In my conversations with you, you tell me how you’re livin’. Most of you are retired or about to be retired. You’re at the stage of your life where you’ve pretty much won the war financially, and you need to be able to keep that going. That’s why I have regular conversations with you. In times like these, attitudes and emotions change on a dime. And when you no longer have a paycheck, that is not easy to digest.
On top of it all, it is especially trying when we have a president, whom I like a lot, but who rattles people’s cages daily. You cannot be an investor living and dying on his—or your—emotions. Emotions are ruinous to the retired investor.
And when President Trump voices his emotions, you need to look at the overall landscape from 40,000 feet, not ground level. Think about your business career. If you overreacted to every little problem, you would have never made it.
As an example, all his talk about replacing Fed Chair Powell is not all bad. We could use a shake-up at the Fed. Some fresh blood that would tie the dollar to gold. Good luck with that, right? It’s why I continue to favor gold.
At the end of the day, the real Fed Chair is the mountain of debt, and the interest payments on it. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. It’s like running a huge Amex balance and ignoring it. See how reverse compounding works for you.
But what I like about Trump is he’s speaking truth to it all. He’s the one coming out saying we have a problem that needs to be fixed and doing something about it with tariffs. It’s a negotiating tool. What else is he going to use? A trip to Disney World? No more free lunches at our expense is the message. No more selling stuff to the USA for free. Enough of the carbs. We need a reset with our diet.
With that said, I like how the overall economy looks. I like the current landscape with Trump in office, and I continue to feel good about the balanced investing approach for retirees and those soon to be retired. But like I wrote to you yesterday, with too much consolidated power in the office of the president, it can all come crashing down if Americans, most of whom have no savings or investments or skin in the game, vote in a socialist. It’s Santa Claus or bust for them, and there are a lot of them. They resent your success.
Therefore, you, my successful American, need to understand that they want credit for your hard-won success. They truly believe that “you didn’t make that on your own.” You and I know that’s B.S. I wish your success was a badge of honor, but it is not.
We live in a time of opportunism where the big banks make a killing trading the emotions. The daily volume is absurd, in a what-have-you-done-for-me lately crowd. A “How we doing?” crowd. No thanks.
Action Line: My successful clients, like you, are the disciples of a family-first Main Street America. They understand the value of hard work and the value of a dollar because they’ve done the work and saved the dollars. I want you to continue your path of success. Make sure you have a guide if you need one. This could get a lot more interesting. Stay tuned. And email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.
