History of The Oxford Club

Beginnings…

The Oxford Club’s beginnings date to a group called “The Merchants & Brokers Exchange.” This was an international businessman’s club founded in the early 1970s by Gary Scott, an American who sold insurance and mutual funds in Hong Kong. It was the time of the Cultural Revolution in China, and Western business people living in Hong Kong enjoyed getting together to exchange information about what was going on. Scott institutionalized this group and later expanded it to London.

In the mid-1980s, Scott turned the group over to Bill Bonner, the CEO of Agora, Inc., a global financial and travel publishing company based in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1989, Bonner changed the name to The Passport Club and hired recent Thunderbird MBA graduate Julia Guth as Membership Director. Her job was to expand the Club’s services and local chapter participation.

Around the same time, an investment and business publisher in Florida launched a financial newsletter called The Oxford Club, which grew to 10,000 readers worldwide. In 1991, the publishing company sold its interest to Bonner, who welcomed these new Members into his own club and changed the name from The Passport Club to The Oxford Club. Bonner found the new name evoked a spirit of tradition and Old World charm. He charged Julia with combining the best attributes of The Oxford Club and The Passport Club and expanding on them. In the early days of the Club, all communications including the monthly Oxford Club investment newsletter, The Oxford Communiqué were delivered by mail only.

Important dates in Club history.

1992

A Board of Governors is formed and James Boxley Cooke is named Honorary Chairman. A recently retired investment advisor from T. Rowe Price, he serves as the Club’s primary spokesperson throughout the ’90s.
The Club’s “bible,” The Traditions of Wealth, is published and offered to all lifetime Members.
Gary Scott, an original creator of the international investors club concept, is appointed Financial Editor.

1993

The Club sponsors its first Advanced Wealth-Protection Seminar at Oxford University in England. The program is held at different colleges at Oxford for three summers.
Chris Weber, author of the book Getting Rich Outside the Dollar, becomes the Club’s first Investment Director.

1994

The Oxford Club expands its Wealth Protection Advisory Board to include Queen’s Counsel David Melnik, attorney and former Congressman Robert Bauman, and Canadian investment advisor Eric Roseman.

1995

The Oxford Club introduces one of the industry’s first-ever fast-paced trading services to its Members, The Weber Alert, under the direction of Chris Weber. Chris also invites his good friend and former Libertarian candidate for U.S. president, the late Harry Browne, to join the editorial board of the Club. He also incorporates articles from the Aden sisters, based in Costa Rica. The Adens are experts in currency and interest rate plays, and now publish Weber’s letter in addition to their own Aden Forecast.
The Club begins issuing recommendations by fax to take advantage of short-term volatility in the market.

1996

Karim Rahemtulla, Research Director, replaces Chris Weber as Investment Director and becomes Editor of The Oxford Alert trading service.
The Club grows to more than 36,000 Members in over 100 countries, and offers Members additional benefits including access to an in-house research staff and a member service staff – all employed at the Club’s new mansion in the historic Mt. Vernon district in downtown Baltimore (“The Clubhouse”).
Local publishing offices are established in London, Bonn (under the name of The Zurich Club) and Paris.
By the end of 1996, The Oxford Communiqué is published in three different languages: English, French and German, all still delivered by mail only.

1997

The number of Club lifetime Members grows to over 12,000.
The Club expands chapter meetings to encompass over 50 cities and Canada.
The Oxford Club holds its 10th Annual Global Symposium and Black Tie Gala at the Palace in San Francisco.
The Club continues to take Members around the world to seek out global investment opportunities with its World Financial Seminars and Tours division, with tours to South Africa, China, New Zealand and Australia.
Executive Director Julia Guth expands the Baltimore headquarters team to help with the growing membership and Club benefits, and Chris Matthai heads up the Oxford Research division.

(Technology Update: The Club starts a recorded “telephone hotline” that provides timely updates to the Communiqué and Club news. It also offers “fax on demand” services and create its first website. Conferences continue to be recorded and available on cassette.)

1998

The Board of Governors and Executive Committee establish The Chairman’s Circle, the highest level of distinction and benefits for the Club’s most involved and committed Members.
The Club creates the Pillar One Program, a network of specialized and discounted services from the country’s leading financial and travel firms. Julia establishes a $5,000 annual student scholarship program.
In the summer, The Oxford Club holds its first annual Investment University Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to better educate Members on the “how” rather than the “what” of investing. The Club begins to emphasize asset allocation and investment strategies for building and protecting wealth instead of international asset protection and offshore tax strategies.
The Board of Governors of the Club launches a new entity in Ireland to specialize in promoting greater freedom through offshore asset protection.
Club wealth-protection experts David Melnik, Robert Bauman, and Eric Roseman start a new advisory council to Erika Nolan.

