Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Disclosure

  • Home
  • Your Survival
    • Special Report: FOOD SHORTAGE: Crazed Hoarding Is Not Preparing
    • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
    • Constitutional Carry
    • EMP Threat
    • Tucker Explains
    • Newport Gas Outage
    • Water
      • Emergency Water Storage
      • Let There Be Water
    • Get Your Gun and Your Training Now
    • Satellite Phones
    • Navy SEAL Survival Kit
  • Your Money
    • Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • Looking for a Better America
    • You Invest, They Win
    • Where to Keep Your Cash
    • Paris
    • How to Buy a Boat
    • Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing
    • Is Vanguard too Big?
    • Cryptocosm and Life After Google
    • The Last Intelligence Report
    • The Truth Behind the S&P 500
    • RAGE Gauge
    • How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?
    • Your Retirement Life
    • You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life
  • Weapons
    • Self Defense
    • Every Family Should Own at Least One Shotgun: Here Are Three
  • About Me
    • Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While”
    • Preparing for Times Like These
    • My Videos/Pics
    • Music
      • RIP Neil Peart: You Will Always Be Remembered as a “Modern-Day Warrior”
    • Your Survival Guy: Make Your Bed and The Hero Code
  • You
    • Our Cabin on Kodiak, Alaska
    • If You Are in Pain, this May Help. It Helped Me.
    • How to Save for a Grandchild
    • FIRE! Financial Independence, Retire Early
    • Compound Interest
    • Arithmetic of Portfolio Losses
    • Maximum Portfolio Withdrawal Rate
    • An Efficient Frontier
    • Retirement Compounders
    • Counterbalanced Total Returns
  • Survive & Thrive
    • June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
    • May 2023: “I’m Having Major Surgery Tomorrow,” He Said
    • April 2023: Will the Black Swan Usher in Digital Dollars?
    • March 2023: How Long Have You Been in the Investment Business?
    • February 2023: 4 Life Changing Words: “You Should Try This”
    • January 2023: Stacking Wood and Compounding Money
    • December 2022: Your Survival Guy Prefers Bombardier’s Global Express 7500
    • November 2022: Arriving in Style at Le Bristol Hotel, Paris
    • October 2022: Sink Your Teeth into These Bond Yields
    • September 2022: Do You Have the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?
    • August 2022: “Watch This Boat off Our Stern,” My Dad Said “He’s Coming in HOT”
    • July 2022: MONEY TALKS: Your Survival Guy’s Best Service in Paris
    • June 2022: “I’ve Been with Richard Young for Over 30 Years Now”
    • May 2022: Survive “If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”
    • April 2022: Dream On! Fishing the Double Down in Key West
    • March 2022: Your Survival Guy Hears the Craziest Investing Stories
    • February 2022: Your Survival Guy’s 2022 Super States
    • January 2022: The Least Affordable Housing Market in the U.S.
    • December 2021: Listen Your Survival Guy is not “Mr. Peanut”
    • November 2021: Joe Biden is Weaponizing Your 401(k) Against You
    • October 2021: Time to Get Your Lazy Cash Off the Couch
    • September 2021: What’s Your Survival Guy Investing in Right Now?
    • August 2021: To Where Will You Flee?
    • July 2021: This Bubble’s Popped Baby
    • June 2021: Your Survival Guy’s Summer Job, Inflation & You
    • May 2021: You’re Telling Me Friends Ask You This Question
    • April 2021: Is There One Best Place in America for ‘Liberty Retirees?’
    • March 2021: America’s Growth Corridors
    • February 2021: Troops in D.C. & Your Authoritarian Virtual Panopticon
    • January 2021: Are You Ready for The Great Reset?
    • December 2020: Disaster Prep in Our Newport Bunker and Your Survival
    • November 2020: Election 2020 Edition: Stock Market is Predicting a Trump Win
    • October 2020: You Invest They Win, AGAIN
    • September 2020: Proud to be an American: Pro-Trump Parade Turns Rhode Island Red
    • August 2020: The Clock is Ticking: You Must Protect Your Family
    • July 2020: What Will Her Life Be Like Now?
    • June 2020: Your Survival Guy’s Home (and Money) Protection Plan
    • May 2020: Future Look at Covid-20, or the Next Deadly Virus
    • April 2020: Only Trump Saw the Risk in America’s Relationship with China
    • March 2020: Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • February 2020: Escape the City: Live Small, Cheap, and Safe in America
    • January 2020: Is Your Cash Safe? Probably not This Safe
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • Welcome

Survive and Thrive May 2023: “I’m Having Major Surgery Tomorrow,” He Said

May 1, 2023 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Liderina @ Shutterstock.com

Dear Survivor,

If You’re Serious, Sign Up for My Email. But Only If You’re Serious.

