MACROTOURIST ANNOUNCEMENT

After almost a decade, the Macrotourist is changing

I have an announcement to make. After considerable thought, I have decided to transition the MacroTourist to a fee-based newsletter. Before I go into the details, I would like to take a moment to;

• Thank everyone for reading throughout the years. There’s a ton of content out there, and I’m grateful to each and everyone one of you for making my letter a part of your reading. I understand not everyone will take this next step of my journey with me, but I wanted to thank you all.

• Assure you that I will not be flooding your inbox with promotional subscribe-to-my-letter type emails. This post explaining my move will be all the marketing you will receive. I made a promise when you signed up that you would never be bombarded with spam, and I intend to keep that promise. You will receive great content, or nothing.

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WHAT’S CHANGING?

Now, onto the reasons I am making the switch.

Although I could give you some altruistic reasons why this will be better, the truth of the matter is that you have all seen me trade, and know that I have been short fixed-income for way too long and have some bills to pay.

Kidding aside, yeah, I would love to keep it free, but I am no different from anyone else in that I have to earn a living.

Let’s get into how the MacroTourist will be improving.

1. ACTIONABLE IDEAS: You’ll be getting more actionable ideas. In the past, I have often let readers guess what my post means for my portfolio. From now on, I’ll tell you how I expressed my view in the market, including details about the specific instruments I am trading.

2. PORTFOLIO UPDATES: I’ll keep readers abreast as my trades change. Specifically, there will be a running tally of open positions and when they are closed, trimmed, or added-to. While we are on this subject, none of this is advice. I will tell you what I am doing for my portfolio. Everyone manages risk differently. My goal is to offer a window into what’s right for me. Hopefully, you’ll gain some insight. But only you can decide what’s best for your own portfolio.

3. COMMENTS: Over the years I’ve learned that my readers are some of the smartest folk around. I’ve gleaned a tremendous amount from interacting with them one-on-one, and in retrospect, it’s a shame those weren’t shared with all MacroTourist readers. Until now, I’ve been loath to turn on the comments on my website as free content somehow brings out the worst trolls who ruin it for the rest of us. However, with my new model, I am excited to offer comments. I hope to engage in discussions under all my articles where people express their views (most especially if they have a differing one). I welcome smart informed respectful pushback and hope to engage my readers in the comments section. My commitment to you is that I will read all the comments, and try my best to respond in a timely fashion.

4. EQUITIES: In the past, I’ve avoided discussing individual stocks. Not anymore. Expect more specific equity commentary in the new ‘tourist. I’ll delve into the individual names that I like, how I trade them, and incorporate them into my portfolio.

5. “QUANT’ISH CONTENT: Those who have heard me speak about how the investment industry is changing know that I’m learning python/R to supplement my trading. I plan on sharing those results with you. Expect the MacroTourist to have more studies ala “Oddstats” or “Quantifiable Edges” going forward. My goal is to expand those sorts of mathematical market revelations to more assets than just the U.S. stock market (which is where most of those practitioners focus their energy).

6. FOR ADVISORS AND INDIVIDUALS: I often get questions how to implement my ideas for slower moving accounts. I get it. Not everyone is banging around futures all night. I’ll share how to add some of my ideas (not all my trading is appropriate) into retirement or other traditional investment accounts. I’ve learned a thing or two about portfolio management over the years, and I’ll take time to address issues facing those investing strategies.

7. READER REQUESTS: When I was offering a free letter, I appreciated all the feedback / requests, but to be truthful, I was often overwhelmed. By moving to a paid product, I will have more time to write about things that interest my readers. I encourage requests and might even try to work it in as a regular feature.

8. STILL THE SAME MACROTOURIST: If you got nothing else from the ‘tourist, I always hoped it made you smile. Too often, too many in the finance industry take themselves way too seriously. I have tried to offer an alternative, and rest assured, nothing will change.

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DETAILS ABOUT SUBSCRIPTION

So, how much does it cost? The pricing plan is straightforward:

$35 per month or $350 per year (prices in US dollars).

As you are probably aware, I have no staff to handle subscriptions, so after some careful research, I have decided to go with substack.com. They are one of the leaders in offering subscription email services, and having a third-party handle all the billing helps both me and you; me because I can focus on creating content, and you because there is a trusted third-party to ensure credit card information is all kept secure.

If you or your firm wants to subscribe through the old-fashioned method of a cheque, please send me an email (kevin@themacrotourist.com) and I will sort it out.

Also, the website will be changing. To make things easier, I am allowing substack to handle both email and the website. I have redirected the homepage, but from now on, everything will point to themacrotourist.substack.com.

I don’t like “deals” and “promotions”. I believe my letter offers great value and I will keep this very simple. I won’t be offering discounts or get-in-before-it’s-too-late sales. In other words, if you sign up today, you’re not going to find out someone paid less later.

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THANK YOU AGAIN TO ALL MY WONDERFUL READERS

As I sign off, I would like to take a final moment to thank all my readers once again. I’ve had a blast writing the ‘tourist and it wouldn’t have been the same without all of you. There were countless times when I smiled to myself as I was writing, only later to receive an email from a reader telling me how they literally laughed out loud in the office to the point where the whole desk stopped to wonder what was so funny. Or the times when I wrote a piece on a subject I didn’t quite understand fully, which then opened up a myriad of new ways at looking at the investing world. Once again, I was delighted to receive notes from readers saying my post had done the same for them. Finally, to all the people who have written to thank me, I hope I had the chance to respond, but sometimes, life got in the way. I want to say thank you for reaching out. You don’t know how many times you made my day that much brighter with your note.

I am excited about this next chapter in the life of the MacroTourist. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Thanks for reading,
Kevin Muir
the MacroTourist