences, of all things, as a stand-up comedian. Plus, you’ll also get a glimpse into a typical day in the life of Grover Norquist.

In just a few of the future episodes of the Way of the Renaissance Man podcast, I’ll be sharing with you interviews with individuals such as:

  • A West Point graduate who also is a precious metals dealer
  • A former Marine Corps F-18 fighter pilot who also has presidential aspirations
  • One of the top investment experts in the country who also is a real-life Samurai
  • An Anarcho-Capitalist who also is a cryptocurrency expert
  • An author and psychologist who also is an expert on the “virtue of happiness”
  • A former FBI special agent who also is an author and counter-terrorism expert
  • A fellow financial podcaster who also is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met
  • A guitar god and world-famous music educator who also happens to be my best friend
  • A true Afghanistan war hero whose story will leave you inspired, in tears… and back in love with your fellow humans.

As you can see, in the months ahead I will be introducing you to a whole lot of interesting people who can help us look at life from a variety of different angles, and from a renewed and enlightened perspective. And when you think about it, isn’t that what we all should do if we want to be the best humans we can be?

I am extremely proud of what my outstanding team and I have started at the Way of the Renaissance Man, and I hope you come and join us on our journey.

To make sure you are on the email list for announcements on new articles, or on the next podcast, simply go to the website homepage. Or, you can go directly to the sign up page.

Together, we can help each other become true Renaissance Men.

Upcoming Appearance

I am scheduled to moderate a fiery debate between Mark Skousen and Mike Turner on “Buy and Hold vs. Market Timing,” Aug. 23-25, at the San Francisco MoneyShow. I also will be doing two presentations, one titled, “How to Invest Like a Renaissance Man” and one titled, “7 ETFs to ‘Trump’ the Market.” I hope to see you there!

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ETF Talk: Accelerate with This Growth-Oriented Health Care Play

Starting this week, we’ll be featuring some of the top-performing momentum exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) in our column.

Today’s featured fund, Invesco DWA Healthcare Momentum ETF (PTH), provides an alternate take on U.S. health care firms. Momentum funds attempt to employ a price momentum strategy, which aims to profit from proven trends in the market.

An example of this strategy is when a trader takes a long position in an asset that has shown an upward trending price in the hopes of reaping additional upside potential. Founded in October 2006, PTH has been around for over a decade but only in 2014 did the fund switch to track a momentum-weighted index, which moved the ETF away from exposure to the neutral segment in larger U.S. health care firms toward segments that are much more growth-focused.

In addition, the fund also places an emphasis on biotech and research sectors. As a result, the fund has a bias towards small caps and carries considerably more risk.

PTH has proven itself to be quite good at capturing the upward momentum in many health care breakthroughs in 2018, returning 22.68% year to date. Its return of 42.92% over the past 12 months is even more impressive. According to Zacks Research, several analysts have given PTH a one-year price target of $105.66, which translates into an 18% upside for PTH.

However, many small traders shy away from PTH due to its small trading volume (just $2.53 million a day) and large spreads. This is less of an issue for institutional traders as the fund mainly trades in large blocks. Interested investors definitely should do their research before any commitment. The fund’s expense ratio is 0.60% and does not pay a distribution.

Chart courtesy of Stockcharts.com

PTH’s top holdings are Teladoc Health (TDOC), 3.67%; Align Technology (ALGN), 3.59%; Immunomedics (IMMU), 3.57%; Abiomed (ABMD), 3.50%; and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), 3.14%.

Strong performance from Teladoc, a fast-growing telehealth company that connects doctors to patients using technologies such as remote videoconferencing and mobile devices, has fueled a portion of PTH’s growth. Teladoc’s stellar first-quarter earnings report on May 2 sent its stock rallying more than 21%. This is just one of the many underlying catalysts that have driven PTH’s strong upward momentum over the past year.

For investors interested in a growth-oriented play in the health care field, they can look to Invesco DWA Healthcare Momentum ETF (PTH) as a potential candidate to buy.

I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You just may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

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Trump vs. Koch, And the Winner Is…

Which one is better… Trump or Koch?

If you read last week’s The Deep Woods, you know that this was the question I asked readers to weigh in on. In a moment, we’ll get to the results, along with my view on some of the very thoughtful responses I received.

But if you didn’t get a chance to read last week’s issue, then allow me to give you a brief recap of the latest ideological taste test that pits President Trump against billionaire libertarian activists Charles and David Koch.

Here, I borrowed the setup of the famous “Pepsi Challenge,” by inviting readers to tell me which ideological stance they preferred. Here’s how I set up the two “intellectual cups” to choose from:

In the first intellectual cup (President Trump) you get a mixture of… tax cuts, deregulation, economic nationalism, populism, protectionism, tariffs, the concept of trade wars are “good” and easily winnable, a zero-sum view of trade policy, a crackdown on immigration and the view that it is a net negative for the economy.

In the second intellectual cup (the Koch brothers), you get a concoction of… tax cuts, deregulation, a push toward more international free trade, more economic freedom, anti-protectionism, trade and immigration policy skewed toward freedom, an anti-establishment fight against climate change and the big government fixes associated with it, and a libertarian view on criminal justice reform.

Well, I must say that I was super impressed, and highly gratified, to get so many rapid replies to this question. And, nearly all the responses I received contained sound logic for the reader’s opinion as to which intellectual cup they preferred, or why we should at least support the intellectual cup in power.