(Technology update: All VIP trading begins broadcasting online.)

1999

Steve Sjuggerud, a former trader with a global mutual fund and editor of The World Money Analyst, becomes Investment Director. Karim Rahemtulla moves to Florida to serve as the Club’s Options Strategist. He becomes the Editor of the Club’s Instant Profit System (IPS), a covered call option trading service.
The Advisory Panel is expanded to include tech specialist Porter Stansberry, trading coach Dr. Van Tharp and currency specialists Pamela and Mary Anne Aden.
Steve institutes the Club’s “Safety Switch” 25% trailing stop-loss system and formalizes an investment discipline of “cut your losses short and let your winners ride.”
The Oxford Club establishes a Canadian Board of Advisors to include Queen’s Counsel David Melnik and Hedge Fund Specialist Eric Roseman.
The Club creates the Wealth Library of internally produced books, courses and special reports for Members.

2000

Investment Director Steve Sjuggerud receives his Ph.D. in global finance.
The Oxford Club launches the first edition of its 12-unit course: Investment University.
Porter Stansberry launches his own investment advisory newsletter focused on opportunities in cutting-edge technologies.
The Club begins to work with International Living to build a new Clubhouse in an Oxford Club community located on the Nicaragua’s beautiful Pacific Coast.
The Oxford Club formally establishes its four levels of membership, each with distinct benefits: Provisional, Premier, Lifetime Director’s Circle and Chairman’s Circle. The Club launches Investment U, its first internet e-letter.

2001

Dr. Steve Sjuggerud returns to Florida and to start his own hedge fund. He also joins Porter Stansberry to launch True Wealth.
Steve and Porter and other Oxford Club Members travel to the new Nicaragua Clubhouse to consider investing in Nicaragua, and Steve decides to build a home at Rancho Santana in a community with other Oxford Club Members.
Steve nominates Alexander Green, a Wall Street veteran with over 15 years of advisory and money management experience, as his replacement for Investment Director. Disgusted by Wall Street, Alex accepts the position and quickly becomes a highly respected investment advisor, writer and leading spokesman for the Club’s investment philosophy.
Alex creates The Oxford Insight, an online advisory for Members only that provides timely updates and insights on events affecting our recommended portfolios.
For Club Members, Alex creates distinct portfolios to meet different investment objectives, in addition to the Club’s Asset Allocation Model.
Alex introduces a specialized trading service to replace The Oxford Alert, called The Oxford Short Alert, to help Members capitalize on short-term opportunities in the falling market.
Alex introduces two more specialized VIP Trading Services: The Momentum Alert and The Insider Alert to help Members capitalize on his two favorite investment indicators: earnings momentum and insider buying.
The Oxford Club publishes its new Wealth Defense Program (on cassette).
Oxford Club Executive Director and Publisher Julia Guth establishes Investment University as the Club’s educational arm. Its mottto: What No Books, No Schools, No Brokers Will Teach You.
Julia launches a new e-letter and a new website, www.investmentu.com.
Chairman’s Circle Members begin to build homes at Rancho Santana, The Oxford Club community on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua.
The Club opens its Rancho Santana Clubhouse in Nicaragua.
The entire Club staff works tirelessly to stay on course after the 9-11 crisis, staying in touch with Club Members throughout the week.

2002

The Club teams up with The New Orleans Investment Conference to sponsor one of the country’s largest annual financial conferences. Oxford Club Advisory Panelists share the spotlight with John Stossel, Sir John Templeton, Barbara Bush and Milton Friedman.
The Oxford Club holds its 4th Annual Investment University Conference in Delray Beach, Florida. (Technology Update: Conference recordings are made available by CD.)
New online media starts to seek out our experts. Among them: WSJ.com interviews Steve Sjuggerud and Forbes.com interviews Alex Green.
Trading services gain increasing popularity with Members. Julia forms a new in-house VIP Trading Services support team headed by Steve McDonald (and now by Nathan Hurd). The team is composed of former brokers able to answer Members’ questions about options trading and other more sophisticated investment strategies (1.888.570.9830).
Steven King takes over as Event Director, planning the Club’s Wealth Cruises, Regional Chapter Meetings and the Annual Investment U Conference.

