Editor's note: As 2022 starts, a lot of uncertainty hangs over the markets...

How will investors react to the Federal Reserve's three planned interest-rate hikes in the new year? Will we see other COVID-19 variants beyond Omicron? And what will happen with the ongoing "meme stock" mania?

In short, nobody can say for sure if the historic bull run will end in 2022. But True Wealth Systems editor Steve Sjuggerud says one simple rule can help you beat the market – no matter what stocks are doing now or in the future.

Over the next two days, we'll feature a two-part Masters Series that originally ran in the August 5 Digest. In today's essay, Steve details the question that led him to a key investing observation... and explains what all of the best investors have in common...

The Biggest Lesson I Learned While Earning a PhD in Finance

By Steve Sjuggerud, editor, True Wealth Systems

"If my professors are so smart, why aren't they rich?"

It's a question I asked myself over and over as I worked through school.

My undergraduate degree was in finance. Then I got an MBA. And I finished my PhD in finance while working as a broker.

I spent plenty of time in classrooms, learning about the markets. My professors always seemed to make things simple. They explained the world of finance and how people got rich in a regimented, simple way.

It never made sense to me, considering how messy the world actually is... and seemed to me, even back then. Plus, I kept asking myself that question...

If things really are this simple, why are these folks teaching? Why aren't they out there getting rich themselves?

Today, I'll share the answer I learned along the way... and most important, how it shaped my investing.

To make it simple, my professors weren't getting rich because at the time, the "efficient markets theory" was all the rage...

The theory was that you can't predict future stock prices because all the information known about stocks today is already baked into the current price.

I understood what they meant when they said this. But I'd also been studying the history of finance. And I knew there were plenty of guys who were beating the market... year after year.

So I decided that if I wanted to make money in the markets, I needed to learn from the right people. Not my professors, who said it couldn't be done... but the guys who had actually done it and consistently succeeded.

What I found is that while many of the best traders use different strategies, there's something that unifies almost all of them. I got my first glimpse of it in 1990...

That's when I read Martin Zweig's book Winning on Wall Street. The book's subtitle is How to Spot Market Trends Early, Which Stocks to Pick, and When to Buy and Sell for Peak Profits and Minimum Risk.

He built many simple systems that either beat the market or (more typically) equaled the market's return – but with a lot lower risk.

Zweig wasn't the first to do this... But he found me at the right time. And I started building systems, too.

As my subscribers know, I have a mathematical mind. And the math that Zweig outlined made sense to me...

He showed that you could consistently outperform using plenty of different strategies... from buying cheap, to focusing on return on equity, to simply following the trend. The key was finding what worked for you... and sticking with it.

All I had to do was keep it simple... and keep it logical. The goal was to beat – or at least tie – the markets while taking on a lot less risk.

Basically, what I found was that Zweig was right and my professors were wrong...

My professors said you couldn't beat the markets... that they were so efficient, nobody could generate above-average returns. But I've spent decades building an investment system that does just that.

Study any successful investor, and you'll find something similar... an investment system that helps them sort through mountains of information to make decisions. There are plenty of different ways the best investors do it. But in all cases, a system is in place, guiding them through.

Tomorrow, I'll share the simple investment system I use myself.

Good investing,

Steve Sjuggerud

Editor's note: Tomorrow, Steve will explain the simple system he uses to find market-beating investment opportunities. But getting in is only half the battle... No matter what method you follow or what investments you own, you need to have an exit plan in place.

Steve recently shared the details of the unique tool he uses in his personal portfolio to know exactly when to sell, regardless of what's happening in the markets. This same plan can work on any portfolio of stocks – even if you've never bought a single one of Steve's recommendations. In fact, he says if you only do one thing to improve your financial health in 2022, this should be it. Click here to get started.