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Your Survival Guy’s Quick Top 10 Checklist

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Your Survival Guy’s quick Top 10 checklist to help keep you on track this spring.

Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free.
  1. Get your lazy cash off the couch. If it’s earning peanuts at your bank, move it to Fidelity’s Treasury Money Market (FZFXX), paying close to 4.5%.
  2. Think about moving away from mutual funds and ETFs. I want you to be an owner and in control of your stocks and bonds. I want you at the private spa, not the public pool. But it needs to make sense for your situation. We can talk.
  3. If you’re working, work for as long as you can. If you’re being pressured by your spouse to retire, then figure out a way to have your cake and eat it too. You can take extended vacations. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You got this. Don’t tell your spouse I said this.
  4. Spend money. Yes, you heard that right. Save a third, spend a third, and pay taxes with a third. If you’re fairly wealthy, you can do it. Newport’s beautiful. Come see me.
  5. Make a retirement plan. Delegate. I can handle it. It’s one of my favorite habits of highly successful and fairly wealthy people.
  6. My favorite habit is, of course, being a saver. With that one simple word, a lot of life’s problems are solved. You live within your means, are debt free, and save ‘til it hurts.
  7. This is not intuitive. If it were, then everyone would be doing it. They’re not. But you are because you tell me.
  8. In my conversations with you, you say, “Survival Guy, we own our house, cars, and live debt free. We’ve read Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. We miss it. Your stuff is ok, but it’s not the same. Anyway, if something were to happen to me, I need to make sure we’re in good hands. I feel like we know you guys.”
  9. Trusting someone with your life’s savings is a huge leap of faith. Knowing whom you’re dealing with helps. Reading Your Survival Guy is building trust. Keep reading.
  10. We’ll work together someday. I believe that. I also believe it has to be on your schedule. You’ll know when it’s time. And I’ll be here when you do. Happy Easter.
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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.
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