Richard Band

Richard E. Band is the newsletter world's #1 authority on investing for low-risk growth. His flagship Total Return Portfolio has tripled in value since its inception in 1990, while taking far less risk than the popular stock market index funds.

A self-proclaimed "New Hampshire skinflint," Richard designs his investment philosophy for safety first. Through good markets and bad, his recommendations for conservative investors have grown 1000% since 1984. 

Twice in the late 1990s, Profitable Investing ranked #1 for 5-year risk-adjusted return–according to independent analyst Mark Hulbert. For the past nine years (through December 31, 2008), his Total Return Portfolio has comfortably beaten the Standard & Poor's 500 index, despite a hefty weighting in bonds and cash.

Some say this "thrifty Yankee" is also clairvoyant. In 1982, he was one of the few who foresaw the rebirth of Chrysler. "Chrysler is going to survive to fight another day...pick up a few shares of this common stock." Within 12 months, Chrysler soared 426%.

In 1987, he issued urgent warnings to "cut back your stock holdings" four weeks before Black Monday. In 1998, at the bottom of the August market panic, Richard told his subscribers to buy with fervor. Stocks and funds he recommended then have since risen as much as 150%-500%.

At the height of the dot.com fervor, Richard kept his subscribers in "unpopular" investments like REITs and small-cap stocks. He issued a dramatic warning in March 2000 that Internet stocks would soon collapse, a prediction that came true as the average dot.com plummeted more than 90% over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Profitable Investing subscribers banked gains of over 250% in a single REIT and made an average of 60% in several small-cap stocks.

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2002 was one of the most difficult investing environments in history, but Richard correctly pinpointed the market's tops and bottoms to help subscribers enter and exit at the most opportune times.

Richard successfully took advantage of the market's "sucker" rallies by advising selling at temporary peaks to raise cash. Subscribers were able to rid their portfolios of losers and avoid overpaying for new investments. This is why Profitable Investing is called "Your Financial Guide to All Seasons."

After calling the major stock market bottom in October 2002, Richard guided investors to four consecutive years of excellent gains. In 2003, while most of Wall Street ignored gold, Richard recommended subscribers buy a single mining stock and a low-risk gold fund.

Within five months, gold soared, and Richard's readers locked in gains of over 50%. By year's end, Profitable Investing was up 20% overall and 31% for stock investments alone.

During the horrifying market collapse of 2007-2008, Richard's steady leadership enabled subscribers to play the best defensive game possible. Just before global stock indexes peaked in 2007, he advised readers to exit a number of big winners, pocketing a spectacular 198% return in Alliant Energy, 127% in National Fuel Gas and 98% in India's blue chip ICICI Bank.

Even in disaster-prone 2008, Richard's subscribers picked off a 102% profit in Brazil's Unibanco, as well as a 121% return on Chesapeake Energy (sold within days of the absolute top for oil prices).

He warned investors away from some of the market's worst actors, too, including Health Management Associates, which nosedived 77% after his sell recommendation; and Tenet Healthcare, which plummeted 80%.

2009 was another blockbuster year for Richard's subscribers, with no less than fifteen of his recommended stocks soaring 30% or more. Spectacular winners included the iShares China index fund, up 76% for the year; Buckeye Partners, ahead 69% (83% with dividends!); Texas Instruments, up 68%; and "slow, stodgy" old IBM, which skyrocketed 55%.

Overall, the Total Return Portfolio clocked a sparkling 22.5% gain, as verified by Hulbert.

Besides editing Profitable Investing, Richard is a popular speaker at investment conferences. He is the author of Contrary Investing, which was named "Best Investment Book" of 1985, subsequently updated. Barron's called it "one of the most moving and readable presentations on the subject."

He has appeared on financial radio and TV and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes and other leading publications. Richard's straightforward style and low-risk "value" approach to wealth building have won numerous awards, including eight in the "Best Financial Advisory" category by the Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation.

Richard Band graduated from Yale University, magna cum laude, and has been a respected investment commentator for more than three decades.

Subscribers to Profitable Investing rest easy because they know Richard invests his family's money in many of the same investments he recommends to them, and watches them like a hawk.

Married for 36 years to Enid, his Sunday school sweetheart, Richard drives his cars an average of 140,000 miles, stockpiles used paper clips...and burned his mortgage at age 36. Richard and Enid live in New Hampshire and have three grown daughters plus four grandchildren (with two more on the way!).

To learn more, or to subscribe to Richard Band's Profitable Investing Letter, please click here.