Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

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America’s Scorched Earth: Where Energy Goes to Die

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You and I know ESG investing is all about EGO and more fees. Like anything, just follow the money, and the truth unfolds right before your very eyes. You and I have been on top of this theme like no other. You understand the implications for your future will be enormous. It’s why I want you to be on the right side as history unfolds. Take this winter’s disaster in Texas, for example, when temps dipped to arctic levels, and there was no wind but for the frozen exhalations of shivering residents huddled together in the darkness of their homes. It was a third-world country. And this was … [Read more...]

Pray for Just a Little Patience

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In my conversations with you, you're telling me how you're getting settled into your summer groove and how it's not always easy. I hear you. Because when the days are three times longer than nights, there's a lot of anxiety to "get stuff done." And it doesn't get easier with age. When making coffee feels like climbing Everest, or doing the dishes is the last thing you want to do, remember, you're not alone. This is a time of year packed with pressure, and as we get older, it's more difficult to have patience because we like things the way we like them, and things need to be right. Just ask … [Read more...]

Big Tech Spends Investor Dollars on Green Energy

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Investors in tech companies may think CEOs are focused on inventing the "next big thing" that will turn out amazing profits. That used to be true. But now, many of the biggest tech companies are more focused on getting their stocks in ESG funds. Rather than focus on innovating new technologies, they're spending loads of investor dollars building renewable energy projects to offset emissions in the hopes of building their reputation with woke ESG fund managers. Meanwhile, investors get charged higher fees by the fund managers. So the investor is losing money both ways. Here's what the … [Read more...]

Fire! Run for the Exits! Carbon Credits Explode

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Fire! Run for the exits! Another big bank has entered the carbon credit markets. I bet this is more about EGO than saving trees. It’s a perfect Wall Street creation: offer a way for the elite to offset their private jet wash by scrubbing it clean with carbon credits. What’s a carbon credit, you ask? It’s basically a way for you to give money to tree owners, for example, to not cut them down, and to save the environment. I’m serious. But you and I know it’s more about “what’s in your wallet?” Or as the Discover card double points rep says: “More money, more money!” The big boys know how to … [Read more...]

Chip Shortage: Why You Can’t Even Buy a Car Today

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As the tension between China and Taiwan builds, there’s hope WWIII can be avoided thanks to a little-known manufacturer that supplies the world’s computer chips. Little known might not be the appropriate description for the 11th most valuable company in the world. But how many of your friends know about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)—manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticated chips? My guess is not many until the WSJ did a feature this weekend: The company makes almost all of the world’s most sophisticated chips, and many of the simpler ones, too. They’re in billions of … [Read more...]

Biden Said He’d Only Tax the Rich, but This Will Hurt Everyone

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You can read here about the negative impacts of a Biden administration tax increase on dividends. In summary, a higher tax on dividends motivates companies not to pay them. My take? Stock-rich executives and the largest shareholders don’t want to fork over half the payout in taxes. Pinar Cebi Wilber writes in The Wall Street Journal: The Biden administration has released a flurry of tax proposals, including a headline-grabbing tax hike on capital gains that would apply retroactively from April. Dividends would be subject to the same treatment, according to a recently released Treasury … [Read more...]

Oil Shock: Countries with the Largest Oil Reserves

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I found this eye-opening. From Zerohedge.com: Oil is a natural resource formed by the decay of organic matter over millions of years, and like many other natural resources, it can only be extracted from reserves where it already exists. The only difference between oil and every other natural resource is that oil is well and truly the lifeblood of the global economy. The world derives over a third of its total energy production from oil, more than any other source by far; and, as Visual Capitalist's Anshool Deshmukh details below, as a result, the countries that control the world’s … [Read more...]

Inside Real Estate Market: This Bubble’s Popped Baby

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Your Survival Guy’s been watching lumber prices. I reported here and here that much of the increase was due to a bottleneck at sawmills. (There’s plenty of trees, just no excess capacity at the mills creating finished lumber.) Lumber futures reached a high of $1,711.20 per thousand board feet in May. On Tuesday, July futures were down to $1,009.90, off 41% from the record high. Ryan Dezember reports in the WSJ: The rapid decline suggests a bubble that has burst and the question is how low lumber prices will fall. Even after tumbling, lumber futures remain nearly three times what is typical … [Read more...]

COVID Was a Retirement Stress Test: Did You Pass?

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You're probably feeling pretty good about your retirement after getting tested by COVID-19. You've been saving until it hurts your whole life. That's why my favorite investment is Y-O-U. Relying on yourself to work to make money, and then investing to save it, is the best way to ensure that an inflated stock market, or a pandemic crash, don't determine your destiny. You have read my warnings about the number of people who are confident in their retirement plan. At near record highs, the numbers beg some skepticism. New data have come out from CNBC that suggest at least some retirees are … [Read more...]

Profit and Power Drive Environmentalism on Wall St. and in Washington

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It used to be rare that regulators in Washington D.C., and money men on Wall St. would find common cause, but that has changed in an era when the government is so big, its subsidies alone drive the profits of many businesses. Big Wall St. firms like BlackRock have found a way to turn Washington into a profit machine. The Biden administration is loaded with former BlackRock employees. Do you think they left their high-paying jobs on Wall St. to do what's best for the farmers of Iowa or the fishermen of Maine? No, they came to Washington to grease the skids for policies that will make … [Read more...]