This week, we're thrilled to welcome a brand-new guest to the Stansberry Investor Hour... who happens to be the lead analyst for Stansberry Research's longest-running flagship publication: Alan Gula.  But first, Dan and his co-host Corey discuss the latest hot-button topics: Big Tech's sweeping wave of layoffs, why media coverage of the "debt-ceiling crisis" is just "pure noise," the "cat-and-mouse game" of the lag effects of Federal Reserve policy, and whether there could be an encore to last year's bond-market beatdown. Speaking of distressed investments... today's guest had a front-row seat to the financial crisis, as he was working Barclays Investment Bank's distressed-debt desk when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Alan worked at some of Wall Street's biggest firms before joining Stansberry Research.  "I think that any good recommendation has a good macro tailwind. And cycles are crucial from a macro standpoint," says Alan.  But finding a winner requires more than just the right macroeconomic setup... As Alan states, it's one that "marries both the macro and the bottom-up fundamentals research." He dives deep into his bottom-up research process. And he also shares his No. 1 tip for successful investing.