We’ve got a special insight for you in this week’s Daily Cut mailbag…
Tech expert Jeff Brown tells us how to get a starting salary of $300-$500K a year with little to no experience. It’s some of the best guidance we’ve had all year.
And even if you’re already retired, it’s great advice for your kids and grandkids.
So let’s get right to it…
And make sure you stick around for our other great insights on where uranium prices are headed… what’s changing the natural financial cycle… and who’s behind the conspiracy against cannabis…
Reader question: Jeff, I am wondering if you have advice for someone wanting to explore the AI/ML [artificial intelligence/machine learning] field. I have been interested in pursuing education down this road to make a career change. I read your Bleeding Edge and Near Future Report, and I feel, as you do, that this is an industry with serious growth prospects.
What would be the best approach for this? Most colleges do not have majors focused on it, and they are exceedingly expensive. I have read you mention Udacity before, and I am curious if that is the best approach.
– Michael H. (Legacy Research member)
Jeff’s answer: First off, thanks for being a reader. This has been a popular question in our mailbag in the past. And I’m always happy to answer questions from readers looking to continue, or even begin, their education in the field of high technology.
And I can tell you that if you are able to develop the skills for this field, you will absolutely have work. I’ve shared the below chart before. But it perfectly illustrates this.
Simply put, AI will be the hottest area for jobs over the next 20 years.
The field is so hot that AI specialists with little to no industry experience can expect to make between $300-$500K per year (in salary and stock), on average.
And as you can see, there are about 2.9 times more job openings than there are applicants to fill those positions. It’s a job-seeker’s market.
Udacity is certainly one place you could start to seek out additional training. For readers who don’t know, Udacity is a company that offers “nanodegrees.” We can think of these as highly specialized certifications for very specific techniques. This could become something that we do on a frequent basis – perhaps earning a nanodegree every few years.
Udacity offers nanodegrees in everything from AI programming… deep-learning technology… and natural language processing. It also offers an “Intro to Machine Learning” course. These courses typically cost anywhere between $450 to $1,300.
And if you’re looking for free resources to continue learning, I’d recommend you look at edX (www.edX.org). A lot of the content is free, and edX is backed by MIT, one of the hot spots for AI/ML.
Coursera is another site for online learning, and there are several AI/ML courses from famous professors at Stanford available (www.coursera.org/stanford).
And in the event that you might want to earn a full degree, AI/ML specializations can be earned within the computer science school of major universities. The prerequisite to taking specialized courses is computer programming skills, which can be learned in a university program, or in specialized programming boot camps like Flatiron School, Hack Reactor, Fullstack Academy, or General Assembly.
Next up… Nick Giambruno and Dave Forest team up to tackle a Cut reader’s question about uranium prices.
Reader question: For Nick and/or Dave.
Hello – much is being talked about gold, but I’d appreciate your thoughts on uranium prices.
Much has been said about the supply shortage and inevitable spike in prices. What is the status on this?
Could you please provide your thoughts on uranium and when we should expect uranium prices to spike, and provide the significant gains you predict? Thanks.
– Jose P. (Legacy Research member)
Nick’s answer: Nuclear power delivers immense value to its users, there’s no substitute for uranium, and production is falling while demand rises.
This situation only has two possible outcomes:
Uranium prices don’t go up. Miners have no incentive to produce. Nuclear power plants run out of uranium, and the lights go out for billions of people.
Uranium prices go up and incentivize enough production to meet the demand.
There are no other options.
Uranium is a “when, not if” situation. Of course, the big question is when. The truth is… nobody knows for sure.
That’s the thing about speculations… they work on their own schedule.
I am confident that uranium will reward patient speculators. In fact, just this week I added to my own personal positions in uranium.
Dave’s answer: The fundamental setup for uranium is excellent. Current spot prices are WAY below the costs of production for most uranium mines. It’s so bad, many companies have stopped mining because it’s cheaper to buy other people’s uranium on the spot market to fulfill long-term contracts.
You can guess that’s not sustainable for long. Eventually, there will be no more spot supply. Then, we’ll need prices to rise so mines can reopen.
