Dear Survivor,
For a few precious hours Sunday, hundreds of boats gathered under the Newport, RI bridge to begin a massive Pro-Trump boat parade to celebrate our love for country and concern for where it’s going.
As we powered up the bay, sounding our horns, waving flags, and simply enjoying the flotilla, we were fired up in anticipation of seeing the crowds at Colt State Park.
Thousands lined the shore waving flags and cheering as the parade went by. You felt the love for your fellow Americans. It was a special day for my family and for all of those who turned out in Rhode Island: a day to be proud to be an American and of turning Rhode Island Red.
Laura Damon writes in the Providence Journal:
BRISTOL — Terry and Joe Lorenz of Portsmouth stood close to the water’s edge at Colt State Park on Sunday afternoon. Terry proudly held an enormous Trump flag, and the couple beamed as they watched the parade of boats, many sporting flags like the one Terry held.
“I feel emotional. I’m proud to be here,” Terry said. “I am a Republican and I’m proud to be a Republican.”
“I like [Trump’s] spirit, I like his patriotism,” Joe said.
Terry and Joe were two of the roughly 2,000 people, an estimate from Park Ranger Grayson Caron, who arrived at the state park waterfront Sunday to soak in the pro-Trump boat parade, organized by Laura Larrivee of Barrington.
“It was a greater turnout than Independence Day,” a historically crowded day at the park, Caron said. He noted officials there called off max capacity at the park and cars were allowed to park in typically prohibited areas because of the sheer volume of people funneling in.
A petty officer with Coast Guard Station Castle Hill estimated that around 300 boats participated in the parade.
Boaters who took part in the parade gathered at the Newport Pell Bridge at 11 a.m. and made their way to Bristol, where they rode by Colt State Park, an optimal vantage point for those who wanted to catch a glimpse. The boats arrived at the park around noon, and the parade ended in Warwick, a seaman with Coast Guard Station Castle Hill confirmed.
“I was sitting on watch all day … I believe it went well,” Seaman Nathan Schroeder at Coast Guard Station Castle Hill said of the parade. He said he was not aware of any boating accidents.
“It was chaotic for a little while [but] it was smooth,” Caron said. Over his radio, he heard of one potential assault that happened in the park around 12:15 p.m. He did not know the details.
“Peaceful is the key word today,” Larrivee said at the Lighthouse Marina, LLC, in Barrington just before 9 a.m. on Sunday.
She was there with Jean Lehane and Karen Ferris, both of Portsmouth. As the event organizer, Larrivee wanted to get to the Pell Bridge early. She wore a baseball cap that said “Yes, I’m a Trump girl. Get over it,” and a T-shirt that read “The Great Awakening,” matching Lehane’s shirt.
Ferris wore a “Trump, keep America great,” hat.
“This rally … is not about fighting the other side, [but about supporting the president] and the things we believe,” Larrivee said.
Asked why she supports the president, and what she likes about him, Lehane said “reducing regulations … [and] he does a lot for our veterans … incredible trade deals … beefing up our military …strengthening our border.”
“Try to put his personality to the side,” Lehane said. “The media portrays him a certain way.”
Larrivee noted bipartisan support for criminal justice reform under Trump. Ferris said she appreciates Trump’s support for police officers.“I think our police officers really need to know that they have supporters that back them,” Ferris said.
At Colt State Park, wearing a neon yellow “Trump” shirt, Ken Prew of Riverside said he was “very surprised” with the strong turnout of Trump supporters.
Prew noted he was a Democrat until 2016. Asked why he supports Trump, he said “look at the economy … he thinks of America first.”
Some people on shore could be heard yelling “four more years,” as boats and JetSkis cruised by the park. Many held flags, cheered and waved.
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Dog Days of Summer/Trump Parade/No Go Zones/Bannon Hit Job
Welcome to the dog days of summer, literally. Has there ever been a more rewarding time to have a dog? I can tell you how much we’re enjoying our walks with ours and just the happiness he brings to the family. They do become part of the family.
