The third habit of highly successful, fairly wealthy people is this: They read Your Survival Guy every day. They make a habit of visiting daily to beat the Friday email rush. They like being in the know. They avoid crowds. Friends, I enjoy our daily visits and conversations. I enjoy the habit of thinking about your success. Your success and your generational wealth didn’t happen by accident. You saved ‘til it hurt. You made it. You respect it. You can’t afford to lose it. Investing is not the same as saving. When we talk, I listen. You tell me you’ve read Richard C. Young’s Intelligence … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy has watched as Bidenflation has eaten up paychecks and retirement savings for Americans. Recent inflation numbers have abated, but they're still high compared to historical averages. In The Wall Street Journal, Greg Ip explains why Americans' acceptance of inflation as normal is so bad. He writes: Last fall, Americans were obsessed with inflation. The issue dominated the midterm elections. One in five respondents called it the nation’s most important problem, according to Gallup. These days, their attention is elsewhere. Just 9% of Gallup respondents now call inflation … [Read more...]

Life comes at you fast. It doesn’t slow down, even in retirement. That’s why it’s nice to have a team working for you. People you can trust. We’re in this together. We’re not that different from each other. Your Survival Guy had another eventful week of conversations with you. This is a message from a client I’ve been working with since the early 90s, when he was in his fifties. Here’s the caption to a picture he sent me: EJ, Not to be outdone. Our 50th anniversary at the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico. Our son in white, our daughter in black, son-in-law in blue, and our two … [Read more...]

“How often do we speak?” he asked. “That depends,” I said. “The firm I’m with now sets up an annual meeting,” he told me. “That doesn’t sound like enough,” I responded. “They’re responsive. If I have a problem or question, they get right back to me,” he said. How Much is Enough? That was just one conversation I had yesterday with a prospective client. He’s a frequent reader. He feels like he knows us. But it doesn’t seem like he knows his current team so well—the one handling his life’s savings. Until yesterday, he and I had never spoken before, but even so, he felt like he … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy’s been prepping like any other crazed parent of college-aged children: for the day when school’s out for summer. This, unlike any other summer when the kids were little and lived upstairs full time, is different. A lot different. They’ve been away, living on their own, for eight months or so. During that time, Your Survival Guy and Your Survival Gal did the light lifting of dishes for two, enjoyed quiet evenings streaming what our little hearts desired, walked our dog like the spoiled child he’s become. And it was all rather nice. And then, two cars full of stuff arrived … [Read more...]