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...]

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...]

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...]

“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...]

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...]

The Biden administration is undermining fiduciary protections created by the Trump administration to protect retirees from money managers who would use their wealth to push the radical progressive agenda rather than to secure the savers' retirements. Now, 25 state attorneys general are suing to stop the Biden administration. Keith Griffith reports for the Daily Mail: The Republican attorneys general from 25 US states have filed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's plan to allow retirement fund managers to make 'socially conscious' investment decisions. The federal suit filed on … [Read more...]