Skip to Main Content

The Secret of Directional Investing

Making Money Amidst the Red-Blue Rumble

Published by Post Hill Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

To know the trend, spot the trend, or shape the trend is to make money.

The trend is your friend—investors know that. But the biggest money comes from the biggest events. The more delta, the more alpha.

In that spirit, The Secret of Directional Investing offers a new way of thinking about investing, steeped in culture and history. Focusing on megatrends, this book points out ways to profit from an understanding of two kinds of trends: those that can be spotted, and those that can be shaped. There’s money in both. The Romans weren’t kidding when they said, Audentes Fortuna luvat—Fortune favors the bold. The Secret of Directional Investing is a bold look at investments and potential investments.

About The Author

James P. Pinkerton is a veteran of two White Houses, three presidential transitions, and six presidential campaigns. He worked at Fox News for twenty years, as a columnist for Newsday for fifteen years, and has published widely, from The New York Times to Foreign Affairs, from National Review to The American Conservative.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Post Hill Press (May 28, 2024)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798888450482

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

“Like others I’ve met who worked in the Regan White House, Jim Pinkerton has a sharp mind and is an independent thinker. Directional Investing is full of great economic and historic anecdotes and frameworks that are helpful to understand and think about the past, and also how to understand—and shape—the future.”

– Joe Lonsdale, Founder of Palantir and 8VC

“You can’t control the outcome of American politics, but you can still make money. That is the message of Jim Pinkerton in The Secret of Directional Investing. Don’t believe the doomsayers: America’s divisions create profit opportunities. It’s all about ‘being in the right place at the right time’ insists Pinkerton—a Washington insider who helps you position yourself in today’s battles between Red and Blue. Perhaps most important, he shows how you can, indeed, should shape as well as spot money-making trends."

– Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute

“Where the business climate and the political climate come together, opportunities are to be found—and when the subject is political and economic climate change, James Pinkerton knows which way the winds are blowing.”

– Michael Lind, author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States

“Jim Pinkerton, widely reputed to be the smartest man in Washington, has always had an uncanny ability to see around corners. Now future-minded readers can profit from Pinkerton's boundless curiosity, voracious reading, brilliant synthesis, and visionary insight. And despite the book's unflinching prediction that Red America and Blue America are becoming opposed and incompatible tribes, there's comfort in the conclusion that the country ultimately can live with its differences—and that wise investors will reap benefits from the new national arrangements.”

– Geoffrey Kabaservice, Vice President for Political Studies at the Niskanen Center

“If America remains in a hopelessly polarized Blue State, Red State American condition today, is a rapid destructive decline inevitable? In his new book, The Secret to Directional Investing, Jim Pinkerton boldly demonstrates how America remains a land of unique opportunity—as a result of its diverse opinion, population and unique constitutional system. If we direct our divergent perspectives toward more creative entrepreneurial targets. Our differences may actually uncover dramatic, exponential breakthroughs in healthcare, energy, education, longevity and prosperity instead of wasteful destructive debate.”

– Clara Del Villar, Founder, CEO Schola Labs

“Drawing from an entertaining mix of popular culture, history, technology, and public policy mayhem, Jim Pinkerton's new book will shock and delight its readers. Pinkerton delivers an insightful, forward-looking view of the forces shaping America and its future. You don't want to be the last person to read this book!”

– Jim Carter, past appointee to senior positions at the White House National Economic Council, the Departments of Treasury and Labor, and the Senate Budget Committee

"James Pinkerton is one of the most creative analysts I've encountered in my career in public policy. The Secret of Directional Investing will make you consider larger trends you haven't thought about before."

– Avik Roy, Policy Editor, Forbes

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images