Another habit of highly successful and fairly wealthy people is this: delegation. You didn’t get to where you are without a little help from your friends, staff, and loved ones. You learned habit #1, saving money, at an early enough age, and you saved til it hurt. You delegated that task. Did you set it and forget it? You didn’t forget. Not really. It was always on your mind. “Will we have enough to retire on?” you wondered. But it was basically on autopilot. Now, as you approach retirement (work for as long as you can, dear reader), there’s more to think about. You can’t afford to make a … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s #1 Habit of Fairly Successful People
Your Survival Guy’s number one habit of fairly successful people is saving money. Done. Simple. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Because, like all habits, it can be hard, initially, that is, but then it’s quite a bit of fun. Compounding money—the eighth wonder of the world. Don’t just take Your Survival Guy’s advice; go back in time and ask Albert Einstein. Life’s lessons seem to be the same no matter when you are born. If you’re a saver, you have a good handle on risk. You don’t like it. It’s a bad four-letter word. You don’t like staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night, wondering … [Read more...]
If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk
Happy Friday. It’s tax season. Unfortunately for mutual fund investors, this can be the time of year you realize your fund was down, but you still owe taxes. Because of its structure, a mutual fund puts you in the same boat as other investors. If some head for the exits, the manager is forced to liquidate positions to raise cash. Some of the positions he sells could be at a long-term gain creating a taxable event. It’s a lot like going out to dinner with ten of your college friends, and then two of them leave before helping with the bill. Not cool. When Vanguard founder Jack Bogle … [Read more...]
Are 0DTE Options a Threat to Markets?
In Bloomberg, Lu Wang discusses the growing use of 0DTE options and their potential to cause market volatility, writing: Discovered by retail investors as a cheap way of gambling during the meme-stock era in 2021, zero-day options got a fresh boost on index trading after firms like Cboe Global Markets Inc. last year expanded S&P 500 options expirations to cover each weekday. The offerings became an instant hit among institutions as daily reversals ruled the market, spurred by the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive monetary tightening in decades. By the third quarter of 2022, 0DTE … [Read more...]
Are You Living Your Best Life?
Sitting in my cave today. Looking out at the beautiful landscape. Thanking myself for peace of mind. Knowing it’s my own decision to take shelter. It’s been a long time. Independent thinking is a lonely journey. Yes, it helps knowing this storm, too, will pass. But when? Will they ever learn? Because it’s in times like these, I appreciate the wisdom of my elders. Thinking about the fireside chats they shared with grace. Learning to tread lightly and to avoid the eager man looking to tread on me. I don’t like eager. I don’t like exciting. I’m fine preserving myself. … [Read more...]
Silicon Valley Bank: What Do Investors Expect?
Silicon Valley Bank's deposits increased by 238% in two years. Many of its deposits were from IPOs and SPAC deals. Andy Kessler writes that "Most startups had relationships with the bank." Why is that? Kessler explains: Why did so many startups bank with SVB in the first place? Here’s a hint. Apparently, more than half of SVB’s loans went to venture and private-equity firms backed by the borrower’s limited-partner commitments, a legal but slippery way to goose venture funds’ all-important internal rate of return metric, IRR, by investing three to six months before calling investors for … [Read more...]
“Will We Have Enough to Live On Forever?”
Being disciplined is tough. It often entails doing stuff you don’t want to do. Exercise and eating right are at the top of the list. Your career and saving money? Yup. Compounding money? Check. But what about retirement investing? Yes. Most definitely. But here’s the kicker. After years of doing what’s right, you’d think it would get a little easier. It doesn’t. When it comes to money and taking care of it like you would a loved one, it doesn’t get easier with age. It gets tougher and tougher. The pre-retirement years are brutal. “Will we have enough to live on for the rest of our … [Read more...]
Take Action: Don’t Wait for the Best to Save You
Wouldn’t it be a shame if, five years from now, you’re earning peanuts on your savings? That’s a real risk. Because if the Fed backs itself into a corner, the economy gets into a pickle (and who knows what else), it may be forced to cut rates. At least, that’s what the talking heads are saying. You know I don’t like predicting interest rates. Predictions are cheap. Everyone has one. And they’re not a worthwhile endeavor. I’m Your Survival Guy, not “Mr. What If This Happens.” I like to take action based on what’s in front of me. And what I’m seeing now are attractive enough rates that … [Read more...]
When Is the Best Time for You to Do This?
“Life’s short,” my grandfather would say. “You’re only here for a visit.” He didn’t say it to me. I was too young when he passed away. He said it to my dad, who just turned 79. My grandfather would also ask my dad when he was starting out in business, “Do you know when the best time is to plant a tree?” And that got passed down to me. I never liked that one. “Yesterday,” I’d respond, feeling the pressure of not doing whatever it was I was supposed to do yesterday. “That’s right. Do you know when the next best day is to plant a tree?” “Today,” I’d say, feeling like, what’s … [Read more...]
Are You with Someone Who’s Been Cookin’ for Decades?
You may be surprised, dear reader, but Your Survival Guy doesn't spend much time thinking about how much "I" can make in the markets. I spend my time thinking about how to hide. How to protect my assets. Because I know a swooping black swan is looking to take them. And yet, time and time again, it's the investor, like the frog in a soon to be boiling pot, who is lulled to sleep in the good times only to be whacked when markets turn down. And they are always picked off. Picked off out of nowhere, wondering what in the heck just happened. "But I was diversified in an index fund," they … [Read more...]
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