Dear Survivor, Much of your long-term investment success depends on your ability to shrug off markets. It sounds simple, but is hard to do. Sell in May and go away? Not me. Why risk missing dividend and interest payments, especially when Vanguard GNMA, by example, is a consistent income producer through thick and thin? In this record-breaking market, I want you to consider the future of long-term investing, the economy, and what you want to do with your hard-earned money. Take action, because at the end of the day your retirement life is all about my favorite three letters: Y.O.U. A Record … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive April: Is an EMP Attack Imminent?
In March, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to identify the threats posed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)—believed to be potentially dangerous to critical infrastructure like the electric grid (understatement to be kind)—and find ways to guard against them. As you have read right here we’ve been sounding the alarm for years. Boom—Your Life Changes EMP Threat: Be Prepared EMP Technology in the Hands of Terrorists EMP Attack: When the Lights go Out SCADA Vulnerable to Cyber Attack and EMPs Is Your Data Protected from EMP? Nukes, … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive March: Do You Have What it Takes to be a Great One?
My March Rage Gauge: Take Inventory of Your Investment Life My March Rage Gauge is in, and it feels like the calm before the storm. Does that mean the market will have a huge downward correction this year? Like I’ve written to you in the past, I’m not in the prediction business. Because for you to be a great investor, you need to put together multiple seasons of investing and then maybe you’ll be able to look back and say: “Well, I wouldn’t want to do that again, but we made it.” Let me explain. All of us have a pretty good feel for what’s going on today. Interest rates aren’t moving, the … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive February: Rush’s “YYZ” and Triangle in the Percussion Section
Dear Reader, You know the triangle is a special instrument. It’s small, yet important. Like the cherry on a sundae. It has a place. But when you’re a drummer in a high school band and you see the sheet music for the Nutcracker and you’re playing the triangle you know it might be a light day. That’s why anyone in a high school band around Christmas in the early 1980s might be familiar with the sound of the all-important triangle not from Tchaikovsky but from the band Rush and their song “YYZ.” If you know the song, then you can hear the beginning right now: Drummer Neil Peart … [Read more...]
The Shutdown’s Real Lesson: Too much of Economy Hostage to Government
“The problem with the shutdown is not that President Trump is holding the government ‘hostage,’ as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, but that the government has taken hostage of too much of the U.S. economy,” writes Chris Edwards editor of www.DownsizingGovernment.org at the Cato Institute, a Washington, DC.,-based think tank focused on limited government. When security at the nation’s 450 commercial airports depends on the government—a shutdown matters explains Edwards pointing out that a spokesman for the TSA screener’s union said this Tuesday: “Some of [my members] have already quit … [Read more...]
Does Your Investment Advisor Take Legal Kickbacks behind Your Back?
When you seek investment council be sure you work with an investment boutique that’s required by law to act as your fiduciary. Ask the question: “Are you required by law to act as my fiduciary.” Do not accept any answer other than Y-E-S. Because too many professionals in this industry put themselves out there as “Investment Advisors” or “Financial Advisor” when in reality they are neither. In order to legally call yourself an investment advisor you are required to act as a fiduciary. So called “advisors” working for big Wall Street firms are not required by law to be your … [Read more...]
Ceremonial Sig Sauer M17 Pistols: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
From America1Freedom.org: Silence, Respect, Dignity and Perseverance not only represent the aspects of the Sentinel’s Creed, but the name of the four pistols being presented to the Sentinel Guard protecting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The pistols were created by SIG Sauer using the specifications of the U.S. Army’s M17 Modular Handgun System and are chambered in 9 mm. Presentation of the M17 Tomb of the Unknown Pistols will take place Oct. 11 at Arlington National Cemetery Chapel at 9 a.m. Included with the private presentation will be a Changing of the Guard right afterward, where … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive January: A 2019 Survival Guy Investment Strategy
Dear Reader, Last year Vanguard GNMA made just under one percent or 0.87% for 2018 as interest payments offset a decline in bond prices from rising interest rates. As I’ve written to you before, you don’t want to be in the interest rate prediction business. You simply want to collect your interest payments and let the chips fall as they may. When you near retirement your success as an investor depends on a nine to five mentality—work nine to five to steadily save money for retirement and invest to keep what you’ve saved. It’s that simple. A survival guy investment strategy helps … [Read more...]
“E.J., Has Your Phone Been Ringing off the Hook?”
With market volatility creeping upward, this is once again a question I'm getting, but I urge you to reread what I wrote back on February 28, 2018. Well this was a fun month for the stock market with wild swings from high to low of around 2,000 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. One question I’m asked on a consistent basis is “E.J., is your phone ringing off the hook?” and my answer is “no,” and I know why. Most of you have been educated by Dick Young that investment success is achieved over a lifetime, not a month or two. Investment success is about hitting singles and … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive December: The Fed’s Powell in a Danger Zone
“When we were first starting out our mortgage rate was ten percent, not a two percent adjustable.” --says any parent who bought a home in the 1970s Dear Reader, Remember when you understood how the banking system worked? They lent you money, you bought a home, paid them back for what felt like the rest of your life and dreamed of a mortgage burning party. The bank was happy, you had a roof over your head and they spread more money around town. In other words, the fractional banking system worked. Today? Sure, houses are being bought and sold. But … [Read more...]