Freedom isn't free... but it can be profitable. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

AN OXFORD CLUB PUBLICATION

View in browser SPONSORED Yours Free! Top FIVE Dividend Stocks Right Now Marc Lichtenfeld - income expert and author of Get Rich with Dividends - is giving away his Ultimate Dividend Package... completely free of charge! You'll discover... An "A"-rated, ultra-safe dividend stock with a huge 8% yield Three of Marc's favorite "Extreme Dividend" stocks, which could supercharge your income And finally, Marc's No. 1 dividend stock for a LIFETIME of income. Click here to get the names and ticker symbols now... before the download link expires. **NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED!** Editor's Note: Some things just make you roll your eyes and shake your head... Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the premier examples of a dictator in the modern world, said "the world has no place for... dictatorship, double standards or lies." When I read that, it reminded me of this article from Senior Markets Expert Matt Benjamin about investing in freedom and liberty. The last time we featured Matt's thoughts here in Wealthy Retirement, you had overwhelmingly positive feedback, and I think you'll enjoy today's guest column just as much. Putin's hypocrisy also reminded me of this briefing from Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green about how the United States and a little-known company could make the Russian president regret his crucial mistake. If you missed it when it first came out, now's a great time to revisit it. - James Ogletree, Managing Editor LIFESTYLE The Cost (and Value) of Freedom Matt Benjamin, Senior Markets Expert, The Oxford Club Liberty Through Wealth is the name of our column because we firmly believe that successful investing can lead to wealth - and give you the freedom to live the life you want. Yet it has become particularly obvious that investing IN freedom and liberty can also boost your portfolio's performance. We can see that by considering nations that are economically unfree. They lack many of the fundamental human and economic freedoms that we in the West take for granted: property rights, rule of law, and the ability to trade and make contracts, plus the basic freedoms of speech, association, religion and assembly. To be sure, there is no simple "free or unfree" dichotomy. The Fraser Institute produces an annual report on economic freedom around the world, and the 2023 edition is now out. According to Fraser's metrics, Singapore is the economically freest nation, followed by Switzerland, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. The 10 least free nations are the Republic of Congo, Algeria, Argentina, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe and Venezuela. View larger image   So, what does all this matter to investors? It turns out that avoiding unfree countries is a good idea. They tend to have rulers who are capricious and unpredictable - and investors tend to misprice the risk that comes along with that. There's an exchange-traded fund (ETF) I wrote about almost two years ago, the Freedom 100 Emerging Markets ETF (CBOE: FRDM), that uses economic freedom indexes - like the one above from the Fraser Institute - along with other metrics to create an emerging markets investing strategy that embraces personal and economic freedom. Recently, I compared the Freedom 100's performance over the past five years with that of the broader iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: EEM). It's up 29% over that time, while the broader emerging markets index is down about 7%. SPONSORED Investing Wizard Who Turned $37K Into $2.7M in Just 4 Years Makes His Next Big Move He started from nothing and became a multimillionaire... He's now one of the most sought-after trading experts... Yet he operates 858 miles from Wall Street. And now, he's revealing his No. 1 favorite strategy that targets MASSIVE weekly profits with just one stock ticker. SEE THE PROOF HERE International Diversification Here at The Oxford Club, we encourage our Members to diversify their portfolios by including a healthy share - about 30% - of foreign or international stocks. That could include emerging market stocks, too. As Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green often says, these stocks tend to zig when U.S. stocks zag, so they provide a nice balance. And there are many places to invest your money on the planet. Many of them are the unfree autocracies that score so poorly in the Fraser index. While you may never consider investing in Congo, Yemen or Zimbabwe, you might have had investments in other, larger unfree nations. For example, in Fraser's freedom index of 165 countries, Russia ranks 104 and China 111. So, how have stock markets done there? Well, as measured by the iShares MSCI China ETF (Nasdaq: MCHI), the Chinese stock market peaked in February 2021 and is down 60% since then (in turn, the S&P 500 is up 27% since February 2021). Part of that dramatic drop in Chinese stocks was due to the fact that in 2021 China's government unexpectedly - and with little warning - cracked down on internet, education and video game companies in the name of "common prosperity." And how about Russia? The country is widely known as one of the world's largest oil exporters. Russia's stock market floated along quite nicely for several years until late 2021 when the winds of war began to blow. After Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine two years ago, freedom (of speech, association, press, etc.) went out the window. The iShares MSCI Russia ETF (NYSE: ERUS) was once a proxy for Russia's stock market... And now, it has to be seen to be believed. View larger image   BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) ran the ETF and has since shuttered it. So, avoiding such unfree nations when you invest is very likely a good way to boost your portfolio's returns. Freedom isn't free, as they say. But it may be profitable. Invest wisely, Matt Leave a Comment BUILD AND PROTECT YOUR WEALTH One Potentially Explosive Stock That Alexander Green Just Discovered Has Seen Five-Year 2,000% Revenue Growth, Enjoys 70% Gross Margins and Sports a Debt-Free Balance Sheet, yet Still Trades Under $10. He's Calling It the "Next Great American Super Stock." (Click for Details.) Are You Part of the Global 1%? It kicked off every major bull market in crypto… now it's happening again on a specific day in April, 2024. How "Whale Trades" Delivered +154% Overnight MORE FROM WEALTHY RETIREMENT Icahn Enterprises a Bargain Despite Recent Struggles? Beware This Biotech's 6.3% Dividend Yield The Perils of Buying Overvalued Stocks A Brief History of the Markets Facebook LinkedIn Email Share Push Alert SPONSORED The "Magic Code" That Can FORCE Banks to Pay You Up to 255 Times More Income At the 0.02% rate from his major bank, he would have received $18. But with the "Magic Code"? $4,500 over the next year. The banks will NOT be happy when you learn this. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Wealthy Retirement. Wealthy Retirement is published by The Oxford Club. Questions? Check out our FAQs. Trying to reach us? Contact us here. Please do not reply to this email as it goes to an unmonitored inbox. Privacy Policy | Whitelist Wealthy Retirement | Unsubscribe © 2024 The Oxford Club, LLC All Rights Reserved The Oxford Club | 105 West Monument Street | Baltimore, MD 21201 North America: 877.808.9795 | International: +1.443.353.4621 Oxfordclub.com Nothing published by The Oxford Club should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed personalized investment advice. We allow the editors of our publications to recommend securities that they own themselves. However, our policy prohibits editors from exiting a personal trade while the recommendation to subscribers is open. In no circumstance may an editor sell a security before subscribers have a fair opportunity to exit. The length of time an editor must wait after subscribers have been advised to exit a play depends on the type of publication. All other employees and agents must wait 24 hours after publication before trading on a recommendation. Any investments recommended by The Oxford Club should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. The information found on this website may only be used pursuant to the membership or subscription agreement and any reproduction, copying or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the world wide web), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of The Oxford Club, LLC, 105 West Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.