Skeleton Keys
What if the smartest move isn’t knowing what to buy—but knowing how to survive what you didn’t see coming? Chris MacIntosh hands you the skeleton key…
“Diversification is not a hedge against ignorance. It’s a response to your humility.”
On a chilly April morning in 2025, a Rebel Capitalist Pro subscriber (private investor community), found themselves standing at the edge of a cliff.
Not a literal one…although if they’d been holding uranium stocks, that metaphor might’ve felt eerily real…but a psychological one.
Years of observing markets from the sidelines, reading the newsletter, nodding along, and tucking away insights like a squirrel with acorns.
Now, for the first time, they had cash to deploy.
Naturally, they did what any right-thinking investor would do: they asked Chris MacIntosh to just tell them what to buy.
Oh, sweet summer child.
The Folly of Favorites
“If you had to pick a few top choices right now,” the subscriber asked, “what would you go with?”
A dangerous question.
One that assumes the market is a vending machine…insert capital, press Uranium, receive 10x returns.
But Chris MacIntosh isn’t here to dispense vending machine wisdom.
“I don’t like focusing on individual stock picks,” MacIntosh said flatly.
That wasn’t a dodge.
It was a preamble to a masterclass in surviving…nay, thriving…in the financial jungle.
Because here’s the truth: predicting the next big winner in a sector is like trying to pick the fastest cheetah from a blurry photograph.
Even if you’re right, chances are it’s going to zig when you expected a zag. Better to bet on the savannah.
Asymmetry: The Thinking Man’s Leverage
MacIntosh’s entire philosophy leans into asymmetry: betting on opportunities where the upside dwarfs the downside, while acknowledging that you know far less than you think.
He brought up the infamous 2006 flood at Cigar Lake…a uranium mine owned by Cameco.
Overnight, an uncontrollable force of nature turned the darling of sector analysts into a radioactive paperweight.
If you had all your chips on that one play, you learned the hard way why diversification isn't just smart…it's necessary.
That flood wasn’t in any spreadsheet. It wasn’t in the footnotes of a 10-K. It was chaos, and chaos doesn’t RSVP.
Sector Over Stock, Always
Studies from the CFA Institute have long confirmed what MacIntosh internalized early in his career: 80% of a stock’s movement comes from its sector.
If diversification isn’t about hedging ignorance, but embracing humility…what exactly does that look like in practice?
And more importantly…how do you build a portfolio that can withstand chaos without knowing where it’s coming from?
Let’s run it backward: if your house is going to catch fire, it won’t matter how flame-retardant your drapes are. You're still going to smell smoke.
“If 80% of a stock’s movement comes from its sector, wouldn’t you spend 80% of your time on the sector then?” he asked.
Rhetorically, of course. He already knew the answer. Most investors, unfortunately, do not.
It’s why MacIntosh prefers to build portfolios not around tickers, but around themes.
Copper, uranium, shipping…these aren’t just materials and industries, they’re macroeconomic weather patterns. You don’t dodge hurricanes by choosing the right beach chair.
No, You’re Not Warren Buffett
There’s a certain romance in stock picking. The lone genius identifying the next Apple before it becomes a trillion-dollar behemoth. But that romance often ends in bankruptcy court.
Emotions are the enemy.
You spend weeks researching a company. You write the ticker on a sticky note. You dream about its earnings report. You buy! Then it stumbles. But for some strange reason you can’t sell…you’re married.
That marriage is the “endowment effect,” and it’s how investors go broke with confidence.
MacIntosh prefers prenups. Sector ETFs. Broad-based allocations.
A diversified, global portfolio designed to survive expropriations, coups, commodity collapses, and yes, even Cameco’s watery misfortune.
The Skeleton in the Vault
For those looking to replicate MacIntosh’s strategy, he suggests the “Skeleton Portfolio”…a high-level portfolio that outlines favored sectors.
It’s not a treasure map. More like an architectural blueprint.
It’s available in both Rebel Capitalist Pro and Insider.
“Use ETFs if you don’t want to get too funky,” MacIntosh said.
A boring statement…until you realize that $11 trillion now sits in ETFs worldwide.
Simplicity, as it turns out, is an edge.
He’s not saying you shouldn’t pick individual stocks. Just don’t pretend it’s safer than it is.
A single copper mine could go bust. A single jurisdiction could get itchy for a windfall tax. A single country could burn your mine to the ground…literally.
The Quiet Hero: Emotional Discipline
All of this…diversification, sector focus, ETF usage…isn’t just an investment framework. It’s a psychological fortress.
The markets are a battleground, and emotions are landmines.
Discipline isn’t just a virtue. It’s armor.
If you’ve ever held a loser just a little too long…because you “believed in the story”...you already know why MacIntosh builds portfolios like bunkers, not glass houses.
The Unsexy Stuff That Works
Copper. Uranium. Shipping. These are a few of MacIntosh’s big themes. Not because they’re sexy, but because they’re mispriced.
Take uranium. After a decade in the wilderness post-Fukushima, it’s back in vogue.
The spot price hit $92 per pound in early 2025. Not because of hype…but because the laws of physics and the geopolitics of energy finally collided.
Shipping? After two years of snarled supply chains and rebounding trade, bulk carriers like Pacific Basin are suddenly in demand.
Prices reflect past pessimism, not future reality. Perfect setup for asymmetric returns.
These aren’t bets. They’re probabilities with leverage. And MacIntosh is a probability guy.
It’s Not Sexy. It’s Effective.
“I don’t care if it’s not flashy,” MacIntosh said (in not so many words). “I care if it works.”
That’s the MacIntosh playbook.
It’s not about catching the next Tesla. It’s about building a portfolio that survives chaos and thrives in dislocation.
As the world teeters in 2025…between inflation, geopolitical shocks, and central banks that can’t seem to find reverse…investors don’t need swagger.
They need structure. They need clarity. They need skeleton keys.
The Real Question
The subscriber’s question was innocent enough: “What do I buy?”
The better question…the one MacIntosh actually answered…is: “How do I stay in the game long enough to win?”
That answer? Themes over tickers. Structure over impulse. Discipline over emotion.
It’s not a sexy strategy.
It’s just the one that works.
Want the top five stocks that’ll make you richer than God by Sunday? Keep scrolling on TikTok.
Want a resilient, global, theme-driven portfolio designed by a man who’s been burned and battle-tested?
You know where to find the skeletons.
(And no, we’re not talking about the closet.)
🔴 Haven’t read the latest Insider yet?