Agenda

Roger Conrad on …
Dividend Investing: The Winners’ Game
For decades Wall Street has preached that investors must choose between income and growth. Subscribers to Mr. Conrad’s advisories have long since learned that’s bunk. In fact, you can’t have one without the other for long.

The key is finding growing, healthy companies dedicated to paying a rising stream of dividends. Every time the dividend goes higher, investors’ income expands and their stocks move higher as well, building wealth.

Roger will reveal where he’s looking now around the globe for exceptional income with an accent on growth. He’ll also unmask the pitfalls for those living off their investments in this market, including one very popular investment about to become a legendary graveyard for unwary yield chasers.

Elliott Gue speaks on …
Managing Risk and Building Profits in Volatile Markets

Over the past three years global markets have been hit by a flock of black swan events including a global credit freeze, a series of devastating natural disasters, $150-per-barrel oil prices, a sovereign credit crisis in the European Union and the Arab Spring. Once considered rare, triple-digit one-day moves in the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average and explosions in volatility that can send the broader market down 10 percent in a week are now commonplace.

There’s no way to insulate your portfolio from all of the market’s wild swings, but there are concrete steps you can take to manage risk. Mr. Gue will explain how to avoid being swayed by the sensationalist economic headlines that pollute the financial media by using a series of simple, proven economic and market indicators to keep you on the right side of the major market trends.

Yiannis Mostrous covers …
Surviving the New Investment World: Don’t Risk What You Can’t Afford to Lose

The investment environment is rapidly changing, and only agile investors will be able to reap substantial profits going forward. The road ahead will feature many twists and turns as it traverses profound socioeconomic changes in both developed and developing economies.

There are also many potential traps along the way that investors who want to succeed must avoid. What investors decide to do during some of the long market downturns that will occur in the future will determine their ability to come out on top. What to buy, what to sell and when to do so will be the key to success. Mr. Mostrous will help you negotiate these three steps.

Benjamin Shepherd gives insights on …
Harnessing the Flock: How to Hedge Against and Profit from Black Swans

The universe of exchange-traded products continues to evolve and mature. During the last several years, a number of exchange-traded funds (ETF) have been created to help individual investors reap the often difficult-to-identify rewards that inevitably flow from unique shocks to the market.

Such ETFs allow individual investors to deploy highly effective hedges against black swan events. Whether it’s employing traditional defensive tactics, going short entire swathes of the market or even harnessing volatility itself, it’s becoming easier to play defense in down markets.

Mr. Shepherd will provide the context and name names that will help you protect your portfolio and generate profits.

David Dittman on Canada and Australia …
Shelter from the Storm: The Commonwealth Protection Plan

Buying and holding dividend-paying stocks backed by solid businesses: It’s an investment strategy that knows no borders. And at a time when the U.S. dollar is under assault, it’s more important than ever to diversify out of assets backed by the buck.

Canada and Australia, former jewels of the British Empire, are our two prominent stops on this all-important world tour. In both the Great White North and the Land Down Under, investors will find relatively stable governments, fiscal and monetary sanity, manageable debt levels and, most importantly, copious natural resources.

Mr. Dittman will discuss Canada and Australia in the context of a rapidly changing global power structure and how individual investors can use these markets to build wealth and protect their assets at the same time.

Jim Fink gives guidance on options …
Using Options to Insure Your Portfolio

People insure their house, their car and their health against catastrophe. But investors rarely insure the value of their stock portfolios against negative black swan events, whether they involve individual stocks such as Enron or general market crashes that occurred in 1987, 2002 and 2008.

Mr. Fink will introduce option strategies that investors can use to protect their portfolios from disaster at a surprisingly low–even no–cost. Learn about put spreads, collars, butterflies, the VIX and LEAPs as a stock replacement, and–most importantly–how to determine the amount of option insurance you need and which underlying indices to use, given the size and character of your portfolio.

Chuck Butler presents on …
What Appears to be Evident, May Not be Imminent

Mr. Butler has a long history of warning attendees about the impending problems in the world, including the decline of the dollar, the housing bubble, and the latest false recovery of housing. Come and listen intently for his viewpoint of long term trends that could lead to additional problems for the US and the rest of the globe.

Expert Energy Panel

Take part in an audience-driven discussion of the opportunities and pitfalls in today’s energy sector. Elliott Gue and Roger Conrad will host two titans of the industry: Barry Welch, CEO of Atlantic Power and Richard Robert, CFO of Vanguard Natural Resources. Through the prism of Atlantic’s dominant position in North American power generation and infrastructure, we’ll explore many of the cross-border energy challenges in the news this year. And, Vanguard will provide us with further insights into the exploration and production landscape for MLPs. Together, with insights from both Roger and Elliott, this discussion is sure to clarify where smart investors are placing their energy bets in 2012…and beyond.

2012 State of the Society

You’ll get a quick update from our Chairman, Phil Ash, regarding the financial well-being of the Society and any plans for the coming year. Next up is our editorial director, John Persinos, to present our plans for new product launches that will make your investing more fruitful. This is also your chance to request and help shape new services. Our Wealth Society editor, David Dittman, will then walk you thru the Wealth Society portfolios and our philosophy for creating the best portfolios to weather any storm. We seek your feedback to further tailor the objectives of this service.