Real Wealth Strategist Review

Real Wealth Strategist

In this review from IBuyIReview, you’ll discover what Real Wealth Strategist is all about, and whether the subscription is the right fit for you. Beyond that, we’ll also talk about the man behind the writing of Real Wealth Strategist, Matt Badiali. After all, you have to trust the writer if you’re going to trust the writing, right?

First and foremost, I do want to say that I am in no way affiliated with the subscription, Matt, or Banyan Hill publishing. While this review is meant to help you make your own decision on the newsletter, the opinions expressed within it are my own.

Now that we’re through that…

Are you ready to dive in?

Table of Contents

What Is Real Wealth Strategist?

Real Wealth Strategist is a monthly subscription newsletter meant to serve advice and tips to entry-level investors who are just getting into the scene. It is written by Matt Badiali, a popular financial analyst who has made his mark on many other areas of the financial industry.

This newsletter is not the first of its kind – there are many financial advice newsletters out there – but it stands out largely because of the unique investments it recommends.

Instead of recommending you invest in cryptocurrency and NFTs, it typically provides recommendations for natural resources such as copper, gold, mining, gemstones, and other resources.

This might be surprising in a world that seems to be shifting to more digital commodities every day, but Matt has experience that he feels backs up this advice. In fact, many of his own investments are in these natural resources.

Does that sound interesting to you? If not, this newsletter might not be for you. I have yet to hear of Matt Badiali recommending anything other than natural resources in his writings. Still, if it’s something you’re willing to look into as an investor, I wouldn’t toss it aside just yet.

Now, this all sounds fine until you start hearing things like “biggest cash grab in history” and “limited spots available” which is typical of the advertising you might see on Banyan Hill.

banyan-hill

While these advertising quips might be innocent on the surface, they’re commonly associated with get rich quick schemes and financial scams, so it’s worth investigating further.

According to StockGumShoe, which allows the community to rate stock newsletters, the newsletter scored a solid 3.0 out of 5 stars across 270 votes. Investment performance ranked just barely above 3 stars, while quality of writing, value, and customer service all scored 3 stars. Since it’s advice about my money, I’d personally want a little higher a rating.

There is also a rumor that the letter has been advertised on the radio under another name, Freedom Checks. (1) This term was created by the publishing company Real Wealth Strategist is offered under, though the premise is scam-worthy, with Matt advertising “On February 1 568 ‘designated entities’ will begin paying out $34.6 billion to American Taxpayers in U.S. Freedom Checks”

“Once I stumbled upon these massive checks and their life-changing effects … I immediately knew I had found one of the biggest opportunities I had ever seen.”
Matt Badiali

(Did I mention you have to pay money to get access to these checks?)

That doesn’t inspire a great amount of confidence in the legitimacy of the rest of their products, I’ll tell you that.

Who Is Matt Badiali?

Matt Badiali is a financial analyst who primarily received his education in Geology and Earth Science. He graduated from Penn State University with a B.S in Geological and Earth Sciences in 1992, and later went on to graduate from Florida Atlantic University with a Master’s degree in 2000. He immediately began a new course, graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as “All But Dissertation Ph.D. Candidate” in Sedimentary Geology.

That’s quite an educational portfolio!

The man used this education to become a geologist with the Lemenze Environmental Drilling Company; however, he discovered a passion for financial analysis in this time. In 2005, he moved on to become a geological analyst at Stansberry & Associates, and created the Stansberry Resource Report, a popular natural resource investment letter.

A lot of this advice does stem from Matt’s previous career as a geologist, where he became very familiar with the types of commodities that make investors a lot of money. (2) Many of his news column appearances are his advice and weighing in on how current political events are affecting the natural resource stock market.

“If we could see [gold] break $1,215, that to me would be evidence that the sentiment on gold and the dollar is starting to turn,”
Matt Badiali

Matt’s passion for financial analysis and advice is clear, but his true passion still lies in geology. He has kept true to this industry over his time as a financial analyst and shows no sign of slowing down or shifting to another industry.

It is believed that his passion for geology made him ultimately choose natural resources as an investment niche, though he hasn’t confirmed this directly.

About Banyan Hill Publishing

Banyan Hill publishing does indeed have several names which help make its publishing a bit more credible. It is a well-known financial research and publishing company that is widely trusted in many circles of the financial industry.

