Ten years ago, I nailed it. I even remember the exact day: Friday, March 6, 2009. I don’t mean to brag, but it was one of the best calls I ever made. The market had been in a long and brutal decline after the financial crisis and Great Recession. The S&P 500 was down 57% from its last high, which had come nearly two years earlier. The next trading day, Monday, March 9, the S&P 500 made its closing low of 676.53. Ten years later, on Friday, March 8, 2019, the S&P closed at 2,743.07 – a 311% gain. And now we’re up to a 339% gain after racking up new highs last week!

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best. I thought about that quote when analyzing the performance of the market, marijuana stocks in general, and the marijuana stocks I’ve recommended in particular. Good: The S&P 500 had its best first half of a year in two decades, up 17%. Any industry that can beat the market by 20% will make investors a lot of money over time. Better: Marijuana stocks beat that by 10 percentage points. BEST: Our Investment Opportunities cannabis stocks killed both the S&P 500 and broad marijuana stocks, surging 42% on average.

Here’s some trivia for you: Which American holiday is #1 for beer retailers? As you might have guessed by the timing of my question — it’s the Fourth of July! According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the demand for beer right now is double that of a typical week. And the Fourth is a milestone for the industry, much like “Black Friday” is for other retailers. On some of the biggest days for backyard barbecues, beer companies are moving a lot of six-packs. No surprise there. I’ll probably have a few cold ones myself on the holiday. So why — right in the middle of its best season — did one of the biggest alcohol distributors make a major investment outside of its industry?