DR. STEPHEN LEEB PHD | Finance & Investing News

For more than 40 years Stephen Leeb in his books, investment letters, blogs, and at conferences and on media has been providing investors with advice and analysis that they can’t obtain anywhere else. He is known for his prescience in uncovering hidden or overlooked trends – macroeconomic, scientific, and geopolitical – and connecting the dots to explain what they mean for investors, often going against the conventional wisdom of the time.

He wrote his first book, Getting in on the Ground Floor: How to Make Money Now – and From Now On – in the New Bull Market (with Donna Leeb, Putnam, 1986) when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering at around 1,000 with most analysts believing it would continue to struggle within a limited trading range. Stephen saw that a change in the underlying economic realities, in particular low inflation, would lead to sustainable economic growth that would propel stocks into a powerful bull market that would last years – as indeed occurred.

In Defying the Market: Profiting in the Turbulent Post-Technology Market Boom (with Donna Leeb, McGraw-Hill, 1999), written when tech stocks were surging to new heights every day, Stephen foresaw the bursting of the tech bubble, pointing out flaws in the widespread starry-eyed belief in the limitless potential of technology. Arguing that information technology was inadequate to solve real problems such as resource shortages, he predicted that the huge gains in tech stocks would not last. Half a year later, the boom turned into bust. The book also accurately forecast far higher prices for commodities including gold. A portfolio of stocks recommended in the book has solidly outperformed the S&P 500. Library Journal named Defying the Market one of the best business books of 1999.

In The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself – and Profit – from the Coming Energy Crisis (with Donna Leeb, Warner, 2004), Stephen correctly predicted that changing dynamics in energy markets would push oil – then at $30 – above $100 a barrel. The book also introduced a new stock market forecaster based on percentage changes in oil prices. This “Master Key” indicator accurately predicted the fall in stocks in 2008 and their later subsequent recovery. Myron Kandel, then with CNN Financial News, called The Oil Factor a “blockbuster… A powerful warning coupled with well-documented advice.” Gene Marcial, then BusinessWeek’s Wall Street columnist, called it “brilliantly and superbly written. A truly impressive account of how much the oil supply problem has been…misunderstood.”

The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel (with Glen Strathy, Warner, 2006), a New York Times bestseller, outlined the biggest challenges facing the U.S. economy and pointed to the potential for vast damage from the massive amount of debt accumulating in the housing sector.

Red Alert: How China’s Growing Prosperity Threatens the American Way of Life (with Gregory Dorsey, Hachette, 2011) warned that China was outfoxing the U.S. by amassing critical resources that would soon become increasingly scarce. Publishers Weekly praised it as “a much needed shot in the arm for American complacency.” It was awarded the 2012 Axiom Business Book Awards silver medal for books covering international affairs.

Stephen’s other books include Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy (with Glen Strathy Business Plus, 2009). It dissected the interconnections among essential commodities to warn that the U.S. needed to secure essential resources before time ran out. Market Timing for the Nineties: The Five Key Signals for When to Buy, Hold and Sell (with Roger S. Conrad, 1993, HarperBusiness) and The Agile Investor: Profiting from the End of Buy and Hold (with Roger S. Conrad, 1997, HarperBusiness) offered practical investing strategies.

In his latest book, China’s Rise and the New Age of Gold: How Investors Can Profit from a Changing World (with Donna Leeb, 2020, McGraw-Hill Business), Stephen once again connects the dots to describe how China’s pursuit of long-term goals – including its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and its intention of remaking the world’s monetary system – will push gold to undreamt of heights, $20,000 or higher. The book offers specific ways for investors to invest in gold and related metals like silver that also will rise. Beyond its investment advice, the book is a thoughtful and controversial take on geopolitical trends, arguing that it is a losing strategy to pursue a Cold War with China and that to avoid becoming a second-rate power, the U.S. has to once again devote itself to long-term goals.

Stephen is editor of the award-winning publication The Complete Investor, which he founded in 2003 and which is published by Capitol Investment Group, a financial publisher based in Washington, D.C. The publication follows five distinct portfolios including big-cap growth, income and value stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and smaller aggressive plays. In addition, Steve is chief investment officer of his own New York-based wealth management firm.

Dr. Leeb received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He then earned his master’s degree in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Illinois in just three years, an academic record that still stands to date.

Stephen has been a regular participant on Neil Cavuto’s Money “Bitter Boomers” segment and is frequently interviewed for various radio shows and podcasts. He is a regular contributor to King World News, the top website for all matters relating to gold investing. Among his many speaking engagements, he has been the keynote speaker at both a JPMorgan Chase energy conference and a Royal Bank of Canada commodities conference.

Stephen and his wife Donna Leeb, co-author of four of his books, live in New York City. They have two sons, one grandson, and happily share their apartment with their Labradoodle and cat.