I was talking with a client yesterday. He emailed me earlier in the afternoon. The subject line read “New Customer.” His neighbor recently retired. She has a lot of company stock. She asked him what he’s doing with his money. She was intrigued by the “Armadillo” approach. I’ll let you know how our talk goes. Until then, I want to share with you the rest of my conversation. I’m so impressed with my client. He’s built his business over many years of hard work by taking small steps. Being in technology, he’s benefitted significantly from COVID. But he was ready for it. He was preparing all of … [Read more...]

"Are you calling to tell me you bought a Treasury yielding five percent?" my client asked. "I wish," I responded. "I remember when they were yielding ten percent," he said. "But then again, inflation was that high too." "Do you guys handle taxable accounts?" He asked. "Yes, we're not picky." "I've got a lot of money in CDs. When they mature, it's just sitting in cash doing nothing." From there, we started talking about quality stocks and bonds and how a combination of the two could work as a long-term source of income. Maybe we don't get all of the income we want and dip into principal. … [Read more...]

I had a great talk yesterday with a prospective client who is ready to come aboard. He's a successful entrepreneur and triathlete coach. He said he doesn't just stand on the side and coach. He's in the pool, figuring things out with his athletes. I like that. For example, if he sees a problem with an athlete's swim stroke, he gets in the pool to copy the problem, and then he works on drills to correct it. It's a hands-on approach that puts him in the shoes of his customers. "I miss Richard C. Young's Intelligence Report," he said. "It's the reason I have the savings that I do." "I … [Read more...]

When you look at your monthly statement, do you feel like you have a good handle on what’s going on? You punch in an ETF or mutual fund symbol, but it doesn’t tell you much. It’s like trying to pick a show on Netflix—let’s see what this is about—only to realize five episodes in that it was a waste of time. Your time is valuable. You deserve to know what’s going on from day one. Today you have advisors selling you blueprints that sound good, but then you realize they’re stuffing your portfolio with ETFs and mutual funds that charge you a fee on top of what you’re paying the advisor. A lot of … [Read more...]

Happy Election Day. It’s nice to know one candidate isn’t in it for the money. Originally posted December 4, 2018. You may have read Rich Man, Poor Man—one of my favorite pieces ever written by the late great investment writer Richard Russell. It’s one of those timeless pieces that makes me feel like he’s still with us. And with the passing of President George H.W. Bush, I’m reminded of the sacrifices of the “Greatest Generation” and their unique perspective on life. You see, Richard Russell served in World War II, like President Bush, and knew what it felt like to worry about … [Read more...]

I recently received this message from a client: EJ, it was great talking to you yesterday. While doing a little reading last night I came across a quote I thought you might like. The Old Testament book of Proverbs was compiled by King Solomon who many consider to be the wisest person ever. So I looked this up and I think Ben Graham and Warren Buffet and Dick Young are in good company, at least philosophically. The quote is from the book of Proverbs chapter 21 verse 5. “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty .“ Sounds like Solomon would have made a great financial … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy’s boiler room is stacked with buckets of 30-day survival food sprinkled with Spam and other canned delicacies. My son tells me he can’t wait to try some of it. Other members of my family tell me they’d rather starve. Your Survival Guy also has a weakness in the canned goods aisle. Cans of BOGO tuna and sardines magically jump into my cart like fish out of water. “We’re good on the canned fish,” I’m told. Who knew the term “value” could be so subjective. Last month investors believed Apple was worth eight percent of the market. (They’ve since re-thought that). As I’ve … [Read more...]

Let’s clear something up real quick. If you’re invested with Vanguard and it’s a major undertaking to shift your portfolio to Fidelity Investments—there are worse places to be stuck. In an industry littered with terrible, high-cost products, you’re lucky to be at low cost, no front or back-end load Vanguard. But what you might own at Vanguard and seeing how its assets continue to expand is concerning. As an aside, Vanguard has had some great managers retire such as the GNMA fund’s Michael Garret, from sub-advisor Wellington Management. You never hear about his retirement party. It makes it … [Read more...]