Anyone thinking about a New Year’s money resolution? I remember when I was a kid my dad telling me, “Saving money is like planting a tree. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second-best time is today.” I’d be thinking tomorrow would be just fine too so could go play street hockey. We’d get my change, dump it on the floor, and start feeding quarters, dimes, nickels, and yes, pennies into paper rolls. We’d count the dollar bills, some fives, maybe a ten or twenty and then grab my bank passbook and make the deposit. Counting money, once we got going, was fun, especially after … [Read more...]
Understand the 800-Pound Gorillas in the S&P 500
OK, this stock market is top heavy. Remember, you buy the stock market when you buy a 500 index. But do you know how that index works? Look at the S&P 500 for example. Sure, it's 500 stocks, but about a third of the index is dependent on five companies. Why? Because it's a market cap weighted index meaning the size of a company, its market cap (price times shares outstanding) dictates its influence. “Remember when a trillion dollars was a lot of money?” asks Spencer Jakab in The Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street feature, “Gigantic Stocks Are a Reason to Worry.” Five companies … [Read more...]
How to Find Your Retirement Life Forever Home
The best advice you can get when it comes to finding Your Retirement Life forever home, is to spend time in the area you think you’ll like. Take our cabin in New Hampshire, for example. I knew the area like the back of my hand having spent a season as a ski instructor after Babson and then going up on weekends after my parents bought a house there. Over time it became obvious to me that we, as a family, were going to be spending a lot more time in New Hampshire and it felt right. That wouldn’t have happened over a weekend. It took years. From Beth DeCarbo in the WSJ: To Rick Brown and … [Read more...]
FORGETFUL JOE: Biden Can’t Remember Who He’s Fighting For
You know I’m a fan of Joel Kotkin. His work on America’s Growth Corridors is top-notch. His writing on demography is also enlightening. Now, Kotkin exposes the hypocrisy that underlies Joe Biden’s career as a politician. Despite advertising himself as “working-class” Joe, Biden is constantly looking out for his corporate backers. Kotkin writes: Joe Biden may present himself as a ‘working-class hero’, a claim reiterated recently in the leftist American Prospect, but increasingly America’s workers are showing signs not of common cause but disquiet. Hollywood workers just announced … [Read more...]
Four Letter Word I’m Celebrating this Labor Day
Your Survival Guy wants to share a personal story with you. It’s from a client who’s finally calling it quits. Dr. Lee Payne and I have been working together for close to 20-years but when you consider his affiliation with Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report, we’re talking more like 40-years, and many more to come. Dr. Payne remembers reading Dick’s investment letters, believing in Dick’s philosophy and putting it to work. Dick’s letter was a monthly reminder that helped Lee beat inertia. Lee invested in himself (my favorite investment) and his business, and what was left over he invested … [Read more...]
September Rage Gauge Update: High RISK ALERT
If you’re paying attention to what’s going on in Afghanistan and here at home with COVID you have reasons for concern. Let me remind you, my Rage Gauge right now is at full tilt, high RISK. Clearly those in power seek a different future than what you and I may have in mind for our families and loved ones. A future where they decide how you live your life. A great RESET is in the works. Pay attention. Now, is when you prepare accordingly not when more danger arrives at your doorstep. Your Survival Guy talks with investors like you every single day. Don’t let inertia ruin your future when you … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy: The Rolling Stones Drummer Charlie Watts
The drumming world lost a legend with the passing of The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. In 1989, when Your Survival Guy was a senior in high school, my friend Dave and I went to see The Stones live at Sullivan Stadium. It was the Steel Wheels tour and to say it was a production is an understatement. I remember walking along the train tracks at Sullivan and seeing the army of 18-wheelers parked behind the massive stage that, as I learned yesterday, was designed by Watts along with all of the band’s album sleeves. He was quite the force. And what a force he created in that stage. … [Read more...]
Fidelity #1: GameStop and NEVER Selling You Out
As you know, Robinhood offers online traders an easy way to invest in stocks like GameStop. But did you know it makes it’s money from PFOP or payment for order flow? What PFOP means is that Robinhood sells its own customer trading data to outsiders—those more than willing to pay for it. Why you might ask? Follow the money. A hedge fund might want to know what the order flow looks like on a specific stock and bet for or against it. It’s like sitting at the poker table and they see everyone’s hand. It’s basically a legal way (I guess) to show them the money. Don’t let that be you. It’s … [Read more...]
Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
Aren’t you glad you’re not me? Your Survival Guy’s in a boil water advisory. It’s not great. I’ll let you decide how a boil water advisory might run through your family. I’ll just say I live with teenagers and leave it at that. But there’s a silver lining here (and later on in this piece) so stick around and read on. Yesterday, while Your Survival Guy (YSG) was on the phone (I forget if it was with you) I got a text from home “no water pressure.” Now this isn’t something YSG can solve from his desk. But, rest assured, the despair felt by the rest of my family was going to be felt by me come … [Read more...]
Only You Know How Much Gold You Should Own
Only you know how much gold you should own. The reason why is because it doesn’t pay a dividend and it can be expensive to hold. One way to back into the right amount for you is to determine how much you can “afford” to hold in gold if it does nothing. In other words, understand that above a certin amount your plan is to give it to the next generation. When you think about it like this you immediately remove the “pressure” of “needing” it to do something for you in your lifetime. The simple approach is figuring out your other investment needs and then go after your gold component as if you … [Read more...]
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