"I like people who don't need everyone to like them." -Tony Soprano, 'The Sopranos'. There’s been some yappin’ lately about bonds. Why own bonds when yields are so low? Let me explain. In times of trouble, look at who gets paid first, and you realize why bonds tend to do fine when the stock market falls apart. Look how Treasuries saved portfolios earlier this century. When you invest your cold hard cash, you’re lending your money to the street, if you will. Think about your bond money like it’s Tony Soprano. Do you think Tony liked it when he wasn’t paid? Does anybody? No. But … [Read more...]
YOU DESERVE FREEDOM: Your Hard Work Will Make It Happen
In my conversations with you, you tell me how you hiked all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000 footers. You were a lot younger, but it feels like yesterday. You and I know one of the secrets to life is simply putting one foot in front of the other. It’s putting food on the table, the kids through college, and retirement checks in the bank. You tell me how much you learned from your dad. How he could build anything and how your kids feel the same about you because you’re always at their house working on something. I remember like it was yesterday a conversation we had where you said, “Dad helped me … [Read more...]
YOUR SURVIVAL GUY WARNING: Deadliest Markets This Century
Action Line: Central banks the world over talk about “soft” landings. Listen, I’m not a pilot, I’m Your Survival Guy, government has a history of screwing up landings and cleaning up the wreckage after the crash. I’m not in the prediction business. Prices are what they are. They can go as high as someone else is willing to pay. Prices are essentially a qualitative event. I want you focused on the quantitative. In other words, I want you to get cold hard cash in the form of dividends to be “invested” in the chaos. … [Read more...]
January RAGE Gauge: Free Money for All, and to All a Good Night
Let the parties continue, because the punch bowl is still flowing. Yesterday, when the Fed announced a tighter monetary policy—an end to bond purchases and three rate increases—markets cheered. Because halting asset purchases and raising rates a whopping three times is like moving a few ornaments on your Christmas tree. It’s all for show. And just like the “Jingle Bells” refrain, the Fed’s just another reindeer pulling Biden’s sleigh. It’s free money for all, and to all, a good night. What could possibly go wrong? For serious Americans like you—the savers, entrepreneurs, small business … [Read more...]
How I Feel at the Grocery Store These Days
Too much money chasing too few goods is how I feel at the grocery store these days. The money just isn’t going as far as it used to. You know the story, fewer potato chips in a bag that’s shrinking. When I’m looking for some meat, I ask myself, “Where’s the beef?” Why do I feel like the lady in that classic Wendy’s commercial? Speaking of which, how is it that White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki places the blame for rising prices on meatpackers? Then I read in The Wall Street Journal about millennials plunking down $625k for a “starter home.” What does that say about inflation? You tell … [Read more...]
BIDENOMICS: The Disaster that is President Joe Biden
Where do we start? Joe Biden’s been a complete disaster. When you pay people not to work, what do you think happens? The labor participation rate stays where it is because why work when you don’t have to? Meanwhile, “Successful Americans” like you who worked for a living and saved ‘til it hurt are penalized as inflation eats away at your fixed income. What’s the solution, more stocks? Please. Leadership talks about ESG investing like it’s the Holy Grail, taking your money, and pushing high-cost renewable energy on Americans. How long will it last? And not a word about the pollution going on … [Read more...]
INCESSANT INFLATION: Government Destroying the Dollar and Prices
Happy Monday. Are you paying attention to the “transitory” inflation? How much more did you pay this year for your Christmas tree? How about your turkey on Thanksgiving? Inflation is always a monetary event of too many dollars chasing too few goods. But the fact that the Fed has called inflation “transitory” (not anymore they’re not) is a joke. Take a look at this chart and you tell me if the destruction of the dollar was ever transitory. Action Line: Even if it’s the same U.S. President on your dollar bill, its value is hardly what it used to be, and this is not transitory. It’s … [Read more...]
WARNING: Invest at Your Own Risk—How to Lose $2 Billion in 10-Years
“How to Lose $2 Billion in 10 Years: Unpaid Bills Pile Up for Former Hedge-Fund Star: Philip Falcone is in a decadelong battle with the many people he owes money. They include ex-employees, a law firm and limo companies,” explains Rachel Louise Ensign in The Wall Street Journal. You see up close how quickly things unravel and shockingly, this guy was trusted to manage investors’ money. Ensign writes: Mr. Falcone became a hedge-fund billionaire betting on the subprime mortgage crisis. Then investors pulled money from his firm, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, after a stretch of spotty … [Read more...]
Ports in Right to Work South Carolina Handle Record Number of Containers
In my conversations with you, you’re telling me how much you loved your recent long weekend in Charleston, SC. What’s not to love? A long-time favorite of Your Survival Guy, South Carolina gets the job done. In November, the ports of South Carolina, including the Port of Charleston, handled more shipping containers than in any previous month. Mike Schuler reports: South Carolina Ports, which includes the Port of Charleston, has come out with its monthly cargo numbers for November, showing the port set a new all-time record for containers handled by the port in a single month. SC Ports … [Read more...]
DON’T LET THEM WIN: Politicians Want Your Money Even When You’re Dead
Shame on politicians for moving the goalposts on investors every four years or so, especially the rules governing estates and all types of IRAs. Planning one’s estate shouldn’t have to change with who’s in charge of the White House. But that’s the world we’re living in today. I’ve never been busier this time of year, working through these types of issues with investors. It’s a disservice to those who’ve done without and saved until it hurt. Now they have to worry about how to protect what they earned—yes, they earned it—from a government that’s supposed to work for them, not … [Read more...]
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