☕️ AI and should you go to the sidelines?

Howdy! 👋 

Markets are red in the early going.  

No surprise there. 

Happens every earnings season when the numbers are in and the market hasn't got any real numbers to chew on… so they lurch from headline to headline.  

Today it’s AI, oil and rates. 

I’d tell you not to let this schtuuff bother you, but you know that because I’ve said it 100 times over. 

What matters now is not giving up. 

History shows very clearly that the bulls make their money when the bears come out to play. 

Here’s my playbook. 

1 – When in doubt, zoom out 

I’ll be the first to admit on days like today it’s tempting to run for the hills or to stick your head in the sand with a sign on your rumpus saying, “Kick me when it’s over” but that is one of the single biggest, most costly mistakes any investor can make. 

I know that sounds trite... believe me, I get it because it took me years to get comfortable with the numbers. But here they are. 

Since 1928: 

• There have been roughly 24,700 trading sessions and the odds of a higher close are ~53%. 

• There have been about 94 5-year rolling periods, of which, ~88% resulted in a higher close. 

• There have been about 89 10-year rolling periods, of which ~95% resulted in a higher close. 

• There have been about 79 20-year rolling periods, of which 100% resulted in a higher close. 

People constantly argue with me about this, but the data is as clear as it gets. 

It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, the markets have an upside bias over time which is why the longer you keep your money in the game, the better YOUR odds of success become. 

Simple as that. 

2 – AI & going to the sidelines? 

Futures were decidedly nasty this morning ahead of the opening bell when I sat down with the super-savvy Stuart Varney who wanted my thoughts on AI and how an investor should navigate current market conditions. (Watch) 

3 – Stop trying to pick the “best AI” models, do this instead 

The herd is falling all over itself about the pace of AI development. 

There's another angle that could be infinitely more valuable. 

Cybersecurity. 

My advice? 

Stop trying to pick the “best AI” models and concentrate on protecting against even the worst. 

There is a snowball’s chance in you know where that this genie is going back in the bottle which means the profit potential just expanded dramatically. 

I've been all but screaming from the rooftop about this for a long time, and investors who are part of the OBA Family have had the chance to benefit from that insight handsomely with several specialized recommendations, one of which has beaten the S&P 500 by ~5.5 to 1 so far.  

Hopefully, you’re one of ‘em but if not you know where to find me. 

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz put it bluntly at the company's Fal.Con keynote earlier this month: the old assumption that only nation-states could pull off sophisticated attacks is dead. AI has handed low-skill attackers elite-level tools. 

MyPOV is that no amount of posturing from C-suite execs like we’ve seen over the weekend and this morning is going to change that. 

Pacing the frontier is a policy conversation, but securing what's already out there is very much a today problem.  

This isn’t new. 

What people are missing today is that it was the same with cell phones, smart phones, heck, even the Internet itself. 

When the Internet went mainstream in the 1990s, nobody thought about firewalls until they had to. Then an entire industry – Symantec, McAfee, and the antivirus era – got built almost overnight because suddenly everybody's front door had a lock nobody knew how to install. 

Smartphones did it again. The minute every human on Earth started carrying a hackable supercomputer in their pocket, mobile security and biometric authentication went from "nice to have" to mandatory infrastructure. 

Same movie, different decade.  

AI is just the latest reel. 

Every enterprise racing to deploy AI agents is also racing to create a brand-new attack surface it doesn't fully understand yet. Every Chief Information Security Officer is dang close to blank check mode or heading that direction imho. 

I don’t know of too many investors who can afford to miss that kind of potential, so be sure YOU don’t. 

Keith's Investing Tip: History shows very clearly that investing ahead of the curve is the most profitable path, even while the smartest people in the room are still arguing about what the curve looks like. 

4 – Stablecoins: Another nail in the small banking coffin 

Several years back I made the observation that stablecoins would pressure small banks at a time when everybody was inured with all things bitcoin. 

Seems that I might have been on to something. 

US Treasury estimates that something on the order of $6.6 trillion in non-interest-bearing deposits are exposed to what it calls “stablecoin displacement.” 

I think it’s higher. 

A 2026 survey of nearly 100 community banks found that 90% are already seeing customers move money to platforms like Coinbase but – and here comes the real whammy – for every $1 that came back, nearly $3 left. (Read) 

This pressures everything from auto loans to farm equipment, mortgages, local community business lending and more. 

I'm not sure where the opportunity is just yet but it’s on my radar. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to avoid small, medium and community banks. 

You? 

Keith’s Investing Tip: Buy the best, ignore the rest® isn’t just a mantra around here. The numbers bear that out more than ever. 

5 – The strongest argument for EVs yet (even if you hate EVs) 

CNBC is reporting what it actually costs to own a gas car in 2026, and even the most diehard combustion-engine holdout should pay attention. (Read) 

Auto insurance is up 50% since 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Gas prices are 55% higher than 2019 per AAA. Maintenance and repair costs in 2025 ran roughly 23.5% above where they sat six years earlier, AAA estimates. 

Diesel's pushing past $6 a gallon, also according to AAA, whose national average hit $5.88 in early September – a fresh all-time high, edging past the previous record set back in June 2022. 

None of that requires you to like EVs.  

Just to do the math. 

The average ICE engine has between 400-1,000 parts, substantially all of which require maintenance. The average EV drivetrain has 3-5. 

There are a handful of EV stocks out there at the moment that, I submit, are worth your time and attention as an investor if not as a driver. 

One of ‘em – Tesla – has created more wealth faster than any other company that’s gone public in history but that’s neither here nor there.  

You owe it to yourself to take what I am saying seriously.  

Global EV sales hit roughly 23 million vehicles this year – close to 30% of all cars sold, up from 25% in 2025. By 2035 and even without any new policy changes, the global EV fleet will hit 510 million units, a 6X increase from 80 million units today. And again, that’s not a green fantasy number but the current policy case. 

The global transportation market is changing. 

Full stop… or in this case, start. 😜 

Keith’s Investing Tip: Most investors want desperately to hit the big time but most won’t because they cannot reconcile the small changes happening right in front of ‘em on a daily basis. 

Bottom Line 

A lot of people are distracted at the moment. 

Let this sink in. 

Read it a few times if you must. 

Profit potential is directly correlated to the ability to change your mind when presented with accurate information that contradicts your perception and your beliefs. 

You got this — I promise. 

As always, let’s MAKE it a great day. 

Keith 😀