There is no better was to start off a strategy luncheon than sending out, not just one, but two Trade Alerts in the morning, and then watching them soar 50% by the time the appetizer was served.

That was the case on April 4, when I picked up short positions in the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500 for my model trading portfolio the morning of my event in sleepy Incline Village, Nevada, minutes before the major market meltdown that ensued. I wish they all started off this well.

I managed to procure the best table in the house, right on the beach of pristine Lake Tahoe. The distant summit of snow covered Mount Talac beckoned. But that is for another day.

The gathering had the flavor of a convening secret society, where the high and the mighty traded jokes, exchanged funny stories, and swapped insights on favorite trading strategies, securities, and research sources.

We discussed how the appearance of a much more Vladimir Putin in Russia is creating a permanently higher level of volatility. But there won?t be another cold war, as the last one drove the old Soviet Union broke. Russia will also have a problem pursuing its grand goals in the face of flat or falling energy prices, its largest cash cow.

We also talked about my friend, Michael Lewis?s new book, ?Flashboys?, with its well-publicized claim that the markets are rigged. The reality is that order execution is cheaper now than at any time in history, and that the amounts of cash taken out by high frequency traders are wildly exaggerated given the vast size of the market, some $23 trillion in market capitalization at last count.

It?s really all about hedge funds complaining about other hedge funds that are smarter and faster. I thought it was all just a ploy to sell books on an otherwise slow news day.

The goal of the lunch was for me to provide the fundamental justification for the spectacular gains I expect in all asset classes by 2030. Only bonds will do poorly. The trick is to get through the next five years, when markets will be sketchy, volatile, and have to discount a recession and another presidential election. I also outlined my planned story ideas for The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader for the next several weeks.

In exchange, I received first class market intelligence from my guests, who came from a broad range of careers, including oil exploration, system networking, accounting, mining, and hedge fund trading.

I never cease to learn from the attendees, and often harvest great trading ideas from them, which I share with you. This is why I enjoy these lunches so much, and have planned a total of 26 of them around the world in 2014. Virgin America/Virgin Atlantic love me.

While up at Incline Village, I planned my schedule so I could work in a 10 mile hike or snowshoe every afternoon for 14 consecutive days. This I do carrying a 60-pound pack, frequently in the dark.

It is wonderful spending time in the High Sierra?s during the dead of winter in total isolation. After all, no one is mad enough to do this but me, so I always go solo.

One day I was headed back down from the 10,000 foot eastern ridge line and noticed some new tracks. I hadn?t noticed anyone with an exceptionally large dog that day. That meant they could only be mountain lion tracks. Oops!

It turned out that the cat has been stalking me for over a mile during my ascent. I never heard a thing. Just to be sure, I took a picture of the tracks for consultation with an expert (see below).

Sure enough, the next day a National Forest ranger told me that these were indeed mountain lion tracks. He said that what saved me was my backpack, which altered my apparent shape to the hunting feline. These are conservative animals (after all, this is Nevada!), and they won?t attack anything they don?t recognize. They knew the big cat was in the neighborhood because they had recently found several freshly slaughtered deer carcasses nearby.

The lion was long gone, as they home range over the same daily circuit looking for game, which can extend to 50 miles. As long as there were deer around for dinner, I was probably safe. The ranger suggested that I wear a human mask on the back of my head, which is what villagers in India do to fend off tigers. They won?t attack if they think someone is looking at them. All cats must think alike.

As I am spending more time at Lake Tahoe, I am becoming more civic minded. It seems that I originate my best Trade Alerts there, and I am a local celebrity. Maybe it?s the fresh air? The altitude?

That led me to donate a corporate sponsorship to the Diamond Peak Ski Team, the training entity for the town?s 6-16 racers. The team has been the springboard for several national competitors, and may hopefully contribute members to a future US Olympic ski team.

Don?t be surprised if the next time you ride the chair lift there, you find ?MAD HEDGE FUND TRADER? emblazoned on the chair in front of you. Two weeks after the check cleared the bank, two public electric car charging stations magically showed up at prime parking spaces at the resort.

I have the only Tesla in town, and I get delivery of my second in December, the first Model X SUV.

