New Features and a ‘Black Friday’ Deal
Introducing the Heretic Speculator Equity Portfolio and a content change that I think is exciting.
Over the last few months, I’ve been thinking a great deal about how I can make Heretic Speculator better for paid subscribers. I think I let you guys inside my mind on the business of this Substack thing more than most writers - I’ve made it no secret that I’m steadfastly against serving you advertisements. That position has aged well as other finance-focused Substacks, podcasts, and YouTube channels have been called out in recent weeks for previously featuring ads from FTX and BlockFi.
Thankfully, that’s not a problem here and my goal is to always keep my work 100% subscriber-supported. Starting next year the blog is going to be slightly different. Most things won’t change. Some things will. But for those of you who have already paid, it is my hope that you really like the tweaks.
Goodbye “Trade Ideas,” Hello Portfolio
The “Trade Ideas” content label has run its course. After two full years of Trade Ideas, I offered 36 total trades that produced an average return of 5.8% over the 24 month period. While that isn’t horrible and it actually beats the S&P with similarly timed entries and exits, I expect more from myself and I think you should expect more from this kind of service as well.
Starting next year, I’ll be doing more of a trade diary as a paid subscriber feature. I don’t trade every single day and I won’t be writing about my moves in posts every time I make them but I will provide real time access to my Heretic Speculator Equity Portfolio. This is where all of the moves will be reflected through a full trade archive.
The portfolio idea will actually be pretty cool. I envision it looking like this mockup above. It’s just an example - none of that data is real. But it’s going to be dashboard-style with tables, specific positions, sizing, cash levels, and visualizations. Subscribers will have 24/7 access to it with real time data. I think it’s going to be really cool and I hope you guys like it.
I plan to start with $1,000 in a brand new account with a full cash position to begin 2023. We can track how the portfolio does through the year, compare it to the broad market, and maybe one day even vote on positions within the Heretic Speculator service. Who knows. It depends on how big the subscriber base gets. So far that part is just an idea.
Weekly Market Recap
Over the last several months, some of my favorite posts to write have actually been the month-end newsletters. I’ve liked them so much that I’m not doing them anymore after November. Instead, I’m going to do those types of posts as weekly newsletters after markets close on Friday. These will be for paid subs only and there won’t be preview emails sent out to the free readers; I don’t want to inundate inboxes with content that can’t actually be seen by most of you. That gets annoying after awhile.
In the weekly recaps I’m going to share my market moves for the week and my general thoughts on financial markets. Those posts will offer updates to the Heretic Speculator Equity Portfolio with greater insight than before. Rather than just telling you what I’ve bought (or sold) and why, I’m going to tell you cost basis and allocation percentages. If I’m 50% cash, you’re going to know it. Most importantly, you’ll get direct access to the portfolio spreadsheet so you can see for yourself where things are whenever you want - you won’t even need to wait for me to tell you.
It is my hope that this kind of a content approach will maximize the value of subscribing to this publication. It also gets closer to what my blogspot used to be before I deleted it. I started writing about finance (the way I see it, at least) several years ago and some of my best trading was when I was treating that site like a trading diary back in 2019.
Impact To Free Readers
The most noticeable change for the majority of you will probably just be less emails. This has already sort of been soft launched over the last few months as I’ve tried to move away from the cheap-engagement, low shelf-life, news of the day type of stuff in exchange for what I think is better longform, more thought-provoking pieces. I’ve liked what that approach has allowed me to create and I’ve had more comments offline from readers who I know personally than I ever did when I was pumping out 25 posts per month. Those kinds of articles aren’t going anywhere.
Why Go Paid?
I hope this sell is pretty straight forward. The truth is many of us saw declines in our portfolio in 2022 and we now have catching up to do to reach our retirement goals. I want Heretic Speculator to provide information that helps all of us do exactly that. If you’re looking for an edge in the traditional equity market, that’s what I’m hoping to provide. If you find yourself making trades in the market on a weekly or monthly basis, I think you’re going to find the new content approach to be very beneficial.
If that sort of thing isn’t for you, no worries. Stay free. You’ll still be able to read posts that I believe will be interesting in other ways. Things like THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS will always remain free and open for discussion. And again, I won’t inundate you with previews.
BlAcK fRiDAy dEAl!
I hate that I’m even doing this but this is apparently how business owners make sales in November… a Black Friday Deal!! You’ve seen this before. Many times. But this is probably the last promo offer I’m going to provide going forward.
Today might be the correct day for it, but this isn’t a “Black Friday Deal.” This offer is live from now through the end of the year. After that it’s gone and it isn’t coming back. This service is worth the ask.
It’s been a year since I’ve been outside of the corporate apparatus and it has been somewhat of a wild ride. To those of you who have been on this journey with me the whole way, I can’t thank you enough for sticking around. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. And cheers to many more years together sharing ideas, loving freedom, and controlling our own future.
-Mike