A client told me they had to put their Shih Tzu down three weeks ago after 15+ years, outlasting her kennel mate by two. They now have an Aussie Doodle (a cross between a poodle and an Australian Shepherd). He told me he’s been on early morning watch and that he’d already been up for an hour! (It was early). Told me they had him delivered by air, then van to the front door.
Another client can’t wait to get to their place in Hawaii (when it opens) for an extended stay, but needs to figure out logistics for their four-legged friend. He said, “it’s amazing how the little guy controls our life.”
Here’s a pick of another client’s rescue Labradoodle, ready to get on with the day in their new golf cart.
We bring our dog, Louis, on the boat all the time. Here’s a cool pick from Mattapoisett Harbor over the Fourth of July weekend. Yes, you can train a dog to stand.
Our Louis is an Australian Labradoodle. I get asked what makes him Australian and often reply, “His accent.” But, if they persist, the Australian mix has English and American cocker spaniel and Irish water spaniel.
Rounding out the month:
- Sunday there will be a pro-Trump boat parade beginning at 11am from the Newport Bridge.
- Local independent schools are seeing a spike in enrollment from, guess where? NYC/Boston.
- The evolution in cities will be much like Paris—an immaculate cityscape or NO GO ZONES.
- Want to buy a boat? Here’s how I did it. How to Buy a Boat Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.
- Power outages hit Iowa when it got nailed by the latest natural disaster.
- Power outages hit California when it got hit by its manmade one.
- Coincidence that Bannon and NRA get hit by the Southern District of NY? Can you say hit job?
- Urban Exiles Are Fueling a Suburban Housing Boom Across the U.S.
- Movers in N.Y.C. Are So Busy They’re Turning People Away
- Joel Kotkin on How Race Politics Burns Out
- New York City is dead forever
The 10 states with the highest unemployment rates are Massachusetts (17.4%), New Jersey (16.6%), New York (15.7%), Nevada (15%), California (14.9%), Michigan (14.8%), Illinois (14.6%), Hawaii (13.9%), Pennsylvania (13%), and Delaware (12.5%). These states could not possibly withstand four years of Joe Biden to further worsen their already deadly environment. When will these states and their big cities default on their municipals and their state pensions? A Trump presidency will of course not bail them out. Then watch out!
A letter from a client:
EJ,
Just a quick note to let you know we’ve bought the house we wanted.
Beautiful home in a lush forested area. I’ve attached a couple of pictures, including the humming-bear that just visited. We felt a strong bump as we sat at the dining room table working on our computers. We looked out and saw the bear sniffing our hummingbird feeder. Bit of a thrill right there!
For You, I Want Generational Wealth as Big as Yellowstone
Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. By steve shkunda @ Shutterstock.com
Do you remember how much you paid for your first home? Pretty amazing how things have turned out, don’t you think? If you bought back in the 70s, you probably spent some multiple of your annual salary that wasn’t outrageous. Yes, you probably carried a mortgage with an interest rate many multiples higher than today’s, but did you ever think you’d be where you are today? Did you think interest rates would be this low? Probably not. You were too busy. You were your own survival guy.
You most likely didn’t buy a home to sell it to some sucker at a higher price. You bought it because you needed shelter for your young family. You were living your own American Dream, not speculating about flipping it. When I see speculators flipping their silly condos disguised as an “investment,” the entire foundation or premise is on shaky ground—it’s banking on the next sucker theory—which may or may not ever happen.
For you, I want generational wealth. I want you to be like John Dutton on the show Yellowstone (watch it) looking after your ranch for the next generation of your family. You don’t do that looking to make a quick buck. You do it by looking across your holdings and making decisions daily on how best to preserve them.
In speaking with a client this week at his not-too-fancy home in Wyoming (one of his three houses around the country), he said: “E.J., I can buy a $5+++ million home in Jackson Hole, or drive a Ferrari. But I just don’t want to.” When you’re building your own compound/ranch, then why in the world would you invest with every other Tom, Dick, and Harry in index funds, ETFs, or any other groupthink investment vehicle? Choose your own way with the investment counsel you trust. Seek counsel from a Prudent Man.