In favor of Intellectual Cup 1 (President Trump)

Mark P. writes:

I don’t think Trump wants higher tariffs, it’s a means to lower tariffs overall. We’re at a very rare point in history where we have trade power to force lower tariffs for everyone. You have to break some eggs to make an omelet. I’m enjoying Intelligence Report. Good job.

Jim: Thanks for the kind words on my Intelligence Report advisory service. I hope the president’s call for tariffs is just that, a negotiation tool, as tariffs are really just a tax on the American consumer. The way I see it, the bigger the taxes, the smaller the citizen.

Sfehlinger writes:

I favor Trump. Yes, tariffs are tools of protectionism, but supposedly Trump’s goal is to use them as a means to no tariffs anywhere. Impossible to speculate how successful this will be but doing nothing will yield the continuation of diminishing trade fairness. In the short term there will be some pain. Disruption is always painful to some.

James M. writes:

I think you were not as generous to President Trump as the Kochs. I support Trump because he is our president, elected by the people. How can anyone be against trying to have more free trade among all countries? We have had massive trade deficits and no president has done anything to make fairer for us. Give the president a chance rather than trying to bring him down. Where were the Kochs when Obama was ruining & dividing our country?

Jim: I do support the president, but as an American with a voice, I also am obliged to point out where I think better ideas might prevail. I think we all should do that. As for the Kochs during the Obama administration, well, in the 2012 election the brothers raised an estimated $412 million in support of Republican candidates. That was far more than any other single political action committee.

In favor of Intellectual Cup 2 (Koch brothers)

Richard O. writes:

While not perfect, the Koch soda is much more desired…the other represents no process, no values, no logic, building on our worse base instincts.

Caster D. writes:

I prefer the Koch blend, all things considered. I also think that immigration is not bad, per se. It is what built this great country. It just needs to be a lot smarter about who we invite to join us in our great country and emphasize that you get to enjoy the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen when you are in fact, a citizen.

Tom O. writes:

No question which is the least bad choice. I have a basic dislike of anyone who can wield so much financial power that they can seriously sway the political process in their favor, of in whatever direction they wish. This seriously hurts the one-man, one-vote concept, and makes my vote close to worthless. However, the Koch’s are willing to moderate their views, and make choices not purely based on an ideological point of view. A strong conservative, and/or a strong liberal (and I hate both those terms) should be willing to carefully listen and consider opposing points of view, and then decide which view best fits their own point of view.

Jim: I particularly agree with Tom’s last point. A willingness to listen, consider opposing points of view, and then decide which view is best is something that all sides of an issue need to try to embrace. Without this mindset, we are just doomed to ugly tribalism.

S. Sheedy writes:

They both have good ideas. It’s a shame that they get so antagonistic towards each other. This is not a perfect world that we live in.

Jim: I agree here with S. Sheedy. And while competing ideas are always good for societal growth, animosity toward each other by two very similar sides is seldom a path toward progress.

Finally, I received perhaps my favorite reply to any article I’ve ever written, and it came courtesy of reader James C., who writes:

Jim, we spoke at the FreedomFest banquet cocktail hour. I certainly agree with your analysis and preference for the Koch Cup. HOWEVER, Trump has been the force of nature to actually facilitate positive change. There has been a complete void of leadership since Reagan and this has brought us “organized retreat” to the big government socialism infecting most aspects of our lives.

Yes, I often cringe at Trump’s antics, but where would we be without him? Who of the (17) other (Republican) candidates could have won? I suspect none. The entrenched government bureaucracy and media fights everything that threatens their position of power. So, while I agree with your assessment, I believe we should support and defend the actions of our change agent. Yes, there will be litter as big decisions drive change, but I suggest that the litter can be cleaned up over time. I normally do not respond to surveys, but I thoroughly enjoyed talking to you.

Jim: James’ intelligent response and suggestions not only makes practical sense, it also makes me proud that I can connect with my readers in this fashion. It is the goal of my writing to dig deep into the issues affecting us all, and to elicit rational reflection of the sort James displays. For that, I am both humbled and honored.

So, what was the final reader tally?

Well, Intellectual Cup 1 (President Trump), got 52% of the vote, while Intellectual Cup 2 (Koch brothers) got 48%.

That is about as even a split as there can be, and I must say I was surprised to get so much feedback in favor of both positions. To me, this shows how important this ideological battle is, and how evenly it splits the audience.

This split also is consistent with the groups of people I’ve discussed the trade, tariff and immigration issues with. While nearly all of us who responded agree that President Trump was the better choice for president given the final ballot choices, many Trump supporters would prefer a more Koch-oriented fizz on economic issues.

I suspect that this battle of ideas will continue, because the struggle over the best course of action for our nation is at the root of our collective best interests. So, let’s embrace the discussion, and let’s continue to let the art of persuasion and rational argument prevail!

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My Favorite Wealth Quote

“Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.”

— Ayn Rand

When it comes to wisdom, you can’t get much better than writer/philosopher Ayn Rand. Here, the novelist boils down the essence of wealth creation to just a few words: “… man’s capacity to think.” Remember this whenever you hear the all-too-common class warfare and “hate-the-rich” bromides from those who think that real wealth is something other than the byproduct of intense effort.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.

In the name of the best within us,

Jim Woods

Jim Woods

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