How long will that take? Hard to say. Uranium stockpiles are notoriously hard to estimate, because you’re dealing with opaque countries like Russia and Kazakhstan. But it will happen.
One note on timing: Right now, uranium is the most crowded “contrarian” play I’ve ever seen. There are lots of investors who love the sector, very vocally. To me, that suggests we’re not quite at a turning point. When all those bulls give up (many of them have been waiting years by now), we’ll be close.
Now, let’s shift our focus to “funny money”…
Faithful fans (and haters) of Bill Bonner will know what we mean by “funny” or “fake” money. But if that’s a new term to you, don’t worry… There’s an easy explanation…
All the dollars, euros, pesos, rubles, and other national currencies are “fake” because they’re no longer backed by gold or anything with actual value… They’re backed only by government promises. So that means they’re no longer real money.
Now, if you want to know how all that happened, here are two great essays from Bill:
Executive Order 6102 Led to the Fall of America’s Money System
The Extinction of the Fiscal Conservative
But for today’s mailbag, the short explanation is enough to set the stage for our next question… And Jeff Clark steps up with the answer.
Reader question: I have a question regarding the markets from your perspective. With all the new funny money coming in, can you still trust your go-to indicators?
What does this money from nowhere do to the markets?
I am aware that the funny money has been coming in for a long time. I guess my real question is… In all the years you have been watching the market, has its natural cycle changed as a result of this funny money?
– David S. (Legacy Research member)
Jeff’s answer: Hi David. Thanks for the question. The simple answer is: Yes, the natural financial cycles have changed as a result of “funny money.”
Remember, though, market cycles are always evolving and adjusting. The typical patterns that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. That’s why technical analysis is more of an art than a science.
Naturally, the more money that is available, the more likely that money will find a home in stocks and will keep bullish trends intact longer. Perhaps that’s why our stock market is enjoying the longest bull run in history.
For my purposes, though, funny money really doesn’t impact the short-term activity – which is based more on market psychology. Stocks are still likely to pull back from overbought conditions. And they’re still likely to rally off of oversold conditions. And, most of the indicators I’ve been using for years to identify overbought and oversold conditions are – for the most part – still quite reliable.
For our last question and answer of the week, we turn to the most controversial topic in The Daily Cut this week – CBD.
Teeka Tiwari provides the answer…
Reader question: Hi Chris [Lowe]. It’s Andrea, the one from the conference… When they served tea and cakes, and you said, “What is this?”… I said, “It’s sugar.” You responded, “That’s a high-level answer.” You probably don’t remember.
Anyway… anyone that has read Doug Casey’s books already knows how corrupt the FDA is and how it accomplishes its dirty work. That part of Doug’s book [Right on the Money] ain’t no fiction.
I am thinking it’s the alcohol, tobacco, and mainly pharmaceutical companies who are paying the FDA to propagate these lies about cannabis… What do you think?
I’m a lifetime Legacy member… that’s if you stay interesting and entertaining enough.
– Andrea L. (Legacy Research member)
Teeka’s answer: Big Pharma isn’t the only one targeting cannabis, either. Dozens of politicians and insiders have publicly attacked cannabis, too…
Yet they’re now investing in it – in record numbers. And that’s why I recently sat down with one of President Trump’s close friends, Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro, to expose them.
What we discussed could make you uncomfortable… perhaps even angry. But it could also make you more money than you’ve ever dreamed possible.
That’s all for this week.
But if you’d like to watch Teeka’s full interview with Judge Pirro, you can catch it here.
Regards,
 |
James Wells
Director
P.S. If you didn’t read yesterday’s Daily Cut, you missed the No. 1 piece of investing advice from Larry Benedict, the former hedge fund manager whose firm made $95 million during the worst part of the 2008 global financial crisis. So catch up on that here before you start your weekend.
And if you prefer watching over reading, Larry just released the first three in a series of short, documentary-style videos. They take you behind the scenes of his day-to-day life as a top trader. Secure your access here with one click.
Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].