For years my father-in-law Dick Young referred to the Prudent Man in his monthly strategy report, Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. As Adam Smith wrote in “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” (1759):
The prudent man always studies seriously and earnestly to understand whatever he professes to understand, and not merely to persuade other people that he understands it; and though his talents may not always be very brilliant, they are always perfectly genuine. He neither endeavours to impose upon you by the cunning devices of an artful impostor, nor by the arrogant airs of an assuming pedant, nor by the confident assertions of a superficial and impudent pretender. He is not ostentatious even of the abilities which he really possesses. His conversation is simple and modest, and he is averse to all the quackish arts by which other people so frequently thrust themselves into public notice and reputation. For reputation in his profession he is naturally disposed to rely a good deal upon the solidity of his knowledge and abilities; and he does not always think of cultivating the favour of those little clubs and cabals, who, in the superior arts and sciences, so often erect themselves into the supreme judges of merit; and who make it their business to celebrate the talents and virtues of one another, and to decry whatever can come into competition with them. If he ever connects himself with any society of this kind, it is merely in self-defence, not with a view to impose upon the public, but to hinder the public from being imposed upon, to his disadvantage, by the clamours, the whispers, or the intrigues, either of that particular society, or of some others of the same kind.
You may be familiar with Ronald Read’s story. It’s a story worth telling over and over and over again to anyone you know. My father-in-law Dick Young wrote in May 2015 in Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report:
Hard to even comprehend, but this great story, courtesy the WSJ‘s Anna Prior, recounts how Ronald Read accumulated an estate valued at almost $8 million. Mr. Read, who passed away at the age of 92, made a modest living pumping gas for many years at a Gulf gas station in Brattleboro, Vermont.
A Five-Inch Stack of Stock Certificates
How did Ronald Read manage to become a multi-millionaire? Mr. Read invested in dividend-paying blue-chip stocks. As Ms. Prior writes, Mr. Read took delivery of the actual stock certificates and “left behind a five-inch-thick stack of stock certificates in a safe-deposit box.” At his passing, Mr. Read owned over 90 stocks and had held his positions often for decades. The companies he owned paid longtime dividends. And when his dividend checks came in the mail, Ronald Read reinvested in additional shares. Apparently Mr. Read was the master of the theory of compound interest. Not surprising, his list of stock holdings included such dividend payers as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM), and CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), all names I write about for you regularly. No high flyers for Ronald Read, and certainly no technology names.
Protect, Preserve, Patience, Perspective
Obviously Ronald Read had been a staunch practitioner of my PPPP theme, featuring the basics—Protect, Preserve, Patience, Perspective. Focus on those traits for success.
Now in August of 2020, in The Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig writes the following on the book, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.
It isn’t often that I receive a new book I feel I have to read, but I couldn’t wait to dig into “The Psychology of Money.”
To be published next month, this 242-page, easy-to-read book by Morgan Housel isn’t about investing. It’s about how to think about investing, and it’s one of the best and most original finance books in years.
Mr. Housel, 36 years old, is a blogger and venture capitalist who writes beautifully and wisely about a central truth: Money isn’t primarily a store of value. Money is a conduit of emotion and ego, carrying hopes and fears, dreams and heartbreak, confidence and surprise, envy and regret.
Mr. Housel begins with a shocking anecdote he witnessed himself: A technology multimillionaire handed a hotel valet thousands of dollars in cash to go buy fistfuls of gold coins at a nearby jewelry store. The executive then flung the coins, worth about $1,000 apiece, into the Pacific Ocean one at a time, skipping them across the water like flat rocks, “just for fun.”