The publishing company primarily targets entry-level or advanced-beginner financial investors for its subscriptions like Real Wealth Strategist. Fortunately, however, their main free content is available for financial investors and analysts of all experience levels, making the industry more accessible and better informed.

While Banyan Hill has hosted some credible names, they’ve also hosted some not-so-credible names that have come under fire as offering scam newsletters that don’t serve any real information.

Matt Badiali has unfortunately come under the same kind of suspicions from the community, and it’s decidedly split – a lot of readers believe it provides them with valuable financial advice, while others aren’t certain it’s helped them in any significant way, potentially wasting time.

The man joined Banyan Hill Publishing company in 2017 as a full-time senior analyst who was responsible for daily content creation and maintaining the company’s Twitter account. In 2020, however, he left the company to pursue independent financial research and found his own investment publication company, Mangrove Investor.

Who Is This Subscription Meant For?

The Real Wealth Strategist is no longer actively running, so it’s important to note that if you subscribe to any of Banyan Hill Publications’ letters, they won’t be run by Matt Badiali. Still, some Real Wealth Strategist special reports are available on their site, such as The Mining Coup of the Millenium and The Secret to Getting Texas Rich.

Active updates to the letter stopped when Matt left the company in 2020.

When the letter was around, however, it was primarily meant for the entry-level investor who has little experience and in need of advice. Those with a low-risk appetite would have benefitted from this newsletter, as many of the recommendations were rather straightforward. By now, however, I would expect many of the stocks to either be defunct or over-saturated.

Be aware that the Real Wealth Strategist, along with any other financial newsletter, cannot guarantee positive results. If these newsletters do make a promise that you’ll see a dollar amount gain or promise a certain return over time, then it’s time to make a run for it.

money

Cost to Subscribe to Real Wealth Strategist

The Real Wealth Strategist doesn’t have just one tier of pricing; since it offers some modicum of customization based on the amount you want to pay for the subscription. Remember that this subscription cost is the monthly fee, not a one-time transaction. The monthly fee covers a new issue of the letter each month.

Compared to some other financial analysis letters, these prices are reasonable, though that doesn’t always mean the content inside is or is not valuable. Here are the details:

Package #1: The Standard Edition

The Standard membership tier costs $47/mo. This is the basic access to just the newsletter, published once a month. You can sign up for a yearly subscription to this letter if you’d like, or stick with their monthly cost. There’s no other bells and whistles, which is perfect if you just want the baseline product.

The Standard Edition does include email reminders about the product when it is published, though it’s important to note that the subscription cost is set to auto-renew. If you stop reading the letter, you will want to cancel it ahead of the renewal date.

Package #2: The Premium Edition

The Premium membership – also sometimes called the gold membership – costs $79/mo. This price was supposedly reduced from $496 but reducing prices to show the strike-through cost on the site is a common marketing technique to make buyers think they’re getting a great deal.

As far as I could dig, there was no record of this package ever being sold for the strike-through price, making me all that more suspicious of their marketing techniques. After all, since it’s a financial and investment publication company, I’d hope that they were at least truthful in their price advertising.

Additionally, this package does bundle in other “free” reports, but this isn’t all that it seems. Cancellations, as you’ll read about in a moment, are more difficult to process than you’d think.

Package #3: The Deluxe Edition

The Deluxe membership costs $129/mo, which is significantly higher. This package is not only there to provide extra goodies, but also to anchor the price higher so you choose the Premium package as a solid middle option – another common marketing tactic.

What do you get with the Deluxe edition that makes it so special? You’ll receive the monthly newsletter, a portfolio with buy and sell tables, weekly podcasts and access to the previous newsletters as well. In addition to that, you’ll get monthly trade alerts from Matt himself; these are his personal recommendations for current trades that he recommends in the natural resources industry.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation Policy

Banyan Hill Publishing has had a bit of a rough patch when it comes to cancellation policies and customer service. If you take a look at any of their reviews, you’ll quickly see that a lot of people have tried to cancel and were unfortunately unable to find an easy way to cancel. Some reviewers were lucky in that they were able to cancel on the first try.

It’s important to note that the letter does auto-renew, and you should read the fine print to ensure you’re only signing up for the Real Wealth Strategist, not this letter and other letters published by Banyan Hill. While they might try to bundle these letters in for “free”, they do put your card on auto-renew as separate transactions. In other words? Cancelling just one might not cancel the other subscription, even though it was “free.”

