I’m in Japan to share investment ideas with our subscribers in Tokyo.
This year’s event sold out in just eight days. I’ll be giving three presentations to investors who take building wealth seriously.
That is one reason I enjoy these gatherings so much. Our Japanese subscribers are focused, thoughtful, and willing to put in the work. Their commitment reminds me that sound investing principles travel across borders.
We speak different languages, but we share the same goal. We want to put our money to work intelligently and build lasting wealth.
Yesterday, a business meeting brought me to Osaka, where I had some free time. I used it to visit the historic Dojima Rice Exchange.
Osaka’s Dojima Rice Exchange helped shape modern futures trading nearly three centuries ago.
I started my career as a futures trader at the New York Futures Exchange back in 1983. Visiting Dojima connected that beginning with a history stretching back nearly three centuries.
I went to see where organized futures trading took root. I left thinking about the principles that still matter for investors today.
Where Modern Futures Trading Took Root
In 1730, Japan’s government officially authorized the Dojima Rice Exchange. It is widely recognized as the world’s first organized futures exchange.
Rice was central to Japan’s economy during that period. Feudal domains collected rice as taxes and shipped supplies to Osaka.
Brokers traded receipts representing rice, while futures trading developed alongside those transactions.
The exchange established membership rules and a system for settling trades.
These arrangements helped people make plans despite uncertainty about future prices. Behind the trading was an essential commodity that people depended upon.
That history brought three investing lessons into sharper focus for me.
Lesson 1: Lasting Value Starts With A Real Need
Dojima grew around the need to trade something essential. Its importance came from helping people conduct business more effectively.
I look for that same practical value when studying companies. The strongest businesses give customers compelling reasons to keep coming back.
A hospital needs software that helps its staff work efficiently. A farmer needs equipment that makes each acre more productive. An airline needs maintenance that keeps its aircraft flying safely.
When a business performs that work well, customers have good reasons to stay. That relationship can support repeat revenue and growing earnings over time.
Wall Street can get excited about a story long before customers prove its value. We want evidence that a company is earning its place in their budgets.
Our Alpha-4 Approach helps us study the business behind the stock. We examine its growth opportunities, leadership, financial strength, and investment price.
An essential service can create extraordinary value without making exciting headlines. That is why understanding the customer matters so much to our research.
Lesson 2: A Stock Quote Cannot Do Your Research
Dojima’s rice prices reached distant cities through couriers and flag signals. Those prices became reference points far beyond the exchange itself.
Today, we receive market prices almost instantly on our phones. We can check a stock dozens of times before lunch.
That gives us more updates, but it does not give us more understanding. A stock quote alone cannot tell us whether a business is improving.
It cannot explain why customers stay or whether competitors are gaining ground. It cannot tell us whether management is investing cash wisely.
We have to do that work before judging an investment.
A lower price can make a strong business more attractive. It can reflect problems that threaten the company’s future.
Research helps us distinguish an opportunity from a business we should avoid.
The same care applies when a stock rises sharply. We need to know whether business results support the market’s enthusiasm.
In the American Prosperity Report, our conviction must rest on business evidence. Watching the price move is never a substitute for understanding what we own.
Lesson 3: Certainty Is Too Expensive To Wait For
Osaka’s merchants made decisions before they knew tomorrow’s rice prices. Investors today must act before they know tomorrow’s earnings or headlines.
Complete certainty never arrives in time to make investing easy. By the time an opportunity looks obvious, its price may already reflect that confidence.
Our task is to make thoughtful decisions with the evidence available. We study carefully, manage risk, and adjust when the facts change.
Then we give sound businesses time to produce results.
That is what I’ll share with our subscribers in Tokyo. It is the same discipline we bring to our portfolio.
My visit to Osaka reminded me how long markets have rewarded useful innovation. America’s businesses continue creating opportunities for investors willing to study them.
Through the American Prosperity Report, we put that belief to work for you.
My goal is to help you own pieces of exceptional businesses that can compound your wealth for years.
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If you have questions, you can send them to me at [email protected].
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Regards,
Charles Mizrahi
Prosperity Insider