Life comes at you fast. One minute you’re living your retirement life. The next, you need major surgery. “I’m having major surgery tomorrow,” a client said to me yesterday. “Take care of things for me,” he said. “I will,” I said.

We’ve been working together for over 20 years. He’s been trusting Richard C. Young for many more. He’s financially fit because he invested in himself at an early age and was smart with his savings. He realized a long time ago that saving money and investing are two different things. He needed help with the second one.

I know his family because he tells me about them. They know me because he tells them about Your Survival Guy. He also puts me on speaker every time we talk. “Hang on,” he’ll say. “Did you hear what he said, hon?”

“Can you say that again, Survival Guy?”

And I’m ok being the voice of reason. Taking the slings and arrows. That’s my job. When you work with good people—good families—it’s a calling.

I Meant to Tell You My Recent “Survival Guy” Story

You know from here, here, here, and here that bad stuff happens. More times than I care to admit, I’m involved. Dear reader, is there anything more enjoyable? I get it. But once the feeling of “thankful it wasn’t me” passes, it gets darn serious. “What,” you may ask yourself, “if that happens to me?”

The other weekend Your Survival Guy arrived at his cabin in New Hampshire with no heat. Hours earlier, glancing at my phone to check the indoor temp I turned up on the app (life’s a little too easy at times), I realized it hadn’t budged and was falling. Sure enough, the furnace was out.

Good luck finding help on a Friday night. Imagine Your Survival Guy bringing in loads of wood I had put away for the season the prior weekend and climbing back up into the cabin to light a fire. Outside was warmer than indoors. I thought about sleeping on the deck. The dog had run away. And everyone’s wondering why I’m so upset. That’s no way to start a weekend.

Anyway, I got this email below from a long-time client. He’s the guy who can build a garage over the weekend. So can his two brothers and brother-in-law, all clients. Talk about feeling helpless. He writes:

When we talked earlier this week, I meant to tell you my recent “Survival Guy” story.

Two weeks ago, on Saturday night, after we watched UConn win its Final Four game (at about 11:30PM), we prepared for bed and discovered that we had no water. My guess was that our well pump died, but it was too late to do any troubleshooting.

Fortunately, I had 8 gallons of water stored in a rolling container, so I was able to fill a couple of buckets to allow toilet flushing and at least get us through the night and into the morning in civilized fashion. Our bottled water inventory provided what little potable water we needed.

Last summer, I bought a spare well pump and stored it on a shelf in the basement as a safeguard against any untimely failure of our in-service pump. Saturday night near midnight definitely qualifies as “untimely!”

That $700 expense proved to be most fortuitous.

Early Sunday morning, I contacted my brother and brother-in-law (you know both of them) and asked for their help to replace the well pump. They arrived at mid-morning, whereupon we pulled the pump out of the well and did the necessary electrical and plumbing work to disconnect the old pump and replace it with the new pump. We were back up and running by noon.

Several levels of forethought and preparedness, along with a bit of skill, saved the day.

Take care

Being prepared is a mindset. And yes, it helps to have the skills to boot. Stuff happens. You don’t have to solve all of life’s problems alone. I’m here to help…with some of them.

Locking In a Generational Opportunity in Fixed Income

As you can see below, you’re witnessing a generational opportunity in fixed income. Attention retirees and those soon to be retired—don’t miss the boat. Because when you can lock in yields for years and years into the future—a large chunk of your retirement life—Your Survival Guy wants you to pay attention.

 

Sink your teeth into these yields. Lock some money in for five or seven years. Tackle the reinvestment risk CD investors face at maturity, which comes way too soon. I’m not comfortable with the Fed’s track record of cutting rates at any sign of trouble. Imagine going back in time, again, where rates are stuck at zero.

Make as much money as you can with Your Survival Guy’s margin of safety. Taking action is hard. Something always gets in the way. The to do list doesn’t get smaller as you get older. Dealing with more and more money is one of life’s greatest challenges.

What if the black swan is still lurking? Bad stuff happens. I witness it firsthand. And when the power goes out at my house, and the generator doesn’t kick in, among other things, Your Survival Guy calls the experts.

  • LOSING POWER: Your Survival Guy’s Nightmare Scenario
  • Your Survival Guy Under Fire!: Part I
  • Your Survival Guy: Out of Gas in Newport
  • MAYDAY: Black Smoke Rising from Your Survival Guy’s Boat
  • Your Survival Guy: Out of Gas in Newport, Now What?

The stagnation of stock prices. It’s a thing. You know how I feel about prices. They’re qualitative. They’re speculative. They’re built on hope and a prayer. Income and dividends are quantitative. You can sink your teeth into cold hard cash. Prices are stubborn.