To that man, money was a plaything. (He later went broke, Mr. Housel writes.) To Ronald Read, however, money was possibility. Mr. Read spent decades pumping gas and working as a janitor in Brattleboro, Vt. After he died in 2014 at the age of 92, his estate was able to give more than $6 million to local charities—because he had scrimped and put every spare penny into stocks that he held for decades.
How, asks Mr. Housel, did a janitor “with no college degree, no training, no background, no formal experience and no connections massively outperform” many professional investors?
Investing isn’t an IQ test; it’s a test of character. Unlike the man who chucked coins into the sea, Mr. Read could defer gratification and had no need to spend big so other people wouldn’t think he was small. From such old-fashioned virtues great fortunes can be built.
Analyzing two of the biggest stock-market winners of the past few decades, Mr. Housel says Netflix Inc. returned more than 35,000% between 2002 and 2018. Monster Beverage Corp. gained more than 300,000% from 1995 through 2018.
Yet, along the way, many investors quit; each stock spent at least 94% of the time trading below its previous all-time highs.
Action Plan: The Prudent Man never gets old. We all need to be grounded in times like these. Let’s stick together: sign up here for the latest RAGE Gauge.
Survive and Thrive this Month.
Warm regards,
E.J.,
“Your Survival Guy”
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By Burdun Iliya @Shutterstock
P.S. You can get your house in order with this helpful piece from Fidelity Investments:
As the U.S. continues struggling with how to stop the spread of COVID-19, it’s critical to consider whether you have the right emergency documents. No matter if you live in a coronavirus hotspot or don’t know anyone with COVID-19, there’s never been a better time to understand how different legal documents can protect you.
Here are five types of emergency documents that will help you and your family make essential healthcare decisions and manage your finances during an unexpected illness or accident.
1. Last will
Your last will is a document that communicates your final wishes after your death. Every adult should have a will. Otherwise, the courts decide what happens to your possessions and who will take care of any minor children who survive you.
You don’t need a lawyer to create a will, but if you have a high net worth or many different types of assets, it’s a good idea to hire one. An excellent place to start is to create an inventory of what you own and what you’d want to happen to each item or category. You might have bank accounts, investments, vehicles, real estate and heirloom items that you want certain family members or friends to inherit.
You can list beneficiaries for specific items, such as who you want to receive your car, home or art collection. You could distribute values to particular people or organizations, such as 80% to your partner and 20% to a charity.
If you have minor children, be sure to name their guardian in your will, to protect them if you pass away before they become adults. You can also leave instructions for who should inherit your pets and digital assets, such as social media accounts and websites. You can include funeral instructions in your will, such as where you want to be buried.
Since someone must manage the legal details of your estate and carry out your final wishes, you should name an “executor” in your will. It could be your attorney or a family member or friend you trust to handle all the arrangements. Depending on the size of your estate, being your executor could be a challenging task. So be sure to name someone who’s willing and capable of doing the job.
If you already have a will, don’t forget to review it periodically. Certain life events—such as getting married, divorced, having a child and losing a family member—may make updates necessary.
Having a will should give you peace of mind that your wishes will be carried out after your death. But it also makes your passing easier on those you love. It can help your surviving family have clarity about managing your estate and even avoid disagreements.
2. Living will
In addition to a last will, you also need a living will, which details your wishes for end-of-life care. It provides instructions for your doctors and family about how to make critical decisions if you face death.
For instance, if you were unresponsive for an extended period or in the final stages of a terminal condition, your living will would indicate if you’d want to extend your life by artificial means or die without any medical intervention.
3. Health care proxy
Another emergency is getting a severe illness or being in an accident that leaves you mentally incapacitated. You can select a health care proxy, someone you authorize to make critical medical decisions for you.
Consider who you’d trust with your care if you couldn’t make decisions on your own, and discuss your wishes with them.
4. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) release
Your medical privacy is protected by HIPAA, which means some hospitals won’t allow medical professionals to disclose any information about you, even to your health care proxy. To make sure your family or proxy can manage your healthcare in an emergency, create a medical privacy release.
