After years of success on Wall Street, I packed up and bought a home in Connecticut... It was supposed to be the start of a one-year sabbatical.

Editor's note: Longtime readers might recognize today's essay from our founder Marc Chaikin... Over the past few years, we've published it a couple of times in the Chaikin PowerFeed. And in it, Marc shares the important details of why he came out of retirement to build the Power Gauge as a tool for regular investors... The Power Gauge Ended My Retirement By Marc Chaikin, founder, Chaikin Analytics After years of success on Wall Street, I packed up and bought a home in Connecticut... It was supposed to be the start of a one-year sabbatical. But the lure of early retirement was too strong. And I was soon ready to spend the rest of my days relaxing and playing tennis. My wife, Sandy, wasn't ready for retirement, though... After working for several years as a vice president at beauty-products company L'Oréal, she built her own business in marketing and consulting. And fortunately, her business was still growing in 1999. Despite my Wall Street successes, we managed our retirement funds separately. And since her business was getting bigger, she didn't have much free time on her hands. She was simply too busy to chase down the best mutual fund of the day. At the time, it made sense for Sandy to pay an expert to look after her retirement. So she made what was a pretty common and reasonable decision... She handed the care of her retirement over to a professional who actively managed her account. Sure, the fees were high. But as the overall market rose throughout the early 2000s, the fees didn't seem that important. Sandy was busy with her business. And her retirement nest egg was growing alongside it. In short, life was good. I was enjoying my retirement, and our wealth was still growing. Then, 2008 came along... "Marc, I'm paying him to ride my account to zero," Sandy said to me midway through 2008. As the financial crisis set in, Sandy's 401(k) account was bleeding value almost every day. And at the time, it looked like there was no end in sight. To make matters worse, her high-fee active manager didn't want to talk to her. The few times she was able to get him on the phone, he was dismissive. Even worse, Sandy's actively managed account was down a lot more than the overall market at the time. It was sitting on losses of about 50% at that point, while the broader market was down about 20%. Sandy's portfolio manager didn't know what to do. And she wanted out – rightfully so. Unfortunately, Sandy's investing horror story isn't that unique... Thousands of everyday Americans watched helplessly as their retirement savings were cut in half – or worse – during the Great Recession. It was awful. And then, many folks made the worst decision they could possibly make... Recommended Links: DON'T MISS: The Secret Weapon of a Wall Street Legend Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 50-year stock market legend Marc Chaikin will reveal his "secret weapon"... along with a powerful, little-known strategy that could help you potentially lock in rapid returns – even as markets crumble. Marc says that in the coming months, you're going to need it. So if you have any money in the markets, click here now. Crisis Alert: Stansberry Research's No. 1 Recommendation in the Face of Financial Turmoil There's no sugarcoating it anymore: For stocks and the economy, things could soon go from bad to worse. But for ONE strategy (outside of stocks), it's about to become a field day... because it actually works BETTER in a recession and a possible stock market crash. It's a way to see income and capital gains with LEGAL obligations during this period – on a reliable schedule and with a 93% win rate since the pandemic. Because of these extreme market circumstances, Stansberry is reopening an extraordinary invitation to see it in full here. They got out right at the bottom. Then, they stayed on the sidelines. They wanted to wait until things had settled down and weren't as volatile before they got back in. Of course, this line of thinking really means after stocks have recovered. But most folks don't realize it. Sandy was more fortunate in that regard. She had me at her side. And after more than 30 years as a Wall Street insider, I knew what we had to do. As I told her... "You have to stay invested. Stocks won't stay down forever. We need to ride this out." Sandy understood. But she had also lost all confidence in her portfolio manager. And I don't blame her since the guy still wouldn't give her the time of day. However, I knew that just "stepping aside" and waiting for things to settle down was the worst possible move. That's because of how volatility tends to work after a big crash... When it comes to the broad market, big volatility up follows big volatility down. A quick glance at the benchmark S&P 500 Index's biggest moves makes this clear... Major rallies have always come after a big bust. So in the end, Sandy fired her portfolio manager, and we took things into our own hands. We rolled her retirement into an index fund at Vanguard. The first priority was making sure she didn't miss the upside in the recovery that was coming. But after that, what was Sandy supposed to do? It was so painfully obvious... I had spent my career building quantitative tools for Wall Street. And I was darn proud of the work that I had done in helping many elite investors find success with those tools. But when it came to my wife and the thousands of everyday investors who lost a large chunk of their wealth just like her – well, I hadn't done a whole lot for them. Although I was enjoying my retirement, I knew that I had the ability and knowledge to fix this problem. After all, I had developed the tools used by many Wall Street insiders. As Sandy searched for a better solution, I promised myself that I would build the best set of quantitative tools for individual investors on the market. So I ended my retirement and got to work. And in 2011, the Power Gauge came to life. Good investing, Marc Chaikin Editor's note: As longtime readers know, Marc always says that the Power Gauge is the culmination of his life's work. With it, he aims to give regular folks a chance to beat the markets... take back their financial freedom... and build generational wealth for themselves and their families. And tonight, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, Marc is going on camera to reveal the next phase of his goals here at Chaikin Analytics. As he says, it's one of the greatest innovations at our firm since the Power Gauge itself. In short, it's a brand-new Power Gauge strategy designed with the next great market crash in mind – like the one that crushed so many regular folks back in 2008. Marc's event tonight with all the details is completely free to attend. We just ask that you register in advance right here. Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 -0.37% 5 20 5 S&P 500 -1.19% 56 310 132 Nasdaq -1.84% 10 69 21 Small Caps -1.02% 220 1179 502 Bonds -0.66% Consumer Staples +1.55% 4 16 18 — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks remain Bearish. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Consumer Discretionary +3.05% Communication +2.1% Financial +1.43% Energy +1.02% Consumer Staples +0.19% Industrials -0.02% Materials -0.6% Information Technology -0.67% Real Estate -1.05% Health Care -1.48% Utilities -1.91% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Software & Services 15 110 15 Over the past 6 months, the Software & Services subsector (XSW) has outperformed the S&P 500 by +6.57%. Its Power Bar ratio which measures future potential is Neutral, with an equal number of Bullish and Bearish stocks. It is currently ranked #6 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 1 slot over the past week. Indicative Stocks QUBT Quantum Computing In WULF TeraWulf Inc. NN NextNav Inc. *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers CTAS +5.82% PAYX +4.2% MOH +4.16% SYY +3.35% STZ +3.22% Losers SMCI -8.86% MRNA -7.0% ANET -6.07% VST -5.92% NVDA -5.74% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Earnings Surprises CTAS Cintas Corporation Q3 $1.10 Beat by $0.05 PAYX Paychex, Inc. Q3 $1.49 Beat by $0.01 JEF Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Q1 $0.61 Missed by $-0.59 *  *  *  * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, click here. You're receiving this e-mail at STEVENMAGALLANES520.NIMS@BLOGGER.COM. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call +1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. Please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized financial advice. © 2025 Chaikin Analytics, LLC. All rights reserved. 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