2003

Investment U e-letter readership exceeds 70,000 global readers.
Alex Green is interviewed on Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor for his criticisms and insights about our progressive tax system.
Julia Guth sets up a nonprofit to begin charitable works around our Rancho Santana community in Nicaragua.
Alex recruits analyst Louis Basenese from a top investment firm to The Oxford Club advisory team.

2004

Oxford Club Membership grows to over 70,000 for the first time.
Investment U reaches over 250,000 readers.
Louis Basenese launches the Take Over Trader.
Alex Green launches The International Trader Alert to capitalize on emerging markets like China and the weakening dollar.
Julia Guth hosts the opening ceremony for the Club’s new health clinic at Rancho Santana.
The Oxford Club and Investment U’s charitable work expands to include donations to help the victims of several natural disasters around the world and the Nicaragua health clinic.
The new website is launched (www.nicaclinic.org).
Steve Sjuggerud moves full time over to Stansberry & Associates, a separate company from The Oxford Club.

(Technology Update: DVDs are offered from the 6th Annual Investment U Conference for the first time.)

2005

Dr. Mark Skousen replaces Steve Sjuggerud as Chairman of Investment U.
Investment U raises over $130,000 in relief funds for hurricane disasters.
The Oxford Club launches its first online gift merchandise store.
The Communiqué’s Trading Portfolio under Alex Green and Louis Basenese finishes the year with 100% profitability, with all positions in the black, beating the S&P 500 Index.
World Financial Seminars launches one of its first Wealth Cruises, traveling to Alaska.

2006

The newsletter rating service Hulbert Financial Digest rates The Oxford Communiqué one of the top newsletters in the industry, in the top five for its track record over the last three years.
Alex Green introduces two new fund-oriented portfolios to the Communiqué, the All-Star Portfolio and the Gone Fishin’ Portfolio. The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio introduces Members to the Nobel Prize-winning strategy of asset allocating as well as annual rebalancing.
The Oxford Club continues its 10-year tradition of sending an Annual Forecast Issue each January to its Members, with an uncanny accuracy for predicting trends in the year ahead.
Alex Green returns from a World Financial Tour to China. Completely excited about the emerging opportunities there, he launches the New China Trader.

2007

Alex Green takes over as the Chairman of Investment U. As the Club’s Investment Director, he continues to expand the Club’s selection of proven investment strategies to include the income-oriented Perpetual Money Portfolio.
Marc Lichtenfeld joins The Oxford Club as an expert on healthcare, biotech and income investing.
Robert Williams takes over the position of Editorial Director from Mike Ward, and David Fessler joins the Club as Energy & Infrastructure Strategist.
Steven King of World Financial Seminars launches the Club’s first two-day, high-end, intensive regional meetings for Members who want in-depth instructional presentations from our advisory team about their investment strategies. The event in Jackson Hole immediately sells out.
Top–selling author Van Tharp used the Oxford Trading Portfolio in his book Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom to show how effective our trailing stop and position sizing strategies could be. On page 402, Van Tharp credits our Oxford Communiqué as having the highest expectunity (expectancy multiplied by opportunity) over two years compared with other high–profile newsletters in the late ’90s through early 2000s. We were honored that this market wizard would highlight the Club as a model on how you can optimize your portfolio, proof that our investment system works.
The Oxford Club expands its popular Members’ Exchange listing service to include the Oxford Property Exchange, which showcases many exclusive and stunning Member-owned properties around the world.

(Technology Update: Club advisors’ speeches show up on YouTube.)

2008

The Oxford Club’s investment advisory team takes actions to protect the Club and its Members from the world financial crisis and market collapse.
We stop out of every position in the Communiqué‘s Trading Portfolio, but our closed-out positions still return an impressive 28%.
Lou Basenese and Robert Williams launch a new division focused on small cap investing called The White Cap Report (then Wall Street Daily Insider). Both stay on as top editors and analysts for The Oxford Club and Investment U.
The Oxford Club partners with the Money Show and continues its tradition of providing first-class World Financial Cruises, this time through the Panama Canal.
Alex Green publishes his first book, The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy… And Get On With Your Life, which quickly becomes a best-seller.

(Technology update: We launch MP3 recordings for the first time.)