5. Power of attorney (POA)
The last emergency document you should have is a power of attorney, which allows another person to stand in for you if you need help managing financial decisions or legal affairs.
For instance, you can use a durable power of attorney any time you’re not capable of completing a critical task, such as filing taxes or making an insurance claim. You can also create one or more limited powers of attorney, which name people to act on your behalf for specific transactions during a limited period, such as selling your home.
Having a POA is how your finances can get handled if you become incapacitated, are unavailable or don’t have time to manage them yourself.
The best places to keep your emergency documents Once you have emergency documents, it’s critical to keep the originals safe, such as in your attorney’s office, a bank safe deposit box or a fireproof safe at home. Make copies to store at home in case you need them quickly. Also, scan and upload your legal documents to the cloud, using a service such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
Emergency documents for married couples
If you’re married, your spouse may be able to make some emergency and legal decisions for you; however, both of you could die or become incapacitated at the same time. Consider what would happen if you needed to sell jointly owned assets, such as your home or investments, where each of you were required to authorize the transaction.
To avoid potential legal restrictions during a difficult time, married couples and domestic partners should give each other power of attorney. Each person also needs their own last will, living will, health care proxy and HIPPA release.
After an emergency happens, it’s usually too late to make many critical decisions. So, do yourself and your family a favor by getting all your legal documents in place now. It’s much easier to prepare for a potential disaster than to recover from one that you didn’t see coming.
By Yuganov Konstantin @Shutterstock
P.P.S. Looks like Biden’s trying to get the band back together because, with Kamala Harris, the likes of Hillary, Kerry, and Rice will feel right at home. Remember, this Obama brain trust dumped cash on Iran, let Benghazi burn, and lined the pockets of friends and family. Welcome to the show, meet Beto, he’s coming for your guns.
You have basement Joe biding his time while President Trump announces a peace plan between Israel + UAE—something Obama couldn’t do. Trump’s Iran is as quiet as a mouse, China is squirming, U.S. troop morale is sky high, Second Amendment supporters are breaking gun sale records, and a family first Main Street agenda is being watched nightly by the millions on The Tucker Carlson Show—not the NBA, thank God.
As the Biden band plays the BLM refrain, rioters ruin cities vacated by anyone with a couple nickels to rub together. Meanwhile AG Kamala bankrupts pensions for first responders that clean up the mess—always in favor of her union backers.
“Houston we have a problem,” when billionaire Tech Titans/Wall Street cheer for Kamala Harris. For them it’s tax havens, inflated stock options or carried interest, while you and I pay real taxes. They think they’re living the dream—we’re embarrassed for them—knowing the good life is on Main Street.
Main Street is about natural born rights. Main Street is about the individual (family). Main Street is about her right to live as she wishes with the protection and safety she deserves. It’s about her right to self defense (it’s not just about guns).
It’s about defending her family from a ridiculous government overreaction to a virus that’s about as deadly as a bad flu season. Obama/Biden/Harris will never let a crisis go to waste—not even at a funeral. When the government comes a knockin’ there’s a reason she has a pit in her stomach.
All she wants is an America that will defend her freedom at any cost and not take it away so cheaply.
Action Plan: If you care about her Main Street then let’s get on board together with my monthly Survive & Thrive. But only if you’re serious. Subscribe to my monthly Survive and Thrive newsletter by clicking here.
By Jon Rehg @ Shutterstock.com
P.P.P.S. A stupid attack on the NRA has battleground state Dems terrified.
You can’t make this stuff up. Millions are without power and New York Gov. Cuomo (the king of blue state Govs gone wild) blames it on the utility companies. Welcome to Chernobyl.
Now, Cuomo’s hitwoman, Attorney General Letitia James, is going after the NRA. This is on the heels of his handwringing about lost tax revenue.
News to Cuomo: How New Yorkers live their lives shouldn’t be your problem, especially when you send the sick to nursing homes.