Take advantage of a generational opportunity in fixed income. When you’re ready to lock them in, I’m here. You’ll be first in line.

Why You Miss Richard C. Young’s Monster Master List

Happy Monday. Is your advisor a bank? If so, is it lending out your money for a song and paying you peanuts? Fidelity is not a bank. Fidelity is not a publicly traded company. In comparison, Charles Schwab has a banking division and is publicly traded.

How about Vanguard? When was the last time you spoke with a phone rep? Are you stuck only in Vanguard funds and ETFs? Are you being penalized by investors in the same fund as you who sell at any sign of trouble? Where Vanguard’s fund managers are forced to sell positions to raise cash, often at the worst times?

I want you at the private spa, not the public pool. But how?

What if you could create your own mutual fund type product where you own the stocks, bonds, etc., and it’s not a mutual fund or ETF? In my conversations with you, you tell me how much you miss Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report, especially the Monster Master List. Wouldn’t it be nice if the stocks in your portfolio were an up-to-date rendition of the list? Where the homework is done for you?

We do the investing. You own the investments.

There was a time when Schwab made a killing on commissions. Those days are over. Commissions are basically free today. Same with Vanguard’s index funds. Basically free. They are commodities provided by one and all. Where’s the value today? Read more about that here: “What’s Happening to Charles Schwab?”

Today it comes down to this: With whom are you comfortable working? Who do you trust?

You’re seeing generational opportunities in fixed income. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be here.

Survive and Thrive this Month.

Warm regards,

“Your Survival Guy”

  • If someone forwarded this to you, and you want to learn more about Your Survival Guy, read about me here.
  • If you would like to contact me and receive a response, please email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.
  • Would you like to receive an email alert letting you know when Survive and Thrive is published each month? You can subscribe to my free email here.

P.S. Your Survival Guy recommends you separate your banking from your investments. Schwab’s stock is off nearly 40% YTD through Friday. It’s why I like Fidelity. Unlike Schwab, it isn’t a bank. And it’s a private, family-run business, which keeps the pressures of Wall Street earnings expectations at bay. The Wall Street Journal’s Justin Baer reports on Schwab’s latest earnings:

Charles Schwab is kicking off another bank-earnings week, posting higher first-quarter profit on gains in interest revenue and money-management fees.

The brokerage giant said Monday that its net income rose 14% to $1.6 billion, from $1.4 billion a year ago. Revenue climbed 10% from a year ago to $5.12 billion.

Adjusted per-share earnings beat the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue only slightly missed expectations.

Here’s what else you need to know:

  • Schwab benefited from a surge in new brokerage accounts and client assets, which swelled to $7.58 trillion, still down from a year ago but up from the previous quarter.
  • Rising interest rates helped lift interest revenue on assets.
  • But client deposits continued to shrink — by a lot. Deposits were about $326 billion at the end of the first quarter, down 11%, or $41 billion, from the previous quarter. That was also down 30%, or about $140 billion, from a year ago.
  • Customers moved some of that cash into higher-yielding investments, though the pace of that shift had slowed by March.

Schwab’s finance chief Peter Crawford summed it up in a statement Monday: “Our first quarter revenue picture reflected the company’s sustained business momentum and the benefits of rising interest rates, partially offset by clients’ asset allocation decisions.”

Schwab shares rose about 2% in premarket trading, then reversed course, falling about 2% premarket later in the morning.

The stock has tumbled nearly 40% this year through Friday after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sparked fears over the health of the U.S. banking industry.

P.P.S. Imagine you’re walking through the wreckage of a dystopian city. An empty financial district. Streets littered with white papers. Forgotten studies about ESG, woke capital, and DEI.

You pass the shuttered storefronts of banks that were supposed to be too big to fail. Net Zero and WEF membership stickers are coming unpeeled, next to signs that read “FDIC Insured” and “CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies) Only.”

It’s a ghost town.

And then there’s you. My hero in this story. The lone survivor. Standing amidst the carnage while the so-called experts are gone away. They failed to survive the apocalypse of their own creation.

And then I wake up. Sitting here talking with you. Wondering if that could ever happen.

Sitting in my office. An old brick building. A former bank, I wonder why investors get caught up in the vortex of it all. I sit in my hypothetical cave far, far away from it all. Away from the noise. On a tree-lined street in beautiful Newport, RI, with no one outside even knowing I’m here. There’s no storefront. There’s no signage. No stickers. It’s perfect.

One day, walking out the front gate, a passerby stopped in his tracks and said, “Beautiful building. What goes on in there?”

“Thank you,” I responded. “Research.” And we went our separate ways.