Don’t rely on renewal reminders for this one, this is a primary way the publishing company makes their money.

Is This Accredited By the BBB?

No, Banyan Hill Publishing is not accredited by the BBB. (3) While we can’t look directly at the Real Wealth Strategist since it’s a product by Banyan Hill, we can look through the reviews to see the general opinion of the company. In the last 3 years, the company has received a whopping 60 complaints.

“I have UNSUCCESSFULLY tried to CANCEL subscription to Real Wealth Strategist and get a Refund via their Web Site and by phone. NO RESPONSE! or refund On 10/13/19 with my permission I was charged $97 on my AX card for a one year subscription to Real Wealth Strategist with a written 100% guarantee that I could CANCEL at any time. I have now gone three times through their web site procedure to CANCEL the subscription, including telling them why I no longer want the subscription: the topics and recommendations do not coincide with my investment objectives and I find them useless[…]”
Resolved Anonymous Complaint

There were a lot of people who were wanting their money back – or worse, getting charges to their credit card when they state they never made a purchase. The main thing that makes me feel a little less nervous about this company is the fact that a lot of the complaints are resolved, and seem to have a favorable outcome.

Is Real Wealth Strategist Legit?

Since the product is now defunct, it’s difficult to tell with any certainty if Matt Badiali truly believed the content he was writing, or if he was just trying to earn his paycheck from the company. I’m not a professional financial analyst, so I couldn’t give you a confident answer on this one.

In either case, there’s a reason why he left the company, and we can only hope that he’s gone on to create better audience values in his new independent publishing company.

Remember, the one thing that financial newsletters can’t do is promise or guarantee that you’ll make an investment on something, so the fact that they deal in uncertain terms isn’t the red flag, it’s their method of advertising the product and how they treat consumers before they’ve purchased and when they wish to cancel.

Is It Easy to Make Money With This Newsletter?

No matter what newsletter you subscribe to, when you’re dealing in investments, there are many factors that go into the market fluctuations. Some of it is climate-related, some is related to domestic and foreign politics.

When you’re dealing with sought-after commodities especially, these factors only weigh heavier, and breaking news from just a few minutes ago could shift the market dramatically.

With any other type of advice, it’s important to note that the advisor, if doing his job correctly, can only give you his expert opinion based on what he believes would be the best move with the current state of the market.

In investment, as in with other things in life, there is no guarantee.

Pros and Cons of the Newsletter

Based on what I’ve learned and read about the newsletter, there are a couple of pros and cons I could pick out and share in this review.

Pros
  • Clearly dedicated to the entry-level investor
  • Easily accessible and automatically delivered
  • Matt Badiali has expertise in his recommended field
  • Matt has real-world expertise as a financial analyst prior to creating the letter
Cons
  • The publishing company is suspect in its advertising and customer service
  • The middle and deluxe tier bundle you into surprise auto-renewals
  • Matt’s financial success in this field can’t be easily proven outside of what his claims are
  • The publication was rated as a 3.9 in investment performance

My Overall Opinion

Now, I know that the Real Wealth Strategist is no longer active, but I can’t shake the feeling that a lot of people lost a lot of money on this.

The BBB reviews are disheartening to say the least, and while this is about the publishing company, not strictly the letter, it does reflect on the quality of advice of the letter as well.

My opinion? I’m not sure I would sign up to anything from this publishing company, even if I were more into investment and financial newsletters. There’s too much marketing tricks to their products, and their customer service sounds subpar.

Are they just pushing out content for the sake of selling it, or for the sake of a quality publication? It’s up to you to make that decision for yourself.

If you want my recommendation, I would stay away from investment advice columns in general.

If I have to pay on a monthly subscription to get access to these ways to potentially make money, it’s going to be a tough sell for me.

Still, Banyan Hill Publishing sends up a lot of red flags, and I would not recommend any of their products. Better to find another source for your financial news!

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References:
  1. Banyan Hill, Expert Reveals How ‘Freedom Checks’ Unlock Your Retirement Fortune, https://banyanhill.com/exclusives/expert-reveals-freedom-checks-unlock-retirement-fortune/
  2. com, Gold Climbs Higher as US Dollar Eases, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/gold-markets-trade-emerging-markets-and-dollar-in-focus.html
  3. org, Banyan Hill Publishing, https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/delray-beach/profile/investment-advisory-services/banyan-hill-publishing-0633-92018996/complaints