If you've been enjoying - and maybe even learning something from - our regular emails, you may have at some point asked yourself, just who are these strategists, anyway? Well, I'm glad you asked! Today, we begin a series of interviews with our Oxford Club gurus. These strategists have extremely impressive - but very different - backgrounds that led them to become leading voices in the personal investing industry. They have their own unique outlooks on the market and the economy, as well as varying investing philosophies. First up in this series is Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green. Alex is a specialist in momentum investing, value investing and investing based on insider activity. He is a principal contributor to our free e-letter Liberty Through Wealth. Alex also runs The Oxford Communiqué, which has been ranked as a top industry newsletter by Hulbert Digest for more than a decade. Not to mention he's a prolific author with four national bestselling books. More than anything, though, Alex is an unapologetic optimist who believes that with the right outlook and some sound advice, anyone can become a successful investor and lead a rich, rewarding life. Thanks for speaking with me today, Alex. First, for those of our readers unfamiliar with you and your work, could you tell us a little bit about how you became one of the most widely followed voices in the financial newsletter industry? I was a successful money manager on Wall Street and an old friend, Steve Sjuggerud, was the Investment Director of The Oxford Club. He called me up one day to chat and mentioned that he was leaving the Club to run a hedge fund. I asked who was replacing him and he said they were busy searching for someone. I had spent the previous 15 years writing the research reports and client communications for my firm and told him I'd be interested. The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Baltimore to meet Executive Director Julia Guth. That was 20 years ago and I've been here ever since. I guess my track record - including all the hits and misses - helped propel my career. Interesting! And have your 20 years in the industry brought you to a general theory of how people should invest? I know you're not a fan of market timing or policy watching... How should people invest? Yes, I most definitely have strong ideas about that. Essentially, investors should have a plan, starting with an asset allocation. And when they buy individual stocks, they need strict criteria about what to buy and when to sell. Following a proven discipline is the key to success. That includes diversifying broadly, cutting costs to the minimum and keeping a close eye on taxes. Now, you recently established a kind of partnership with commentator Bill O'Reilly. Can you tell us about that? Bill O'Reilly has been a subscriber to my investment letter The Oxford Communiqué since 2003. He had me on his show, The O'Reilly Factor, not long afterward. A year and a half ago, he agreed to film The Great American Wealth Project about The Oxford Club and our investment systems. He has done more with us since and plans to do two other projects with us in 2021. I'm grateful for his endorsement of my work. And particularly glad that he has been a satisfied subscriber for 17 years now. And that brings us to the current market. You're a perennial optimist, and you recently wrote about the end of the COVID-19 recession. Are we near an inflection point here? The pandemic has reached a new urgency lately. But we have also gotten better at treating those who contract the virus. While the death count is going up, the mortality rate is still coming down. Plus, we have two exciting vaccines on the horizon. They will be widely available in the first half of next year. Then the economy - and life itself - will start to get back to normal. Combine that with low inflation, zero interest rates, cheap energy, rising employment, record GDP growth and continual technological innovation and you can see why I'm a rational optimist. How should investors position themselves for the end of the COVID-19 recession and the beginning of the post-COVID-19 era? Investors need to diversify between the "stay-at-home stocks" and the "reopening stocks." They also need to own value as well as growth and international markets as well as our domestic ones. There are so many possibilities. I'm finding no shortage of opportunities and enjoy spending time researching them each day. That sounds very promising. Finally, I'd like to ask about what you do when you're not watching and writing about investing. I know you're an avid golf and tennis player. What else do you like to do? My friends say I never talk about the markets. It's not that I'm unwilling or uninterested. There are just so many other interesting things happening in the world. I'm a music collector, tennis player, golfer, hiker, and avid reader, especially of history and science. Most evenings I'm happy with an overstuffed chair, a good book and a glass of red wine. I'm with you on the wine and a good read, Alex! Thank you again for taking the time to talk to our readers today. I, for one, very much look forward to continuing to read your articles and investment advice. If you're interested in receiving Alex's investing insights and recommendations each month, check out this video. This one pays for itself, many times over. Enjoy your weekend and stay safe, Matt | 
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