When you’re ready, come see me in Newport to talk “research.”

P.P.P.S. Look at this list, and then consider Your Survival Guy’s Super States. It’s an easy way to find your greener pasture.

The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Chaney Cambon and Danny Dougherty report:

To find the best job markets in America, head to the South.

Nashville, Tenn., topped the list of 2022’s hottest job markets, followed by Austin, Texas, and Jacksonville, Fla. Other cities known for tourism—notably Orlando, Las Vegas and New Orleans—climbed the ranks last year.

Those Sunbelt cities benefited from a continued recovery in travel and a hiring boom at restaurants, hotels and music venues, consistent with the resurgent services sector driving the U.S. economy in recent months. Many remained relatively affordable as high inflation gripped the nation. Meanwhile, some Western job markets that heated up after the pandemic took hold—including Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Denver—cooled last year.

The Wall Street Journal, working with Moody’s Analytics, assessed about 380 metro areas. The rankings determined the strongest labor markets based on five factors: the unemployment rate, labor-force participation rate, changes to employment levels, the size of the labor force and wages in 2022. Larger areas, with more than one million residents, were ranked separately from smaller ones.

Broadly, the U.S. labor market remains robust, with employers consistently adding jobs last year and into the start of 2023. The U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6% in February from a 53-year low of 3.4% in January. But recession concerns linger due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate increases intended to combat high inflation, banking turmoil and corporate layoffs in industries such as technology.

Though the tides could shift, Southern cities have shown particular strength, with many top-ranked markets including Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., holding the ingredients to attracting and retaining workers.

“These are lower-cost areas, they are growing rapidly, there’s an increasingly large critical mass of young, educated people,” said Adam Kamins, economist at Moody’s Analytics. “The affordability is really appealing to families as well.”

If you’re looking for a better America, start your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2023 Super States.

 

Download this post as a PDF by clicking here.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
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 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)

  • Rome, Paris, U.S.A.: Global Crisis in Confidence - June 2, 2023
  • Your Survival Guy’s Best Insider’s Guide to Rome - June 2, 2023
  • What Is a Fiduciary Duty? Are You Working with a Fiduciary? - June 2, 2023
  • Survive and Thrive June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson) - June 1, 2023
  • Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era - June 1, 2023

If you enjoyed this post, email it to a friend:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp

Related Posts

Money 101

Trending

  • A Three-Week International Research Trip to Paris via Rome
  • Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Two More States Nearing Passage of Permitless Carry Legislation
  • The ESG Cartel
  • Letter to the Federal Reserve Chairman from Your Survival Guy
  • What Does That Have to Do with Your Dividend?
  • Rome, Paris, U.S.A.: Global Crisis in Confidence
  • Social Security: Declining Italy Needs a Bambino Boom
  • Survive and Thrive June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • ATTACK ON THE IVAN KHURS: Unmanned Vessels Changing Naval Warfare

Must Reads

  • Tom Brady Is Proof You Shouldn’t Retire if You Still Love Your Work
  • Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • You’re Ready to “Make It A Good Month”
  • Why You Can’t Afford to Miss the Boat
  • Here’s Why You Need a 15-Year Retirement Investment Plan
  • Invest with Peace of Mind and Comfort
  • Your Retirement Life: Adventure Awaits
  • When the Black Swan Swoops In for You
  • How Will YOU Feel in Retirement? Let Me Explain
  • What Your Survival Guy Invested in Today

Recent Posts

  • Rome, Paris, U.S.A.: Global Crisis in Confidence
  • Your Survival Guy’s Best Insider’s Guide to Rome
  • What Is a Fiduciary Duty? Are You Working with a Fiduciary?
  • Survive and Thrive June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era
  • Your Survival Guy Felt Like a U.N. Worker in Rome
  • Social Security: Declining Italy Needs a Bambino Boom
  • ATTACK ON THE IVAN KHURS: Unmanned Vessels Changing Naval Warfare
  • The Future of the American City is This…
  • Happy Memorial Day: Your Survival Guy: Proud To Be an American
Only if You’re Serious
Crazed Hoarding Is not Preparing
How to Save Rainwater Effectively
Your Survival Guy in Paris
Key West Insider Guide
Your Survival Guy's Fishing Stories
Financial Independence, Retire Early
Money 101
Pandemic Creates Virtual Panopticon
Emergency Water Storage
Find Freedom in America
Second Amendment
How Can You Save Money for Your Grandchild
Great Reset
See Who's Missing the Boat
Richard  Young Reports
How You Can Save Money for Your Grandchild
Why Fidelity is Number One
The Best States for Survival
You Invest, They Win
Escape the City
Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
Island Life

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.