With the recent frenzied trading in Gamestop (and a few other names), it’s hard not to be sucked into the endless vortex of discussion – will the Reddit mob prevail, will Gamestop continue its dizzying climb, and will yet another Wall Street firm endure heavy losses ? While we don’t have a crystal ball, we do know that at some point, the short sellers will have closed their positions, and after that, the only buyers left will be the Reddit mob. Eventually, someone who bought at $100, or $200, or whatever the price, will decide that they actually don’t want to lose that money, or that they actually want to make some money – and the selling will begin. As the saying goes, “this isn’t my first rodeo”, and we have seen this play out before in different forms, such as Bre-x, the Tech bubble, Enron, and the housing bubble. They are all different, but they are all the same in the end, and we lived through them all to fight (and invest) another day.

While we can’t offer up the entertainment of the Gamestop story, we can offer up something that has lottery like appeal, but whose payoff is much more…reasonable.

We are always looking to broaden our reader base, and in doing so, we offer up our own version of a “lottery”. The rules are simple:

Step 1 – Sit down and think of all of those folks that you know. Some of them may like doing their own investing, or may like reading about it. For those that you think might be interested, compile a list of at least 5 email addresses.

Step 2 – Send out an email to them, either as a group or singularly – it’s totally up to you. Explain to them that you have started following Grey-swan.com, and that you think they might like the content. Send them a link to the website, and tell them that if they are interested, they too can sign up.

Step 3 – Once you have sent your email(s) to your friends & associates, send one email to mark@grey-swan.com that lists the entire group of email addresses (at least 5, but as many as you like) that you have sent your message(s) to. The subject line should say “contest”, and in the body of the email, include a list of those folks that you sent your email to. It should look like this:

By sending the email in this format, it is easy to compile a list of “who referred who”. If you wish to include further correspondence, such as a comment about an article, please do so under the email addresses.

Step 4 – If you decide that you have more people that might be interested (a minimum of 5), feel free to repeat with a new list.

Step 5 – If you are not a follower already, make sure you are. In order to send out your prize, we need to be able contact you.

Step 6 – At the end of the month of February 2021 (11:59 PM on February 28th, MST), the person whose efforts have resulted in the greatest number of new followers wins the following prize:

You will notice that this prize, while it won’t move the heavens and the earth, is actually two prizes – the book, and the bookmark. It may not look like much, but that bookmark does have value, and those with a keen eye will recognize it for what it is. Also, unlike the one shown, it will come in its own new, shiny unopened packaging. However, the book is probably more valuable than the bookmark, as it will provide you with some of the tools to (hopefully) make much more money in the future.

That’s it. Hopefully, this will lighten up these dreary winter days, and at the end of the month, Gamestop will probably be worth a lot less – but you might have won something that will provide “dividends” for the long run!

As always, questions or comments can be sent to mark@grey-swan.com.