Newtown Investment System Guru Urges Followers:

Lose Your Broker

By John Voket

Local author Dan Calandro recently blogged that while he was writing his book Lose Your Broker Not Your Money, and developing its companion web-based information and investing system, “my heart was filled with animosity as my mind speculated the extent of larcenous potential Wall Street could inflict onto the average investor.”

This attitude has not earned him much of a fan base in the corporate world of finance and investing, but that is just fine with Mr Calandro. He believes that one of the best and most prolific talents the Wall Street crowd has developed over the past half a century is convincing the 87 million Americans, and thousands here in Newtown who own mutual funds, that they cannot invest successfully on their own.

“The system I have developed, which is outlined in the book, goes against everything people have been told,” he said one recent morning during a meeting at his office in Sandy Hook. “My system debunks what Wall Street has been preaching for years.”

Mr Calandro says that main stream brokers mostly advise clients to own as much of the market as they can, advising them that by investing in mutual funds they will minimize risk, better protect investments through periods of volatility, and in the end will yield high returns.

“If that is the case, why is the S&P with 500 stocks in its index, consistently outperformed in the long haul by the Dow, which has only 30 [stocks]?” he asks.

According to this somewhat radical sounding financial and economic expert, the investing system that incorporates Mr Calandro’s trademarked 15-51 Indicator gives even the most inexperienced investors a good indication of how stock market strength is performing.

He launched his book and companion website, LoseYourBroker.com, on July 4, 2011 — what he refers to as “financial Independence Day.” His program ties together a multimedia communications company with live appearances, promotions and of course, his book.

And you do not have to be an MBA, or independently wealthy to stake a claim in the Lose Your Broker system. Mr Calandro says the program can be followed easily by an investor with a high school education.

“The 15-51 system is a market portfolio based on 15 stocks, which together have outperformed the S&P and the Dow — it’s up 802 percent in the past 15 years,” he said. “And I guarantee if you follow my investment process, using my portfolio builder, you can even outperform the 15-51 indicator.”

Returning the root of the issue for most investors, Mr Calandro rails against mutual funds.

“The average mutual fund has 1,500 stocks…it’s too big, and they consistently perform below the Dow and S&P. And we have 92 million people who own mutual funds — one out of every two adults owns an average of four,” he said. “I allocate my 15 [stocks] the same way the Dow allocates its 30.”

On the day of his interview, Mr Calandro said eight of the 15 stocks in his program were also in the Dow.

He said his Lose Your Broker system is “not about stock picking, when to buy, or when to sell.”

“I don’t try to buy low and sell high. The reason this system works is because it’s built better,” he added. “Broker portfolios are built to make the stock market money, and the clichéd image of the busy broker and the harried day trader is constructed to reinforce the idea that the average person struggling to make and save a buck is not smart enough to do it themselves.

“And of course they will be very happy to take your money to do it for you,” Mr Calandro said.

He blogs almost daily to “help keep an investor’s eye on what’s really important,” and he said investors can begin utilizing his system with as little as $5,000 to start, and the $27.95 to buy his book. And with the proceeds from the sale of the book, Mr Calandro is reinvesting in the free support services he provides through LoseYourBroker.com.

“These 15 companies represent an above average — not a great — portfolio,” he said. “But you’re building on a strong foundation. I like to think of these stocks as a Navy Seal team: smaller, tighter, well diversified.”

Ultimately, Mr Calandro sees his Lose Your Broker system as a means for both beginner and experienced investors, supported by his free multimedia web service, to build a successful financial future — without the expense of paying a broker to do it for them.