To watch a video of the team?s enchanting annual torchlight parade, where 150 kids ski down the mountain at night, single file with flares, please click the link: http://madhedgefundradio.com/torchlight/. The blue glow sticks are carried by the under eight crowd.

A Secret Society

 

Oops!

 

A Torchlight Parade

 

Silver Medal From the Sochi Olympics

Your stock portfolio will get decimated by a stock market crash that could take the Dow average down 60% to 6,000 or lower. There will be no place to hide, as gold, silver, oil, real estate will see declines of similar magnitude.

Given the fresh dose of uncertainty besieging the markets these days, I thought I'd touch base with my pal, co-conspiring Eagle Scout, and fellow traveler, Harry S. Dent, Jr. It was inviting a bomb thrower to tea.

I listen to Harry, not because he is an iconoclast, one of the few original thinkers out there, and sometimes, a complete wild man, although these are all admirable qualities to be found in a global strategist. I listen to him because in the past, he has been as right as rain.

So when an opportunity arose to bag him for Hedge Fund Radio, I jumped. It would give my listeners an opportunity to sort through the tealeaves, work through alternative scenarios for the future of disparate asset classes, and test competing investment theories. What I got was nothing less than a Vulcan mind meld.

Harry argues passionately that we are witnessing the end of the third great bubble in debt, hot on the heels of earlier forays into madness in technology stocks and real estate. Add public and private debt from all sources, and it totals $130 trillion, the greatest accumulation of IOU?s in history. The Federal Reserve is now manipulating all markets, and the exercise is certain to end in tears. The only way out from this will be to suffer an economic and financial crisis worse than we have seen to date.

A key part of Harry?s work revolves around generational spending patterns. Americans see spending peak when they reach the ages of 46-50, and bleed off from there. He blends this perspective in with historical data on demographics and some traditional Eliot Wave Analysis to produce one of the most refined long-term views in the marketplace.

Harry runs an independent research boutique, which has accurately predicted many of the major moves in financial markets during the past 25 years.

His unique blend of demographic research, identification of global consumer spending patterns, and long-term cycle analysis, really makes Harry one of a kind. Foreign governments, major hedge funds, financial advisors, and individuals are all just wild about Harry. They have found his advice indispensible when navigating the sticky shoals of international finance.

Growth of the national debt (TLT) continues to be a major headache. Since the Great Depression, public spending has grown steadily, from supporting small town 'Mayberry' to the equivalent of a New York City. While much of the early deficit explosion resulted from WWII and Vietnam, all of the recent growth has come from entitlements, like Medicare and Social Security. Government estimates of $46 trillion in unfunded liabilities are wildly inaccurate, with $70 trillion closer to reality.

Harry's advice to investors is to use any strength in coming months to unload stocks (SPY) (IWM). He would sell all remaining holdings in gold (GLD) and silver (SLV). He also wants to dump oil (USO) and other energy plays (XLE). And he believes we are about to enter a prolonged period of dollar strength. His favorite vehicle for the greenback is the ETF (UUP), which offers investors a long position against a basket of foreign currencies.

Harry is a native of South Carolina, who like Federal Reserve governor Ben Bernanke, went off to Harvard where he got his MBA. His career then took him to the top-notch private equity firm, Bain & Co., where he reported to recent presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

After years of consulting with Fortune 100 companies, he found gaping holes in their understanding of the global economy. That spurred him to take off and create his own research boutique to address these grievous shortfalls in understanding.

To learn more about Harry S. Dent, Jr, please go to his website at http://www.dentresearch.com/.

In addition to Harry?s many talents, he is also a prolific writer. His most recent tome is The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019 (click here to purchase from Amazon).

There is also The Great Crash Ahead (click here to purchase from Amazon). You can guess the topic. He has also published The Great Boom Ahead (1993) (click here for Amazon),?The Roaring 2000?s (1999) (click here for Amazon).

Purchasing a download of the entire interview for $4.95 is very simple. Just go to the HEDGE FUND RADIO menu tab and click on the drop down menu for RADIO SHOW (click here to go to the page ). Click on the green BUY NOW button and complete the order form. A blue link will appear telling you to ?click here to proceed?. Then click on the small blue box with the question mark inside to download. Hit the PLAY arrow to listen. You can pause, fast forward, or rewind at any time.