I appreciate we all have different investment styles but if I was going to give some broad advice it’s this...

DO NOT BUY THE BANKS!!!

Not only are they facing pressure from a flat yield curve but every aspect of their business is being disrupted by digital-first competitors.

10 ways banks make money:

1) commercial lending
2) consumer lending
3) mortgages
4) insurance
5) wealth management
6) monthly account fees
7) overdraft fees
8) auto loans
9) currency exchange
10) merchant services

**these are just the first 10 that came to mind

I could easily name 5-10 digital-first FinTech companies (both public and private) that are disrupting every single one of these revenue channels at the banks.

There are more than 75,000 retail bank branches in the US.

I believe over the next 5 years we could see this number shrink by 25-30%.

Not sure about you but I have not been inside a bank branch in 2+ years.

All of my banking is done online or through mobile apps.

I honestly can’t think of a single reason to own bank stocks other than the dividends however I’d argue if their businesses decline as much as I think they will those dividends might not be safe.

There are better industries to find dividends where the companies are growing earnings and increasing their dividends.

Personally I don’t see any of the banks increasing their earnings for a long time especially if these VC backed FinTech companies continue to crush them.

If you want exposure to the financial industry I’d suggest going with the digital payment companies: $V $MA $PYPL $SQ

Another option is to go with the asset managers like $GS $MS $BX $KKR however I do worry about their commercial real estate portfolios so be careful.