Big News: Bottom Line Investing Reloaded

Hi, my name is Sean O’Reilly.

Since the departure of Steve Symington (we miss you, Steve!), Bottom Line Investing has been a generic stock market news & analysis site. 

That ends today.

Going forward, Bottom Line Investing will be all about the very best investment ideas I can find in both the public and private markets. 

This is going to be big. 

A bit about me: 

A born-and-raised Ohioan, I now reside in Arlington, VA with my wife and three children. 

I’ve always loved investing. I still remember the day I walked into my local library and saw the book on full display “How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett”. I quickly learned that this man with turtle-shell glasses on the cover was worth a stunning $30 billion (at the time) all from investing. 

That day started me off on my journey as an entrepreneur/investor. 

A few more things you should know (in no particular order): 

• Graduated with a degree in Finance from Case Western Reserve University in May 2008. 

• After brief stints at the investment bank Houlihan Smith (now Houlihan Capital) and as a Manager at American Income Life (Subsidiary of Globe Life (NYSE: GL), I found my way to the Motley Fool as a stock market analyst/editor on the fool.com team. 

• While at the Motley Fool, I also became a podcast host (MF’s Consumer Goods, Tech, and Energy shows 3 days a week) and financial copywriter. 

• In 2018, something amazing happened. I met Chris Lustrino who asked me to help him build KingsCrowd to be a kind of “Bloomberg Terminal” providing data and analytics on the then brand-new investment crowdfunding market (more on this later). 

•  As the CMO of KingsCrowd, I oversaw the growth of our community and business from concept to 350,000.

• It was also during my 4 years full-time at KingsCrowd that I got to see first hand what it takes to raise millions from both accredited investors and “the crowd”. 

Which brings us to today. 

The world is changing faster than ever. Old rules are being cast out and technology continues to reshape our economy just as much as the political landscape does. A new framework is required. 

To build this framework, I’m going to be employing the thoughts and insights of geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan. Mr. Zeihan gained prominence a few years ago when he predicted that by 2022 Russia would invade Ukraine. How did he hit the nail on the head? He uses two simple tools to predict the future: 

(1) Demographics and 

(2) Geography. 

In the future I’ll be referencing his thoughts and drawing investment conclusions from them (Zeihan himself refuses to make investment recommendations).

This, combined with the tactics and insights from my favorite investors, should make for compelling reading at the very least.

Zeihan’s analysis, along with what we can see from the data, gives reason for optimism about the United States going forward. Of all the major economies, the United States continues to put up solid growth #s:

For reasons that we’ll expand on in a future post, there are reasons to take the growth figures of China with a grain of salt. 

Part of the global change we’re witnessing is a massive reshoring of manufacturing to North America, which explains U.S. manufacturing growth despite a massive increase in interest rates since March 2022. 

“Industrial production rose 0.6 percent in June after advancing 0.9 percent in May. For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production increased at an annual rate of 4.3 percent. Manufacturing output moved up 0.4 percent in June and rose 3.4 percent (annual rate) in the second quarter. In June, the indexes for mining and utilities posted gains of 0.3 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. At 104 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in June was 1.6 percent above its year-earlier level.” -Federal Reserve Board of Governors July 17, 2024 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Report

Facts such as these, plus many more that I’ll be highlighting in the future, are why BLI’s new cover image displays a map of the continental U.S. made up of tools and machines.

• All investment concepts and ideas are my own. They are the product of 20 years of experience. Part Buffett, part Druckenmiller, part Pabrai, part Peter Zeihan. All Sean O’Reilly. 

• Bottom Line Investing implies that we don’t care where returns come from. That said, we also believe that extra returns should be required for things like private market investments and startups (for example) as compensation for risk and lack of liquidity. 

• 1 New Trade Pick Every Week for Premium Subscribers. We’re going to keep this simple. All education materials and broad market analysis are free to all. Specific investment analysis and picks will require a premium subscription of just $1 per day or $250 for a full year. 

Lastly, to mark the relaunch of Bottom Line Investing, I have a special gift to all subscribers: 

A Free Investment Pick with the Potential to Generate a 25% Return 

Going forward any and all great picks like this will require a premium subscription. 

Thank you for being a loyal subscriber and I look forward to sharing my insights with you.

To Your Investing Success,

Sean O’Reilly 

Disclosure: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Sean O'Reilly may have positions in some of the stocks discussed in this post. Please conduct your own research or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.