3,2,1 - Happy New Year ! As we flip over the page of 2025 and continue our journey into 2026, I would like to thank you for being part of this community and on my email list. 2025 was a year of growth for me, where I rapidly tested hundreds of investing strategies (experiencing another growth spurt in my investing career) 2026 ​is the year when we scale strategies and help more people in the process ​​Instead of capital gains, my focus is now to help people retire better with income-genearting strategies. ​​ This is particularly helpful if one is using Roth or a Traditional IRA to invest, where one can generate the income and delay tax until one needs it (or completely tax free with Roth) ​​ ​I wish you the best for 2026 and thanks again for your support in 2025. Cheers, Eric ---- Eric Seto Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) Founder of 5MinInvesting.com In January, my goal is to help 25 people without a financial background to master investing through Investing Accelerator. Investing Accelerator is designed for people without a financial background. The goal is to achieve 30% return per year. In the first phase, you will learn long term investing and targeting 30% for tax free compound growth. This will help accelerate your overall wealth. In the second phase, you will learn monthly passive income to provide a more predictable cash flow (target 30% per year) which can cover your expenses. This will help accelerate your retirement goals. Here's a step by step guide on how to join Investing Accelerator for free: https://www.skool.com/invest-retire-community-1699/how-to-join-investing-accelerator-for-free If you are interested, then let's hop on a call to see if you can benefit from the strategies in Investing Accelerator and get target 30% per year. During the call, we will map out exactly how you can achieve target 30%, what you are lacking, how you can improve.

Right before the end of the year, something caught my attention in the commodity markets. Usually, I am not a big fan of commodities as I ​only invest when there's a commodity super cycle. However, silver has gone up 160% in the last 12 months ​ Why is that? Jan 1 2026 - China is implementing an export license (as a method to control) silver exports. This applies to silver and other precious metals that tech companies need. This would directly target data centers, chips, and electronics. ​Right now, we are seeing a mad rush to purchase silver right before the export control becomes effective on January 1 2026. ​However, as an investor, I don't think it is worth it to jump into silver right now because these policies can change on a whim. For example, China can come out tomorrow and say the export contorl is delayed or it is not as bad as we imagined. ​ But it is important to keep track of this export license control because it might impact the profitability of tech companies (which means the overall market might go down)​​ Cheers, Eric ---- Eric Seto Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) Founder of 5MinInvesting.com In January, my goal is to help 25 people without a financial background to master investing through Investing Accelerator. Investing Accelerator is designed for people without a financial background. The goal is to achieve 30% return per year. In the first phase, you will learn long term investing and targeting 30% for tax free compound growth. This will help accelerate your overall wealth. In the second phase, you will learn monthly passive income to provide a more predictable cash flow (target 30% per year) which can cover your expenses. This will help accelerate your retirement goals. Here's a step by step guide on how to join Investing Accelerator for free: https://www.skool.com/invest-retire-community-1699/how-to-join-investing-accelerator-for-free

As we are approaching 2026, my student asks me - when should I invest in small caps given large caps are so high? What about international markets? Currently, the market is high Not just for US, but for Asia and Europe as well. Large caps are high mainly due to the AI bubble which makes you feel like you should pursue smaller "unnoticed companies." This is exactly the trap I fell into in the last market cycle. This causes me (and potentially you) to find "hidden gems" when the market is high and find small companies to invest in. The problem with small caps is that - it generally drops faster than large cap when we are in a bear market. Large caps can drop and they will recover most of the time The key difference between large-cap and small-cap is that small-caps can drop and never recover.​​​​​​​​ This is why during good times, you can invest in small caps for a short term momentum play but not to invest in small caps hoping they will survive the bear makret (becasue they usually don't). Instead, you should find small caps once you observe and see the bear market ending. ​​​ ​ Then and only then, should you find great small caps with good fundamentals and strong momentum to invest in.​ Large cap is my bread and butter because I know it will come back and recover given enough time while there is no such "promise" for small caps. ​ Cheers, Eric ---- Eric Seto Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) Founder of 5MinInvesting.com In January, my goal is to help 20 people without a financial background to master investing through Investing Accelerator. Investing Accelerator is designed for people without a financial background. The goal is to achieve 30% return per year. In the first phase, you will learn long term investing and targeting 30% for tax free compound growth. This will help accelerate your overall wealth. In the second phase, you will learn monthly passive income to provide a more predictable cash flow (target 30% per year) which can cover your expenses. This will help accelerate your retirement goals.

Wishing everyone a great new year. Stay safe, focus on your health and invest wisely in 2026.

🥇 Gold notched its 50th record of 2025, up ~70% to nearly $4,500/oz on rate-cut bets tied to the Federal Reserve and rising geopolitical risk, while silver hit ~$70/oz after gaining ~140% this year. 🇳🇿 New Zealand’s free-trade deal with India cuts tariffs on 95% of exports and aims for $20bn of investment over 15 years, but leaves dairy firms like Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd ⌨️ Rakuten Group Inc says its in-house AI models are ~90% cheaper to run than rivals, with a 1,000-person team using thousands of NVIDIA Corp chips and AI already adding ¥10.5bn ($67m) 🇪🇺 EU governments agreed on a common position on the digital euro, clearing the way for talks with lawmakers and a possible 2029 launch led by the European Central Bank.