Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

How Are You Doing on a Local Level?

By

By Leigh Trail @ Shutterstock.com

How are you doing on a local level? Are you taking small steps every day to secure your situation? You don’t have to change your world in a day. Here are some thoughts looking out at my backyard:

Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free.
  • The local paper ran an article this week titled Firearm Interest Up Locally. The catalyst for the increased interest seems to be the election, and much like post-9-11, respondents are saying they were looking to buy anyway, this just made them take action.
  • Applications to the Newport Rifle Club are way up, especially by female applicants, with demand for training by both genders way up as well.
  • Are you seeing local prices higher or lower? Here, the price for food at the grocery store is up, while remaining pretty steady at restaurants.
  • Do you have debt? It’s like an anchor around your neck. It’s ok while you’re on the boat, but try swimming with it. That’s what it feels like carrying debt during deflationary times.
  • Value stocks. Yes. Imagine you own a wonderful business with pricing power. Now put that into your portfolio. That’s one way you fight inflation.
  • Bonds. Yes. Imagine you’re a company. Your capital structure requires by law that your bondholders get paid first. Now imagine you own both stocks and bonds, and you see how you’ll live to fight another day in times of trouble by owning bonds.
  • There’s nothing wrong with making money slowly from your investments.
  • You spent a lifetime making money slowly with your work (unless you hit an IPO lottery).
  • If you’re amazed at the amount of money you control, you know exactly what I’m saying. Fortunes can be made slowly.
  • And fortunes can be lost in the blink of an eye. Don’t let that be you. Be patient.

Action Line: Make sure your financial house is in order. It’s the most important thing you control today. I believe in you. You can do this.

P.S. Dick Young recently wrote to investors that the stock market is about money flows, not politics. He continued:

Has America endured a more disgraced sitting president than Democrat Bill Clinton or first family than Bill and Hillary? Perhaps not.

Well you might be surprised to know that your IRA sprouted like fresh green weeds during the disgraceful decade of the nineties. Check out my chart below.

Americans have a great history of remaining optimistic, even though the Washington elite can and do act, for extended periods, like thorough fools.

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

Recent Posts from YourSurvivalGuy.com

Are Investors Ready to Pounce?

Investors waiting to pounce? Not buying it. They finally have rates they can sink their teeth into. They’re in no rush to take on more risk. At least, that’s not what they’re telling me. In The Wall Street Journal, Jack Pritcher suggests investors are looking for more risk. He writes: Stocks and bonds have surged […]

Disney Signals Problems with the ESG Agenda

You have read about Disney’s war against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and parental rights. Now, it appears that Disney is realizing the error of getting involved in America’s culture wars in order to boost its ESG rankings. Johnathan Turley writes in The Hill: In recent filings, Disney appears to acknowledge that Smith’s invisible hand is […]

Biden Gave Americans 10 Years of Inflation in Only 3

Americans have endured a decade’s worth of inflation during the three years Joe Biden has lived in the White House. Bloomberg’s Reade Pickert and Jennah Haque report on the cost-of-living squeeze Americans are suffering through today, writing: After years of inflation, US consumers are shouldering a burden unlike anything seen in decades — even as […]

Happy Black Friday

You know how Your Survival Guy feels about money: save a third, spend a third, pay taxes with a third. Well, today, let’s focus again on the spending. One of the best ways to keep you motivated and in the game is to take some trips every now and then. Life Comes at You Fast. […]

Which Jimmy Buffett Album Is Your Favorite?

This year, America lost one of its best-loved musicians, Jimmy Buffett. Over his career, Buffett released 32 albums, and Al Shipley at SPIN Magazine has ranked them, writing: Shortly before his death in September at the age of 76, Buffett finished his 32nd studio album Equal Strain on All Parts, backed by his longtime Coral Reefer […]

More Americans than Ever Own Guns

You have probably heard the phrase “voting with your wallet.” When it comes to the Second Amendment, that’s exactly what Americans are doing. More Americans own guns than at any time since polls began back in 1999. Today, 52% of Americans report owning a gun or living in a household that owns a gun. Alexandra […]

Happy Thanksgiving!

When the pilgrims of the Mayflower landed, many of the men signed the Mayflower Compact, which read: In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc. […]

Preparing You and a Loved One for Thanksgiving

Your Survival Guy’s here to help you prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. Not with the turkey, stuffing, or desserts but with the conversation. We all know the third rails of holiday conversation: religion, politics, and money. And not in any particular order. I think politics and religion have worn everyone out and are only brought up […]

The Next Ronald Read? Save Til It Hurts

You read the story of Ronald Read in Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. The Brattleboro, VT gas station attendant amassed an $8 million portfolio of investments by the time of his death in 2015 at age 92. While Read was stacking stock certificates on the west bank of the Connecticut River, just across the Brattleboro […]

Americans Don’t Think Inflation Is Over

Despite a noticeable easing of tensions over inflation on Wall St., Main Street Americans are not convinced that the end of rapid inflation has actually arrived. Bloomberg’s Reade Pickert reports: US short-term inflation expectations climbed to a seven-month high in November and longer-run price views remained at levels not seen since 2011. Americans expect prices […]

“Inflation Is Killing Me,” He Said, “No It’s…”

“Inflation is killing me,” he said. “No, it’s not,” I said. “You have income coming into your account, a sizable portfolio, and yes, maybe asset prices are off, but the cash flow is solid.” Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free. The cost of everything has been up, […]

How Low Can Home Sales Fall?

Your Survival Guy is watching as existing home sales hit levels last seen during the aftermath of the housing crisis. Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free. According to the hopeful economists at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), sales will rise next year by 13.5%, and mortgage […]

Can AI Survive Humanity?

The advancement in artificial intelligence has been one of the year’s most popular stories among both the media and on Wall St. At the front of the story has been Sam Altman and his company, OpenAI. In just a few days, Altman has been fired, rehired, and fired again, and hired by Microsoft, along with […]

Retirement Income: We All Want It, We All…

Retirement income. We all want it. We all need it. How do we get it? Well, dear reader, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start with bonds. My feeling about them is once you get to age 50 or so, if you don’t already have them, then you need to get some. Your Survival […]

Biden’s Cure for Climate Change Is More Inflation

Joe Biden’s stay in the White House has been stained by the worst inflation Americans have seen in decades. Now, he’s doing what he can to make it even more expensive for Americans. The Washington Examiner’s editors report: The rate at which prices are rising has slowed somewhat, but prices are still going up. The […]