Why are we doing this?

RB Research chronicles the exploits of two guys seeking excess return in today’s market.  Excess return is sometimes called Alpha, and it is the amount of profit you make in the stock market that can be attributed to skill vs the regular return of the market, or getting lucky.  Alpha generally involves better-than-market returns.  The important question is, did you generate Alpha by getting lucky?  Or because the market as a whole was doing very well?  These are valid questions, and some very smart folks think that it is nearly impossible to beat the market on a consistent basis.  We believe the exact opposite - and we're proving it here.  We expect to beat the market over time.  Sometimes the market will beat us.  Over long periods of time (think: many years or even market cycles) you will see our outperformance.

You have probably heard us talking about our investing at a family gathering, a bar, a game night, or social media.  We have been reasonably successful in outpacing the market since 2001.  Some of you asked us how we did it.  Others of you actually wanted to know.  Like actually, not just out of curiosity, you truly wanted to follow along.

This presented a bit of a problem for us.

We feel strongly that solid financial knowledge is a key to the American Dream.  We all know that investing our money wisely is absolutely required in order to have enough money to retire comfortably.  

You have probably seen a chart like this one the fine folks over at Nerdwallet created (or one like it).  It lays out how much you need to be saving every month starting at a particular age in order to amass (Dr. Evil Voice) "1 million dollars!" by retirement age.  

We like this graph, and their math checks out.  The problem with most of these handy charts is that they don’t tell you how to get that 6% annual return.  I guess they just assume this is common knowledge.  And I suppose it is, everyone knows you are supposed to be investing.  But investing in what exactly?    

We know that financial research is not something most people have an inclination for.  But we want all of our friends and family to see their money grow and to retire with a solid nest egg.  So we wanted to share our knowledge with our friends and family.

However, giving financial advice is risky.  

First of all, financial advice is highly regulated by the Federal government.  You have to be licensed by the SEC in order to direct others' investments.  

Sharing what we do here in our own portfolios via AlphaDogs and the Trend Following program is no small undertaking and we have day jobs.  

Secondly, people can get emotional about money.  Giving someone a stock tip that doesn't work out in their favor can easily become a grudge for years to come.  Most of the people we know who have had success in the stock market are very hesitant to share any advice with anyone.  Some people call this "selfishly trying to protect their 'secrets' from the rest of us."  But we know it is usually a safety response often born out of a desire to keep things civil among friends and even family.

See, most people when they hear something like "This stock is really looking good right now!"  from someone they believe is qualified to make such a recommendation, they assume that is instruction to buy the stock and hold it forever.  They don't know what the buy signs are, nor do they know the sell signs.  They just buy the shares, and then sit on them until... well usually until they start to lose money.  Then they say to themselves "That was bad advice, why did he tell me to do that..."  That's when the lost money turns into hurt feelings and then into angry accusations at the next family get together.  

In order to avoid this kind of thing, most of us just keep our mouths shut and let our friends and family muddle through on their own.  This is a safer route but it doesn't actually help our friends or family.  

The AlphaDogs program and the Trend Following Portfolio are our attempt to take the middle ground.  We want to share what we are doing and how we are doing it with those of you that truly want to follow along.  We are including all the necessary specifics like when, what and how much we are investing.  Because this is the only way to truly help our friends and family succeed.

At the same time though, we are doing it through a web page.  We are creating a wall of separation.  We don't have time to discuss every trade with each of you, we have day jobs of our own.  We can't make your trades for you and we aren't going to accept responsibility for your choices.  You can follow the allocations we are making with our own money or you can make your own choices.  This way when we see you for Thanksgiving, game night, or the next family get together we can all still have a good time.   

So here it is.  The Alphadogs program and the Trend Following Portfolio are the systems we at RB Research are using for our own money.  We developed them, we are constantly improving them, and we are following them.  

If you would like to follow along with us you can, but it is your choice; you are responsible for making decisions with your own money.  

If you do join us and everything works out great we'll all be smiling together.  

If you do join us and everything works out terribly we'll all be frowning together.

We are doing this together.