Eating Well This Thanksgiving Feast

• Eating Well This Thanksgiving Feast
• ETF Talk: Blending Data and Real Estate
• 10 Punk Rock Rules for Success
• The Most Profound Sentiment Ever

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Eating Well This Thanksgiving Feast

When it comes to the art of celebrating through feasting, there is perhaps no expression better than that belonging to fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who once wrote, “Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.”

In this publication, and in all of my investment advisory publications, we are all about celebrating the spectacular joy in life that comes from making rational, profitable decisions with our money. Remember, money isn’t just money. Think of money as “units of choice.” The more units of choice you have, the more freedom you have. And the more freedom you have, the better able you are to live the life you really want.

Now, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This is the day Americans give thanks for all of our tremendous blessings, including our country and its rational foundation, a foundation unlike any other in history: a foundation of individual rights, and a country founded on the principles of freedom from coercion, where the individual citizen is the primary agent of importance, not God, the king, the president or the state.

This is what we all should be thankful for today, because despite her flaws, this nation remains the greatest example of how to protect individual rights the world has ever seen.

When it comes to celebrating Thanksgiving, many of us will sit down to a big feast of Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, biscuits, butter, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, sparkling wine… I’m getting really hungry just contemplating it. Yet, while some of us will enjoy the turkey, there are others of us who prefer a plant-based alternative to the main course.

In fact, over the past several years, there’s been a plant-based protein revolution around the world, as many celebrate the joy that comes form of a meatless feast devoid of any animal products, and one that puts us in more direct contact with the solar energy trapped in plant cells.

It is the latter, plant-based joy that I want to tell you more about today, and more specifically, a company whose raison d’être is to provide plant-based food to the public that is of the utmost quality, nutritional value and flavor.

That company is plant-based foods maker Eat Well Investment Group (EWG:CN/EWGFF:US).

Eat Well is one of the leaders in the burgeoning plant-based food movement, and one aspect of the company that I like is its clear mission. In fact, the mission is the master for Eat Well, and it can be seen via the company’s own words. Allow me to quote here from the company’s website:

We believe food plays a central role in all human societies and is a key determinant of our overall well-being. Food and agricultural infrastructure are the cornerstones of all cultures, and we want to celebrate and grow Canada’s rich heritage and capabilities to feed people on a global scale. Eat Well Group is building a unique ecosystem that can supply these essential cornerstone needs for society. We’re plant-based food & nutrition experts specializing in the latest science and original thinking for what consumers want most: quality, highly affordable, sensory experience, health and nutrition, and clean and simple products.

Our companies have track records of success and leverage the best in new food tech for the future. We believe that if we build a successful company that provides brands, product portfolios, and unique and valuable offerings that the general public consumes for the benefit of their health and wellness all while doing good for the planet, then all stakeholders can benefit including shareholders not wanting to miss out on this global investment trend.

I love it when a company knows who they are, and as you can see by the above mission statement, there is no ambiguity about what Eat Well wants to achieve.

Of course, I am not telling you about Eat Well just because of its positive mission. I mean, after all, one of my clear missions with this publication, and all of my publications, is to help you make money. And that mission is why I am introducing you to Eat Well.

You see, Eat Well is a small-cap company that I think can deliver outstanding upside for investors. This upside takes advantage of the burgeoning plant-based protein wave. In fact, that’s already been the case for Eat Well shareholders, as the stock is up a whopping 890.4% over the past 12 months.

That kind of profit potential is what any investor can gorge on!

So, this Thanksgiving, in addition to giving thanks for all of your tremendous good fortune, and in addition to preparing and consuming your well-deserved feast, why not take a little time to look further into a company that could give you a whole lot of additional, profitable reasons to enjoy a celebratory feast in the year to come?

During this holiday respite, I invite you to read my special report, “Better Living, and Better Profits, Through Eating Well.” This special report is FREE to The Deep Woods readers, as it is a company that I definitely want you to know more about. So, take some time this Thanksgiving weekend and give it a read.

Finally, to all of my family, friends, colleagues, business partners, intellectual influences, and yes, to even my adversaries and philosophic opponents, I want to say that I am eminently thankful to you for the support and the ideas that have shaped my existence.

For that I shall be forever grateful.

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ETF Talk: Blending Data and Real Estate

Blending data and real estate cause misnomers everywhere.

Examples of misnaming abound. Panama hats actually come from Ecuador, French horns originated in Germany, not France, and pencil lead is not made of lead, but graphite.

Similarly, while the name “real estate investment trusts” (REITs) seems to indicate that they are only focused on investing in houses, apartments and commercial properties such as offices and malls, that is not necessarily always the case. For example, the Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate SCTR ETF (NYSEARCA: SRVR) is a REIT that tracks an index of companies that derive at least 85% of their earnings from real estate properties related to data and infrastructure, including the storage, computation and transmission of data.

In comparison to many other exchange-traded funds, SRVR’s managers do not engage in any sort of complex calculations or use any fancy weighting systems to attempt to tease out winners. The only things that the mangers do is to weight the REITs by market capitalization and cap the largest names at 15%.

Currently, the fund’s top holdings include Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI), Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX), American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT), CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE), Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM), CoreSite Realty Corp. (NYSE: COR), SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) and Cellnex Telecom ADR (OTCMKTS: CLLNY).

This fund’s performance has been mixed, even when including the damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Nov. 23, SRVR has been down 0.29% over the past month and 1.59% for the past three months. However, it is currently up 14.59% year to date.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

The fund has amassed $1.54 billion in assets under management and has an expense ratio of 0.60%.

In short, while SRVR does provide an investor with a way to profit from data-related REITs, this kind of ETF may not be appropriate for all portfolios. Thus, interested investors always should conduct their due diligence and decide whether the fund is suitable for their investing goals.

