As I wrote to you yesterday in Part I, my nephew is on a week-long camping trip called Survival with his seventh grade class from Old Rochester Junior High School—the tri-town regional junior high school for kids from the towns of Mattapoisett (where I’m from), Rochester, and Marion, Massachusetts. I remember like it was yesterday boarding the yellow school bus and driving several hours not knowing where we were going, but seeing fewer and fewer houses and then no houses, and realizing we were a long way from home. When the bus stopped we lined up at the base of a rural dirt road and found … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: A Simple Way to Retire where You want to Live
You want to make sure your retirement plans are right for you. As I wrote to you yesterday, testing or experimenting by actually living in your chosen destination, for at least one season makes sense to me. You could also see what it’s like to be retired by taking a prolonged vacation. Put yourself in that retirement mindset. In other words, you are in charge of your retirement. It’s no secret retirees are moving to places where their money is treated with respect. But it’s beginning to become pretty crowded in certain spots. Take Nashville, TN for example. Cameron McWhirter reports at The … [Read more...]
If You do this, Will You Improve Your Happiness?
“Americans are devoted to the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, research shows that many of us don’t actually know what makes us happy, so we end up pursuing the wrong things,” writes Dr. Shlomo Benartzi, professor and co-head of the behavioral decision-making group at UCLA Anderson School of Management. One way to help your happiness is to do a test. It’s called A/B testing. I’m familiar with A/B testing with our websites. Change a couple of words in the title of a piece and it’s shocking what a difference it can make in reader interest. As Dr. Benartzi points out: In research … [Read more...]
Viva Las Vegas!
Whether Las Vegas real estate is in a bubble or not--this article leans towards not—Californians are finding greener pastures away from Gov. Brown’s reckless policies. As I’ve noted in the past, the direction of individual states is a geographical portrait of right vs. left (wrong) ideologies. Eli Segall writes from the Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas home prices are rising at one of the fastest clips in the country, with builders fetching record dollar amounts and resale values approaching prior highs. The growth is so fast that, according to a new report, prices here are the most … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive June: Knife Attack: Your Survival Guy in Paris
“Did you hear the gun shots?” a friend asked. “No,” I said. When the knife attack occurred, we, like many other families on a Saturday night in Paris, were out to dinner. In fact, we didn’t learn about the attack until much later. In retrospect, I’m surprised no one at our restaurant told us about it or warned us. Part of me believes they knew the situation was under control and didn’t want to ruin our night or scare us. Or they just didn’t know about it. We learned about the attack back in our hotel room, flipping through the channels on the TV. Seeing the live report brought mixed … [Read more...]
Interest Rates Need to be Higher Pronto
Inflation? Yes it’s a thing. Anyone living in the real world recognizes it at the grocery store, in the real estate section of their local newspaper, and the stock market for that matter. Those in retirement trying to live off of their portfolio are paying the price for a reckless monetary policy. Rates need to be higher pronto. The editors of The Wall Street Journal write: Investors briefly bid up the 10-year Treasury yield above 3% on the news before it fell back to 2.97%. But forward guidance has always seemed overrated as a policy tool, and with growth picking up it was becoming a … [Read more...]
Can Crypto-Currencies Ever be Safe?
After hackers stole digital currency assets from South Korean currency exchange Coinrail recently, the question must be asked, can bitcoin and other crypto-currencies be safe? The problems don't seem to lie in the blockchain technology, but instead in the exchanges that provide servicing to crypto-currency users. This isn't the first time an exchange has been hacked, or even the second or third time. So users must take into account the idea that the place housing their crypto-currencies may not be altogether safe. Can you imagine a rash of bank robberies in your town, but without any FDIC … [Read more...]
Sweden Puts the Brakes on its Cashless Society Plans
How quickly things can change. Back in April I wrote to you of Sweden's all out dash toward creating the world's first cashless society. Digital currency was the wave of the future, and the Swedes were happy to lead. Now, though, the movement toward a cashless society in Sweden is being challenged. Swedish politicians are attempting to rein in the policies of the Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, that encourage cashlessness. Bloomberg reports: A key committee of Swedish lawmakers wants to force the country’s biggest banks to handle cash in an effort to halt the nation’s march toward … [Read more...]
Vermont’s Relocation Grant, Really?
I keep a regular eye on the way states treat their citizens. I regularly warn readers here to avoid those states papering over their structural problems with higher taxes and freedom-restricting regulations. At the same time I applaud those states where entrepreneurs and businesses are rewarded for their hard work and innovation with lower taxes and greater liberty. One thing that is upsetting to me and probably to most Americans is when a state uses its tax dollars to reward a specific group. Picking winners is not in a state's best interest, nor is it good for that state's citizens. … [Read more...]
Update on the Efficient Frontier this Century
I’ve provided you with an updated efficient frontier (EF) curve for this century which includes two nasty market crashes. The EF measures risk and reward. In other words the further to the right the more risk. Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com. … [Read more...]
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