2009

Led by Alexander Green, The Oxford Club focuses on helping Members stay the course through extremely volatile market conditions. As a result, Members are prepared for the market rebound that begins in March.
A new edition of the popular Investment U course titled How to Build a Million-Dollar Portfolio is launched.
Alex Green employs a recessionary hedge for Members with a vice stock portfolio called the Seven Deadly Sins Portfolio, one of the Club’s most controversial yet winning portfolios ever, with a return of 87% for the year.
The Club establishes a new Oxford Club Library at the Bonner’s Château de Courtomer in France, www.chateaudecourtomer.com. Members can rent the château as part of our Property Exchange.
The Club launches a new mid-month advisory for all Members called The Ultimate Retirement Letter, geared toward retired Members or those retiring in the next 10 to 15 years.

2010

Independent newsletter rating service Hulbert Financial Digest once again ranks The Oxford Communiqué in the top 10 in the country for its 10-year track record.
Louis Basenese is promoted to Investment Director of the new White Cap Research Group, an Agora Company.
Matthew Carr (market trends) and Carl Delfeld (emerging markets/ETFs) join The Oxford Club Editorial Team.
The Club reintroduces the weekly trend-watching Insight e-letter, free to all Members. It serves as a complement to the team’s Oxford Communiqué Portfolio Update by commenting on relevant news as it affects our portfolio recommendations.
The Club continues to embrace new technology and launches its first ever video talk show, Market Wake-Up Call, hosted by Steve McDonald in Insight.
Julia Guth establishes an Ombudsman Committee of Chairman’s Circle Members to act as “beta testers” for new Club initiatives.
David Fessler, the Club’s Energy and Infrastructure Strategist, launches Peak Energy Strategist.

(Technology Update: Our asset-allocation planning tool is made available on The Oxford Club’s site for all Members. MP3 recordings are available online for most Oxford Club seminars. Transcripts are made available for Market Wake-Up Call videos, and the Club’s use of video expands online.)

2011

Marc Lichtenfeld takes over the successful dividend-oriented portfolio for the Club’s mid-month issue, which is now called The Ultimate Income Letter.
Julia Guth, Alexander Green and the team start Total Financial Solution meetings for new Chairman’s Circle Members – and all sell out.
Robert Williams, Editorial Director for the Club, is promoted to Publisher of the new Wall Street Daily, an Agora Company.
Jeff Yastine, former PBS Nightly Business Report journalist, takes over as the Club’s Editorial Director. He launches the Weekly Briefing trading services summary for Chairman’s Circle Members.
Alex Green publishes the second book in his Spiritual Wealth series by Wiley Press.
Club Members enjoy VIP financial tours and cruises around the world, from Munich and Vienna to St. Petersburg, Canada, Nicaragua, Italy and Southeast Asia.

2012

Marc Lichtenfeld launches his best-selling book, Get Rich With Dividends: A Proven System for Double-Digit Returns.
Marc’s 10-11-12 System becomes so popular that many Members ask Marc for an advisory service based on his plan for generating income through compounding dividends.
Alex expands his New Frontier Trader service for finding great investments in emerging markets to also include some of the more developed countries in the Pacific Rim.
Steve McDonald begins the Club’s first bond trading advisory, Oxford Bond Advantage.

(Technology update: The Club increases availability of its Investment U Conference to Members by live-streaming the conference for the very first time.)

2013

The Oxford Club sees record-breaking growth. Marc Lichtenfeld comes out with his highly demanded new service, The Oxford Income Letter, which uses his 10-11-12 System to compound dividends.
Two new VIP services are launched: Matthew Carr’s Emerging Trends Trader pinpoints the best times to make trades according to seasonal trends, and Alex Green’s The True Value Alert uncovers high-value stocks at a discounted price before Wall Street recognizes their full worth.
Andrew Snyder takes on the role of Editorial Director.
Due to outstanding subscriber feedback, The Oxford Club makes its biggest – and most enriching – change: It extends membership to all subscribers of any service – not just subscribers of The Oxford Communiqué. Now subscribers to any service are granted access to all membership benefits like the Pillar One Advisors and Members’ Exchange. This helps expand the Club’s reach to a larger community of like-minded investors, a founding mission of the Club.

2014

The Oxford Club launches two products focused on energy and commodities: the monthly newsletter Oxford Resource Explorer and the free e-letter Energy & Resources Digest.

2015

A new VIP service is launched: Matthew Carr’s The VIPER Alert targets stocks coiled to surge to new highs based on a proprietary ratio.
Matthew Carr’s recommendation breaks records and locks in the Club’s largest gain.
The Oxford Wealth Pyramid debuts. It outlines a unique investing strategy based on time horizons and asset allocations that minimizes risk and maximizes returns.

