Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

You’ve Read the Last Intelligence Report Now What? Part II

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Being on the front lines every day talking with investors just like you, it never ceases to amaze me how much you appreciate Dick Young and how he has made you a more comfortable and successful investor. He made you self-reliant. He helped you beat inertia. How? You basically had no choice. You needed to know what he was thinking every month. He got your attention, which reminds me of an interchange we had when I first started working with him back in 1998. My job was to talk with prospective clients, learn about their situations and see if there was a way we could help. Prospects would … [Read more...]

Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Water Requirements

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You never want to miss an opportunity to improve your situation when it comes to water. You simply cannot afford to be without it. You can’t live without water beyond three days, give or take. That’s why I suggest a short-term solution by simply making sure you have enough water on hand for the next couples of days, and then work from there. You’d be surprised at what you already have, as I explain here, and how easy it is to do as I point out here. But how do you prepare for when you will be without water for longer than a few days? In thinking about intermediate-term water storage … [Read more...]

Buffett’s Flying J Invests in the Energy Revolution

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“A sucker is born every minute, and Warren Buffett just proved it. He agreed to spend an undisclosed sum of his shareholders’ money to buy a controlling stake in Pilot Flying J, the truck-stop chain that sells food, coffee and diesel fuel to truckers”, writes Holman Jenkins, Jr. in his WSJ column. “After all, aren’t truckers about to be replaced by robots, and diesel by battery power?” Not so fast he continues, “The sucker in this scenario, we add, is anyone who believed such futuristic forecasts in the first place” Changing gears, I had a discussion about natural gas this week with a … [Read more...]

My Concerns as Money Piles Up at Vanguard

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Let the good times roll? Great lyrics from the Cars but it’s a song I can’t get out of my head thinking about the money piling up by the truckload at Vanguard’s back door. We’re talking nearly $300 billion in the first nine months of this year alone. All of that money unloaded and stacked up with the rest of the $4.7 trillion at the firm. That’s a lot of confidence in one company. And maybe Vanguard deserves it thanks to the tireless work of founder Jack Bogle on the power of low cost index investing. But where is all that money going? As I’ve stated in my piece last week on balanced funds, … [Read more...]

You Are on the Most Beautiful Boulevard in Paris

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You won't believe your good fortune. You just arrived in Paris, checked in to your room at Hotel Franklin Roosevelt and decided to turn left on to Rue Clement Marot. You are on your way to the most beautiful boulevard in Paris: Avenue Montaigne. You note, in case you get hungry later, that across the street is the iconic brasserie Chez Andre. Life is good. You are in Paris’ Golden Triangle or Triangle D'or, a mix of business, culture, shopping boutiques, fashion houses and lunching at L’Avenue. Lucky you. Triangle D’or, located on the right bank, in the 8th arrondissement, is shaped by … [Read more...]

Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Drinking Water

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When thinking about water storage, I like to break it down into three needs: short, intermediate, and long-term. Short-term needs are immediate and can last anywhere from 2 hours to 3 days. In some situations you may have some time to prepare, such as for a storm. But I’m thinking about a short-term emergency that catches you off guard. Imagine, right now, if you lost your main source of water. How would you fare for the next couple of days? You don’t want to be the one waiting in line at the store. You don’t want to be told that there are no more water bottles. The solution for … [Read more...]

How it Feels to be Rich like Bezos

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What makes Jeff Bezos tick? You. From the very beginning Jeff Bezos has always been about the customer. And that ethos flows through the company like a package from your computer to your doorstep. To Bezos, if the customer isn’t satisfied, what’s the point of being in business? And the Smith house is satisfied. At times it feels like an Amazon fulfillment center with all the boxes. How does Amazon do it? Driving past the gargantuan Amazon building in Fall River, MA, going 70 mph, it literally takes several seconds. It’s sheer size is breathtaking. It looks like it belongs in another … [Read more...]

Weekends in the Mountains or on the Water

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Over the weekend we were at our log cabin in New Hampshire. One of the best parts about being in the White Mountains is the change of pace. It breaks up the routine. Instead of heading to the office or off to school, we went to my parents’ house for coffee, drove around town, and just enjoyed being up there. I know a lot of you do the same thing whether it’s weekends away or an entire season. It’s important to change up your scenery. It allows you to breath, if you will, and to gather your thoughts for the next steps you’ll take in your life. … [Read more...]

A Code to Help Your Survival

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Over the weekend we were at our log cabin in New Hampshire. An article on the front page of the local paper, The Conway Daily Sun, caught my interest. It was about hiking safely in the White Mountains. According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, hiker rescues were at above average levels this summer but tapered off after a busy start. One of the reasons for the reduction in rescues of late, might have something to do with the New Hampshire’s hikeSafe program. The program, which puts stewards at five trail heads, provides a Hiker Responsibility Code. The card costs $25 for an … [Read more...]