An open door revealed what, in daytime, was a secretary's office and file room. Stepping inside, Lewis returned with two brandy goblets and a bottle of Courvoisier from which he poured.
'I've often wondered,' Alex mused, 'about the background of a successful financial newsletter.'
'I can only speak personally for mine, which is regarded by competent judges as the best there is.' Lewis gave Alex a cognac, then motioned to an open box of cigars. 'Help yourself they're Macanudos, none better. Also tax deductible.' 'How do you manage that?'
Lewis chuckled. 'Take a look at the band around each cigar. At trifling cost I have the original bands removed and a special one put on which reads The D'Orsey Newsletter. That's advertising a business expense, so every time I smoke a cigar I've the satisfaction of knowing it’s on Uncle Sam.'
Without comment, Alex took a cigar which he sniffed appreciatively. He had long since ceased to make moral judgments about tax loopholes. Congress made them the law of the land, and who could blame an individual for using them?
'Answering your question,' Lewis said, 'I make no secret of the purpose of The D'Orsey Newsletter.' He lit Alex's cigar, then his own, and inhaled luxuriously. 'It's to help the elite get richer or at worst, keep what they have.' 'So I've noticed.'
Such newsletter, as Alex was aware, contained moneymaking advice securities to buy or sell, currencies to switch into or out of, commodities to deal in, foreign stock markets to favor or avoid, tax loopholes for the wealthy and freewheeling, how to deal through Swiss accounts, political background likely to affect money, impending disasters which those with inside knowledge could turn to profit. The list was always long, the tone of the newsletter authoritative and absolute. There was seldom any hedging.
'Unfortunately,' Lewis added, 'there are lots of phonies and charlatans in the financial newsletter business, which do the serious, honest letters harm. Some so-called newsletters are skims of newspapers, and therefore valueIess; others tout stocks and take payoffs from brokers and promoters, though in the end that kind of chicanery shows. There are maybe half a dozen worthwhile newsletters, with mine at the apex.'
In anyone else, Alex thought, the continual ego-thumping would be offensive. Somehow, with Lewis, it wasn't, perhaps because he had the track record to sustain it. And as to Lewis's extreme right-wing politics, Alex found he could screen them out, leaving a clear financial distillate like tea passed through a strainer. 'I believe you're one of my subscribers,' Lewis said. 'Yes through the bank.'
'Here's a copy of my new issue. Take it, even though you'll get yours in the mail on Monday.'
'Thank you.' Alex accepted the pale blue lithographed sheet four quarto-size pages when folded, and unimpressive in appearance. The original had been closely typewritten, then photographed and reduced. But what the newsletter lacked in visual style, it made up in monetary value. It was Lewis's boast that those who followed his advice could increase whatever capital they had by a quarter to a half in any given year, and in some years double or triple it.
'What's your secret?' Alex said. 'How is it you're so often right?'
'I've a mind like a computer with thirty years of input.' Lewis puffed at his cigar, then tapped his forehead with a bony finger. 'Every morsel of financial knowledge that I've ever learned is stored in there. I also can relate one item to another, and, the future to the past. In addition I've something a computer hasn't instinctive genius.' 'Why bother with a newsletter then? Why not just make a fortune for yourself!'
'No satisfaction in it. No competition. Besides,' Lewis grinned, 'I'm not doing badly.' 'As I recall, your subscription rate
…'
'Is three hundred dollars a year for the newsletter. Two thousand dollars an hour for personal consultations.'
'I've sometimes wondered how many subscribers you have.' 'So do others. It’s a secret I guard carefully.' 'Sorry. I didn't mean to pry.' 'No reason not to. In your place, I'd be curious.'
Tonight, Alex thought, Lewis seemed more relaxed than at any time before.
'Maybe I'll share that secret with you,' Lewis said 'Any man likes to boast a little. I've more than five thousand newsletter subscribers.'
Alex did mental arithmetic and whistled softly. It meant an annual income of more than a million and a half dollars.
'As well as that,' Lewis confided, 'I publish a book each year and do about twenty consultations every month. The fees and book royalties cover all my costs, so the newsletter is entirely profit.'
'That's amazing!' And yet, Alex reflected, perhaps it really wasn't. Anyone who heeded Lewis's counsel could recoup their outlay hundreds of times over. Besides which, both the newsletter subscription and consultation fee were tax deductible.
'Is there any one piece of over-all guidance,' Alex asked, 'that you'd give to people with money to invest or save?' 'Absolutely, yes, take care of it yourself.' 'Supposing it's someone who doesn't know…'
'Then find out. Learning isn't all that hard, and looking after your own money can be fun. Listen to advice, of course, though be skeptical and wary, and selective about which advice you take. After a while you'll learn whom to trust, and not. Read widely, including newsletters like mine. But never give anyone else the right to make decisions for you. Especially that means stockbrokers, who represent the fastest way to lose what you already have, and bank trust departments.' 'You don't like trust departments?'
'Dammit, Alex, you know perfectly well the record of yours and other banks is awful. Big trust accounts get individual service of a sort. Medium and small ones are either in a general pot or are handled by low-salaried incompetents who can't tell a bull market from bearshit.'
Alex grimaced, but didn't protest. HE knew too well that with a few honorable exceptions what Lewis had said was true.
Sipping their cognac in the smoke-filled room, both men were silent. Alex turned the pages of the latest Newsletter, skimming its contents, which he would read in detail later, As usual, some material was technical Chartwise we appear to be off on the 3rd leg of the bear mkt. The 200 day mvg avg has been broken in all 3 DJ averages which are in perfect downside synchronization. The AD line is crashing.
More simple was:
Recommended mix of currencies:
Swiss Francs 40%
Dutch Guilders 25%
Deutsche marks 20%
Canadian Dollars 10%
Austrian Schillings 5%
- U.S. Dollars 0%
Also, Lewis advised his readers, they should continue to hold 40% of total assets in gold bullion, gold coins and gold raining shares.
A regular column listed international securities to trade or hold. Alex's eye ran down the 'buy' and 'hold' lists, then the 'sell.' He stopped sharply at: 'Supranational sell immediately at market.'
'Lewis, this Supranational item why sell Supranational? And 'immediately at market'? You've had it for years as a 'long-term hold.''
His host considered before answering. 'I'm uneasy about SuNatCo. I'm getting too many fragments of negative information from unrelated sources. Some rumors about big losses which haven't been reported. Also stories of sharp accounting practices among subsidiaries. An unconfirmed story out of Washington that Big George Quartermain is shopping for a Lockheed-type subsidy. What it amounts to is maybe maybe not… shoal waters ahead. As a precaution, I prefer my people out.'
'But everything you've said is rumor and shadow. You can hear it about any company. Where's the substance?'
'There is none. My 'sell' recommendation is on instinct. There are times I act on it. This is one.' Lewis D'Orsey placed his cigar stub in an ashtray and put down his empty glass. 'Shall we rejoin the ladies?'
'Yes,' Alex said, and followed Lewis. But his mind was still on Supranational.
4
'I wouldn't have believed,' Nolan Wainwright said harshly, 'that you'd have the nerve to come here.'
'I didn't think I would either.' Miles Eastin's voice betrayed his nervousness. 'I thought of coming yesterday,