2016

The Club’s membership exceeds 100,000.
Chairman’s Circle Breakout Alert is launched. Created by Marc Lichtenfeld, it is designed to help Chairman’s Circle Members capitalize on the famous bull flag investing pattern.

2017

Andrew Snyder launches his own publishing service, Manward Press. Matthew Benjamin joins the Club as Editorial Director.
Marc Lichtenfeld hones Oxford Systems Trader‘s Stock Trading Analytical Research System to work in tandem with a tool he calls “Stock Sonar,” resulting in far greater performance. He establishes a new VIP Trading Service, Tactical Trader Alert, to take advantage of this new and improved approach.

2018

Free e-letter Liberty Through Wealth is launched to deliver impartial, no-nonsense advice on how to achieve total financial independence. Tenured Wall Street veterans and investment experts show exactly how to grow and protect what you have, manage risk, stay ahead of inflation, and keep newfound wealth out of the hands of the taxman.
VIP Trading Service Oxford Wealth Accelerator is created for the Club by accomplished investor Nicholas Vardy. It applies a unique, proven and proprietary approach to investing with exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Matthew Carr and David Fessler launch the Strategic Trends Investor newsletter, an essential guide to groundbreaking investments before they’re the talk of Wall Street. They discover market patterns and trends – both time-tested and emerging – that are poised to deliver tremendous profits.
The Oxford Club hosts the 20th Annual Investment U Conference at The Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. No expense is spared to bring Members the latest and greatest from the investing world and celebrate the tremendous opportunities brought to life for two decades and counting.
Marc Lichtenfeld published You Don’t Have to Drive an Uber in Retirement. A best-seller, the book is named 2019 Book of the Year by the Institute for Financial Literacy.

2019

Flagship newsletter The Oxford Communiqué’s membership grows a record 53% with the “Single Stock Retirement Solution.”
David Fessler publishes his first book, The Energy Disruption Triangle: Three Sectors That Will Change How We Generate, Use, and Store Energy. The book examines the technology triad that’s disrupting the American energy sector as we know it: solar energy, energy storage and electric vehicles.
Matthew Carr – now Chief Trends Strategist – and David Fessler launch the Profit Trends e-letter, an essential guide to the market’s emerging, breakthrough and disruptive trends.
The Oxfordian Hotel Collection – our preferred hotel network where Members can receive a special deal or amenity during their stay – is expanded to include the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia.
Pillar One Advisors, the Club’s network of experts who specialize in serving the financial and travel needs of the world’s wealthiest and most discerning individuals, is expanded to include Monument Traders Alliance, Early Investing and Manward Press. Each of these trusted advisors has a specific area of expertise and generously provides special deals, discounts and other benefits to Members.

2020

The Oxford Communiqué, The Oxford Income Letter and Wealthy Retirement launch in Japan.
Marc Lichtenfeld’s book Get Rich with Dividends is translated into Japanese.
The Oxford Council is formed – a small group of Members who play an integral role in shaping the future of the Club.
The Oxford Club becomes a remote/hybrid workplace.

2021

We welcome Early Investing Powered by KingsCrowd to our growing list of Pillar One Advisors.
The brand-new Oxford X ranking system is launched – an exclusive benefit for Chairman’s Circle Members that uses “super-metrics” to rank the top 10 positions across all of our trading research services.
The Oxford Club partners with Fox Business host and former Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow – who endorsed Marc Lichtenfeld’s Oxford Income Letter.
Predictive Profits (now called Trigger Event Trader) is published in Japan.
Our travel partner for more than 30 years, AESU, begins offering exclusive bespoke travel arrangements to our Members.

2022

Our first ever Oxford Club chat room service, Alpha Trading Network, is launched.
The Oxford Club launches its first-ever collaborative trading service, The Oxford Centurion.
Alexander Green’s book The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio is translated into Japanese.
The Oxford Income Letter is published in Taiwan in partnership with Licensee FB Media, LTD.
Ford Fine Art, an art gallery owned by Oxford Club co-founder Mark Ford, is added to our Pillar One Advisors list, giving Members special discounts on pieces and gallery visitation opportunities.
Paradise Palms Conservatory & Gardens, Mark Ford’s botanical gardens, are added to our Pillar One Advisors group, granting Members exclusive access to his 25-acre property and event space.