Are you working with a fiduciary? What is a fiduciary? If you aren't sure your advisor is a fiduciary by law, you should find out. It can make a difference in what happens in your portfolio. In his 2009 article "The Fiduciary Principle: No Man Can Serve Two Masters," the founder of The Vanguard Group, John (Jack) Bogle, explained the fiduciary duty as follows: The concept of fiduciary duty has a long history, going back more or less eight centuries under English common law. Fiduciary duty is essentially a legal relationship of confidence or trust between two or more parties, most commonly a … [Read more...]

You know Your Survival Guy is worried about Italy's low birth rates. But just as worrying is France, which is witnessing its lowest birthrates since just after WWII. Can you imagine? Fertility rates in France have fallen to 1.8. Hélène de Lauzun reports in The European Conservative: After Spain and Italy, it is now France’s turn to publish alarming figures on the state of its birth rate. According to the national statistics agency, INSEE, the year 2023 will be particularly “weak” for births. In the first quarter, France recorded 7% fewer births than in 2020, before the pandemic—the lowest … [Read more...]

Dear Chairman, Millionaires next door have questions—lots of them. But we’re not getting answers. Something earth-shattering is going on. And it seems no one in power is giving it much thought. Please review the chart series below. It looks like a bullwhip. A cliff. A ski slope. It’s dramatic, to say the least. How will this end? Your thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. Thank you. Warm regards, Your Survival Guy P.S. Tomorrow, read about American investors' last line of defense. Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.  … [Read more...]

It was a sad end. He sent a thoughtful note. The window had closed. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. The timing wasn’t right anymore. They weren’t going to become clients. Like all relationships, we spent a considerable amount of time getting to know each other. We talked about his savings accumulated over close to eight decades of living. He’s the millionaire next door. But no one in the neighborhood would know it. “I came from nothing,” he said. “I mean nothing. We had a roof over our heads. Sure. But that was about it.” When you grow up like that, it’s something you never forget. The … [Read more...]

The third habit of highly successful, fairly wealthy people is this: They read Your Survival Guy every day. They make a habit of visiting daily to beat the Friday email rush. They like being in the know. They avoid crowds. Friends, I enjoy our daily visits and conversations. I enjoy the habit of thinking about your success. Your success and your generational wealth didn’t happen by accident. You saved ‘til it hurt. You made it. You respect it. You can’t afford to lose it. Investing is not the same as saving. When we talk, I listen. You tell me you’ve read Richard C. Young’s Intelligence … [Read more...]

Where can you get independent research from an advisor who is a fiduciary by law? Where your advisor focuses on you, your money, and not every other cause in the world? It’s not as easy as you think. Take a random walk through the big players’ websites, and you might not like what you see. Your Survival Guy got a call from one of the bigger players the other day. It was the first time I’d heard from them in years. It’s as if I suddenly existed. Where’s the personal relationship they all flog? If I wasn’t interested in seeing how they’re doing, I’d be out of there. Anyway. Not cool. And … [Read more...]

Life comes at you fast. It doesn’t slow down, even in retirement. That’s why it’s nice to have a team working for you. People you can trust. We’re in this together. We’re not that different from each other. Your Survival Guy had another eventful week of conversations with you. This is a message from a client I’ve been working with since the early 90s, when he was in his fifties. Here’s the caption to a picture he sent me: EJ, Not to be outdone. Our 50th anniversary at the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico. Our son in white, our daughter in black, son-in-law in blue, and our two … [Read more...]

“How often do we speak?” he asked. “That depends,” I said. “The firm I’m with now sets up an annual meeting,” he told me. “That doesn’t sound like enough,” I responded. “They’re responsive. If I have a problem or question, they get right back to me,” he said. How Much is Enough? That was just one conversation I had yesterday with a prospective client. He’s a frequent reader. He feels like he knows us. But it doesn’t seem like he knows his current team so well—the one handling his life’s savings. Until yesterday, he and I had never spoken before, but even so, he felt like he … [Read more...]