Looking to get away? As Your Survival Guy, I want you to try to be invisible while traveling abroad. Don’t be the one creating a scene in customs. As Covid rears its ugly head, make sure you’re up to speed on the requirements to enter a country and to return to the U.S. They’re not the same if, for example, you’re going to France and back. Cash is king. Make sure you have travel cash on hand. Don’t rely purely on traveler’s checks. Have a mix of small and large bills and know the exchange rate before and during your trip. Make sure you pack some patience. Missed trips because of Covid … [Read more...]

Your life is a work in progress. You spend it gathering different skills like a Swiss Army knife. When I was at Babson College, one of the courses we all took was Operations Management. In it, we studied the manufacturing process of how stuff’s made. We looked at raw materials, for example, and the factory floor. It was like Breaking Bad but legal. At the time, a tectonic shift was underway. Globalization was picking up steam. Our manufacturing base was being offshored to China. (Turns out, that wasn’t the best practice in terms of U.S. survival. Now look at where we are with our supply … [Read more...]

You may be wondering, “Buy the dips?” Well, are you good with knives? Because trying to catch a bottom can be painful. And yet, that’s what seems to be happening. Ginsu investors flailing at falling knives with cuts and scrapes like Allstate’s creepy “Mayhem” guy. Bad stuff happens. Deal with it. Markets can be brutal for a long, long time. I’ve yet to speak with anyone who likes losing money. And yet investors make bets they can’t afford to live with on a regular basis. All of a sudden, they realize it was wrong. And I’m not talking about wrong for a few months. I’m talking years or a … [Read more...]