Hedge Fund Manager Paul Regan, the creator of an arbitrage-based, fixed-income product that consistently generates a 24% annual return, is a student of history. He recalls sitting one night at his kitchen table, where he contemplated the wild swings that America’s economy has had since its creation, including depressions, recessions, and inflationary periods. “To a very real degree, we have seen those ups and downs as something we cannot prepare for,” Regan believes. “When they have hit – and they always do – we have been left scrambling for solutions, but by then it’s too late. I wanted to get ahead of those difficulties and be ready for them, especially inflation. I decided to create Next Level Holdings LLC and focus on high-return investments with low risk so that when inflation hits, my wallet will be just fine.”
Regan knew that the United States would experience another inflation – it was just a matter of time. He also knew something else equally important: just because the dollar loses its buying power does not mean investors are out of luck. The key was to choose the right investment strategy so that inflation wouldn’t be financially catastrophic.
“To understand why I targeted arbitrage, it helps to understand what it is,” Regan says. “Essentially, it’s when traders take advantage of price discrepancies between the same investments in different markets. They buy in one market while simultaneously selling an equivalent size in a different but related market, ultimately taking advantage of price divergences between the two. This is possible because global markets do not operate with complete efficiency. Information in one part of the world may not travel as quickly as it does elsewhere, leading to different share prices.”
In his years as an arbitrage trader, Regan had taken advantage of those price differences, which can happen whether the market is booming, contracting, or growing slowly. He was already generating 9-12% returns by turning over his capital 3-4 times every 30 days.
“It made arbitrage the perfect strategy for an inflationary market,” he says. “I decided, however, to not stop there and to help other people benefit, too. I cast an even bigger vision and went for gold: through Next Level Holdings, I would increase that ROI to 80% per annum after expenses and guarantee – truly – about one-third of that to investors in our fund.”
With a scalable, sustainable investment strategy that could be implemented in the physical commodities markets, Regan set out to make his company’s guarantee possible by approaching insurance companies, including Lloyds of London, to underwrite the risk, which was measurable and capable of being minimized to specific levels.
“They were intrigued, but before they agreed to protect our investors’ principal and interest, I had to run the gauntlet of forensic audits and survive massive amounts of scrutiny,” Regan remembers. “I also needed to put up eight figures in counter-guarantees to further satisfy our insurers. It was more than worth it, though, because we had dedicated policies being issued to our investors that guarantee them against loss of principal or interest and that come directly from licensed and regulated major insurance carriers, all of whom carry investment-grade ratings from AM Best, the credit rating issuer for insurance carriers.”
Today, Regan continues to help investors prepare for inflationary periods by investing in high-return, low-risk assets like gold and other commodities. To those who are exploring their investment options, he recommends being proactive about their financial future.
“Tough times will continue to come because that’s just the way the economy works,” Regan says.” Also, while returns really are guaranteed at Next Level Holdings because our products are paired with insurance policies, don’t lose your skepticism about financial promises in general. Fraudsters are still out there. Last, do your homework. By empowering yourself with information, you can understand how strategies like arbitrage-based trading can help you ride downturns in the economy and come out on top.”