As always, 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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In case you missed it…

10 Punk Rock Rules for Success

“I just wish to shine brighter, and if it burns my body to a crisp, I’m happy to go right now.”

That bit of high-intensity wisdom comes from a man who I admire deeply; singer, songwriter, spoken-word artist, author, actor, radio and TV show host, publisher and true renaissance man, Henry Rollins.

Henry made his mark on pop culture as the frontman for the quintessential punk rock band Black Flag, and then later via the Rollins Band, and he turned that experience into a multi-faceted and eminently interesting career fit for a true polymath. His career continues today, mostly through writing and one-man spoken word shows that combine the intensity of a punk rock concert with the intellectual stimulation of a Ted Talk.

If you are a long-time reader of The Deep Woods, you probably know that I am a huge music fan and a huge fan of renaissance men (and women) who are able to do many different things in life and to do those things very well. In fact, I have an entire website and podcast appropriately called Way of the Renaissance Man, which is dedicated to extracting wisdom and knowledge from these types of individuals so that we can apply that wisdom and knowledge to our own lives.

A couple of years ago, another polymath I admire, entrepreneur, investor and business inspirer Evan Carmichael compiled a list that he called “Henry Rollins’s Top 10 Rules for Success.” You can watch the video on YouTube. I recommend doing so, as it will give you a sense of the intensity and focus Henry puts into just about every breath he takes.

Here is a list of those top 10 rules (complete with sage advice straight from Henry himself), rules that I also try to live by, and rules that can help everyone —  regardless of what stage they are in life — achieve just that little bit extra that makes life glorious.

Rule 1: Be Driven

Rollins says he uses childhood anger and fear of failure to fuel his sense of drive. “I descend from the sky and land on things really hard, and I go at everything with that amount of fury,” Rollins says. Now that is a definition of drive that we all can admire.

Rule 2: Work Hard

Rollins says that no matter what he does, he goes at everything “fully engaged, and that intensity has served him quite well.” He also credits his punk rock roots for that work ethic, as everything in the early days was a sort of do-it-yourself exercise in just trying to make it from week to week.

Rule 3: Keep Moving Forward

Continue to consistently work hard and always move forward in life. “I keep moving forward boldly because I have nothing to lose,” Rollins says. Of course, regardless of whether you think you have nothing to lose, life requires constant movement, or we fall into stagnation. “I like to work… It’s about activity and challenge,” he adds.

Rule 4: Just Do It

He tells the story about starting his own book publishing company, which was the essence of punk rock “DIY.” “You just do it; you don’t even think about it… and without hesitation I’m making my own book company. Stop me. I dare you,” Rollins recalls.

Your editor doing a little Henry Rollins reading.

Rule 5: Take Your Shot

The “shot” for Rollins came when he was asked to audition as the singer for the iconic punk band Black Flag. He took a train from his home in Washington, D.C., to New York City and sang every song the band had. About 10 minutes after the audition was over, he was offered the job as the frontman of his favorite band. Now that is taking advantage of your “shot” in life.

Rule 6: Communicate Emotionally

“I feel a genuine need to communicate with an audience,” Rollins shares. That’s the way he describes his interaction with a crowd, because he sees it as the best way to genuinely connect with others. “It’s about communication, warning, broadcasting, emitting and trying to leave something of myself with the audience,” Rollins says. This rule is one of my favorites, because it’s also what I attempt to do each week in this publication.

Rule 7: Try Out Different Things

“Yeah, I’ll try that. I mean, why would I hold back?” This also is one of my favorite rules, as it encapsulates the fearlessness with which life should be approached. If there is something you want to do in life, try it out. The worse that can happen is you don’t like it, or you aren’t good at it. So what, at least you challenged yourself to stretch out and experience life in a different way.

Rule 8: Manage Yourself

“The repeating factors of my life have been application, discipline, focus, repetition,” Rollins says. These keys for Rollins are also largely the keys to success of many high achievers. The reason why is because application, discipline, focus and repetition are how you really get good at something. No matter how much natural talent you might possess, you never will be extraordinary at a skill unless you apply yourself with the requisite discipline, focus and repetition required to achieve the highest levels of whatever it is you do.

Rule 9: Learn from Your Past

“The past holds all of your mistakes and humiliations. The future holds whatever you can make it,” Rollins says. He doesn’t think you should ignore the past, but he doesn’t think you should dwell on it and be miserable. Instead, you should learn from it and move on. “The future’s ready for you to not make those mistakes,” Rollins adds.

Rule 10: Have Passion

Here is the key rule to life that both Rollins and I embrace, as it’s really at the heart of your existence. Because whatever you do, and whatever time you have to do it, why not live it all the way? Forget about half-hearted effort or “just okay” results.

Have the passion to attack life like a punk rock front man — with all the intensity and hard-core aggression that meets life head on and that embraces the struggle. Because in the end, all we have is how we lived.

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The Most Profound Sentiment Ever

I hope that life without a chaperon is what you thought it’d be

I hope your brother’s El Camino runs forever

I hope the world sees the same person that you always were to me

And may all your favorite bands stay together

–Dawes, “All Your Favorite Bands”

The Los Angeles-based alternative folk/rock band Dawes is a real artistic treat, especially if you like expert musicianship, beautiful melodies and thoughtful lyrics. In their anthem, “All Your Favorite Bands,” they express one of the greatest thoughts that I think I’ve ever heard in a song. Because when you think about it in a literal, metaphoric and philosophic sense, don’t we really just want all of our favorite bands to stay together? Stated more broadly, don’t we all just want the best things in our lives to remain forever? The way I see it, that’s the most profound sentiment ever.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that 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