Energy is a topic that dominates the news.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re constantly hearing about rising prices at the gasoline pumps\u2026 the ongoing global war for oil\u2026 and the push for cleaner, greener technologies.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the soaring demand for new energy sources \u2013 fueled by growth in emerging markets \u2013 we\u2019re entering a historic era for energy investments.<\/p>\n
Now with all of that said\u2026 let me ask you a simple question:<\/p>\n
Without visiting wind farms or getting a degree in geology, how is it possible for an individual investor to make money from this extraordinary trend?<\/p>\n
After all \u2013 if you\u2019re like me, I\u2019m sure you know plenty of people who have lost money by \u201cgambling\u201d on individual energy stocks.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, I worked with someone \u2013 an incredibly bright guy, Paul K. \u2013 who lost thousands of dollars on speculative energy investments back in the early \u201990s. It wasn\u2019t so much that Paul was a bad investor\u2026 he just kept chasing the next big oil discovery.<\/p>\n
It used to be that making big money in energy was a bit like playing the lottery.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d hear about an exploration company that had a good story\u2026 you\u2019d plunk down your hard-earned cash\u2026 and you\u2019d hope they struck oil.<\/p>\n
Every once in a while \u2013 at a cocktail party, most likely \u2013 you might hear a story from someone who made a killing from an oil strike.<\/p>\n
Of course, it was much more common to hear stories about investments that lost money.<\/strong><\/p>\n But those days are over.<\/em><\/p>\n Thanks to a relatively new investment vehicle, you can harness the power of energy investing and make \u201cspeculator-sized profits\u201d without visiting a single drilling site.<\/p>\n Let me show you what I mean.<\/p>\n Thanks to the combination of two fundamental shifts, it\u2019s possible for individual investors to take enormous stakes in very targeted, specific energy investments\u2026 while at the same time limiting their risk.<\/p>\n The first of these fundamental shifts is in the global demand for energy.<\/p>\n Thanks to the explosion in energy demand from countries like Brazil, Russia, India, and China, our global energy resources are being quickly depleted.<\/p>\n And concern over the geopolitical dangers associated with Middle Eastern oil \u2013 and the push for clean energy technologies \u2013 has helped change the energy landscape in a huge way.<\/p>\n Couple this explosion in energy demand with the second fundamental shift \u2013 the change in how investors can profit from specific \u201cpockets\u201d of the market \u2013 and you have a true game-changer.<\/p>\n Not that long ago, institutional investors had a clear advantage over the little guy when it came to making money in the markets.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because \u2013 when their research showed that a particular sector was about to \u201cpop\u201d \u2013 they could simply gobble up every stock in that sector.<\/p>\n Individuals like you and me didn\u2019t have the resources to do something like that. So we were left to grab a handful of companies and hope for the best.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s all changed, thanks to the invention of the ultimate investor\u2019s \u201cpower tool\u201d: Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).<\/p>\n **** Advertisement ****<\/p>\n After 2 years, our breakthrough is finally online<\/strong><\/p>\n We recently planted a \u201cspyware\u201d program in the stock market.<\/p>\n Along the way, we spent $500,000 and hired 15 Russian programmers and a Ph.D. mathematician to help us. What this means for you is a chance to make a fortune right now.<\/p>\n To see what we\u2019ve done, click here for our full presentation. <\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Now\u2026 you might think of an ETF as simply a way to invest in a particular index, like the NASDAQ or the S&P 500.<\/p>\n But the explosion in growth of ETFs over the last five years has created a world of new opportunities\u2026 though only a small number of individual investors have figured out how to take full advantage.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more \u2013 ETFs are the perfect vehicle to help individual investors capitalize on the fundamental shift in our energy landscape.<\/p>\n Now the easiest thing an investor could do would be to invest in a broad-based ETF \u2013 like the Energy Select Sector ETF (NYSE: XLE) \u2013 that will provide solid returns as the energy sector heats up.<\/p>\n But \u2013 if you know where to look \u2013 greater profits are possible.<\/p>\n As you know, investing in exploration companies can be a real crapshoot.<\/p>\n Even the successful companies tend to come up empty more often than not\u2026 and that can be devastating to an individual investor.<\/p>\n But with carefully selected ETFs, you can take advantage of specific pockets of the energy market.<\/p>\n So long as you\u2019re plugged in to the most important trends, this can be an exceptionally powerful tool.<\/p>\n If, for example, the supply-demand picture for natural gas presents an opportunity\u2026 you can invest in an ETF that focuses on the natural gas markets.<\/p>\n If you see that soaring demand for alternative energy will translate into life-altering profits for some companies \u2013 but you\u2019re not sure which company will \u201cpop\u201d first \u2013 you can invest in ETFs that are devoted to specific niches of the alternative energy market.<\/p>\n In the last six months alone, you could have made 54% profits from a global energy ETF\u2026 59.1% profits from a Canada-based natural gas ETF\u2026 and 31.4% profits from a solar energy ETF.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m sure it\u2019s possible that you could have made more by investing in specific companies that struck it rich during that time.<\/p>\n But I also know that I wouldn\u2019t want the risk associated with the old \u201cneedle-in-a-haystack\u201d approach to energy investing.<\/strong><\/p>\n That approach didn\u2019t work for my friend, Paul K. \u2013 and the truth is, it\u2019s an approach that works for only a very small number of individuals.<\/p>\n But thanks to the power of ETFs \u2013 in particular, the explosion in energy-focused ETFs \u2013 it\u2019s now possible for you to exploit the unprecedented global demand for energy without the risk of lottery-style investing.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s worth remembering that energy, like all investments, is subject to short-term pullbacks from time to time.<\/p>\n But those pullbacks are very small bumps in the road, as global demand for energy continues to soar. And the liquidity and diversification that ETFs provide help minimize your exposure.<\/p>\n In my new advisory service \u2013 ETF Energy Trader<\/em><\/a><\/strong> \u2013 I show you how you can take advantage of where the energy market will \u201cpop\u201d next by putting carefully-selected ETFs to work for you.<\/p>\n When used properly, ETFs allow you to actively trade the historic global shift in energy demand while, at the same time, carefully managing your downside risk.<\/p>\n [Ed. Note<\/strong>: R.J. Sterling is a writer and financial publisher with more than two decades of experience bringing new ideas to investors. To learn more about his ETF Energy Trader<\/em><\/strong> service, click here now<\/a><\/strong>.]<\/p>\n About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise<\/a>, a free newsletter dedicated to creating wealth<\/a> and success<\/a> through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several years ago, I worked with someone \u2013 an incredibly bright guy, Paul K. \u2013 who lost thousands of dollars on speculative energy investments back in the early \u201990s. It wasn\u2019t so much that Paul was a bad investor\u2026 he just kept chasing the next big oil discovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}