Stupid people follow stupid orders; smart ones figure out how to protect their family. Buying guns is one way, as De Blasio guts the police. Talk about the three blind mice.
Smart New Yorkers are buying guns. And they’re not alone as nationally guns sales are breaking RECORDS: nearly 1.8 million sold in July alone.
If you want to create a NEW RECORD one would be hard pressed to outdo what AG James is doing here, and what Obama’s recent Lewis funeral tirade is doing on a national level.
As Cuomo, James, and De Blasio attack the Second Amendment using debunked gun control myths, it’s not hard to imagine how the many new gun owners will feel about electing anti-gun politicians in 2020.
Successful New Yorkers are voting with their feet, moving to places where their money is treated with the respect it deserves, and if they have to stick around, they’re locked and loaded for what’s next.
Why has New York Attorney General Letitia James, the chief legal officers of a state in which the biggest city is enduring a spike in crime, chosen this moment to launch a futile, partisan attack on America’s largest civil rights organization, the NRA?
Perhaps her attack is an effort to distract New Yorkers from the terrible job she and her colleagues in Albany have done.
Undoubtedly James believes she is helping the Biden campaign by attacking the NRA. But, the NRA has added 1,000 new members every day since June, and as Stephen Gutowski reports in the Free Beacon, plans to spend “tens of millions” of dollars campaigning for President Trump and other pro-gun politicians in battleground states.
Politico reporter, Holly Otterbein wrote on Twitter that “Some Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials are panicked about the NRA lawsuit’s effect on the presidential race. One told me it was an “October surprise”: ‘This is the equivalent of Alabama AG suing to dissolve Planned Parenthood for the left.'”
Some Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials are panicked about the NRA lawsuit’s effect on the presidential race. One told me it was an “October surprise”: “This is the equivalent of Alabama AG suing to dissolve Planned Parenthood for the left.”
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) August 6, 2020
Pennsylvania is rumored to have the most NRA members of any state, and in 2018 sold the second-highest number of hunting licenses, tags, permits and stamps (after Wisconsin) at nearly 2.4 million, according to REALTREE. Needless to say, Pennsylvania has a large and active gun rights community. A frontal assault on the NRA by nearby NY’s Attorney General is going to get every one of Pennsylvania’s gun owners headed to the polls in 2020. That’s scaring not just Pennsylvania Democrats, but Joe Biden’s presidential campaign team as well.
James seems unconcerned by the fears of Pennsylvania Democrats. More likely she is focused on impressing Michael Bloomberg, whose anti-gun organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, has pledged to spend $60 million on the 2020 election, and will surely spend more in the future.
In New York, the position of Attorney General is often a springboard to the governorship, and James may be working hard to impress big donors like Bloomberg and Everytown with future plans in mind. The anti-gun movement led by Bloomberg survives by peddling myths about gun control that have been debunked by researchers like John Lott.
Despite blue state politicians trying to take away their freedom, Americans want guns now more than ever. As rioters and looters plague the streets, politicians in blue states and cities seem unconcerned for their constituents’ livelihoods or safety. Americans can feel the clock ticking, and they must protect their family.
Anyone who can is getting out of the big cities, and those who can’t should get their guns and their training now. The big city riots are the best advertisement for gun ownership ever. You need to protect your family.
P.P.P.P.S. Here’s why Biden picked Kamala Harris for veep.
You’re telling me you want your Guns and Your Training. I’m telling you to do it now because, with Kamala Harris as Biden’s pick for VP, you can bet they’re coming for yours. Harris is a puppet for the anti-gunning billionaire elites that have not a clue how to protect their family without hired help. Elites tell you an AR-15 is a machine gun. That’s just stupid. An elite will tell you “they’ll never be a public servant” because public servants work for them (or they have a guy who knows a guy). “Who wants the aggravation?” they say. Elites escape the cities while real Americans deal with the rot. Harris is a hired gun brought in to wrangle money from a handful of elites—even Cuomo admits the value of the top one percenters—better get your guns and your training now.
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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
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