Here's a scenario worth considering. It's not a conversation one would have with Your Survival Guy, because I’d hang up after 15 seconds, but look around the web and all these financial firms are promoting feel-good products like ESG that have nothing to do with return on investment. It’s about vacuuming up money. The phone rings and it’s Mr. Billionaire. He's calling to check on his money and lamenting about the crime, the pollution, and the impoverishment. He says, "I want to invest in companies that do good and make the world better. I can afford it. What’s that guy over at that big … [Read more...]
You Invest, They Win
The founder of the largest hedge fund in the universe, Ray Dalio, tweeted this from Burning Man:
Just back from Burning Man. Reminds me of Woodstock with better art (installations) and less good music. What a great vibe and what amazing creativity!
Photo is with my pal and coworker Jeff Taylor at his great music camp Root Society. If you go next year, 1-5am is best.
Are these the guys you want running your money? You invest, they win. But hey, it’s not about the money. It’s about saving the planet man.
Because if it’s about the money (Dalio has a personal net worth of $19 billion) then this hedge fund lost to a boring Vanguard fund that uses a conventional mix of 60% stocks and 40% bonds.
The article doesn’t come out and name the fund, but perhaps you, as a long-time reader of our websites, know the name: Vanguard Wellington.
You might also know what Vanguard founder, the late, great, Jack Bogle, meant when he said: “The grim irony of investing is that we investors as a group not only don’t get what we pay for, we get precisely what we don’t pay for.”
The captains of the investing universe are living their “best life” at whose expense?
Yours, of course. You invest, they win. Read more below.
WARNING: Private Equity Investing Coming to a Retailer Near You
Don’t look now, but private equity is looking to tap into the retail investor market. Looks like they ran out of money on the institutional side—you know, the pensions for firemen, teachers, and police officers. This is all about the sales pitch. But where do you think they’re investing this “alternative” money? What’s clear as day is the lack of transparency. They lock up your money so you can’t get it, and you basically pay them to make sure you’re a long-term investor. I don’t like it. The best things in life are free. Your Survival Guy is here for you. Stick with me. The WSJ PRO’s Chris … [Read more...]
EXPOSED: ESG’s Biggest Con Explained
You've been told that ESG is in the best interests of investors. And you've probably heard that ESG managers are just doing their fiduciary duty to investors. At Real Clear Markets, Scott Shepard exposes the lie in both those theories. He writes: Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics. It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not “woke.” It is capitalism, driven by mutually beneficial relationships between you and the employees, customers, suppliers, and communities your company relies on to prosper. This is the power of capitalism. As has been discussed before in this space, … [Read more...]
The Virtue of Trump Supporters vs. Antifa and ESG Investing is Like This…
Wouldn't it be nice if you could invest without the ESG virtue signaling? Well, you can if you own your own stocks, not a mutual fund or ETF. How about someone speaks some truth to the waste of money called ESG? Hold the press. That's exactly what HSBC executive Stuart Kirk did in a presentation last week. How'd it go? Not great, as the editors of The WSJ explain. HSBC executive Stuart Kirk gave a presentation at an investor conference last week, taking banking regulators to task for overbaking the financial risk of climate change. What was he thinking? As punishment for his heresy, the … [Read more...]
How to Avoid the Restrictions of a Target Date Fund
Your Survival Guy’s never been a big fan of target date funds, where you rely on fund managers to adjust your allocation like a robot based on when you plan to retire. But, unfortunately, these target date funds litter many of America’s 401(k)s (and other defined contribution plans). Many investors just can’t get away from them. Want another option? “Sorry,” they say. Plans that depend on target date funds are like going to Kentucky Fried Chicken and asking for filet mignon. It’s not going to happen. Sure, you can manipulate the allocation by being clever with the target dates. Your … [Read more...]
Is Your Financial Advisor Hiding the Truth About ESG?
Is your financial planner, advisor, wealth manager, CPA, CFA, CFP, or whatever else they slap onto their business card on the same page as you? Are you all rowing in the same direction? Have you asked them about ESG, for example? Do they ask you? Because if you don’t know, it’s probably time you do. This is no time to be politically correct when it’s your money on the line. You know where Your Survival Guy stands on ESG. I hate it. And yet, in my conversations with you, a prospective client, you told me you asked your “guy” about ESG the other day, and you didn’t get a straight answer, as … [Read more...]
Arrogant ESG Strategies Exposed by War in Ukraine
Your Survival Guy’s been ranting and raving ad nauseam lately about the pitfalls of ESG investing where you invest, and they win. You know from my past posts that it’s basically a fee grab designed to line the pockets of investment firms. At the core of green energy and the Great Reset are money and power. They control the pieces and the money. If we let them. And that’s where being vigilant about how you invest and with whom you invest becomes paramount. When you simply ask, “What’s in it for them?” in rolls the fog. Follow the money. Solar panels and heat pumps will not be the … [Read more...]
ESG Creator: “It’s a Marketing Mania”
The ESG market is in upheaval after researchers at Morningstar recently stripped 1,200 funds of their ESG designations, and many major funds are suffering embarrassment over investments they had in Russia that are now coming to light. The coiner of the term, ESG, Paul Clements-Hunt has even called the ESG market "a whirligig, a frenzy, a marketing mania." Bloomberg's Saijel Kishan reports: After attracting trillions of dollars, the ESG fund industry is headed for a “shakeout” over the next five years, according to the man who coined the acronym. The finance sector has “sprinkled ESG fairy … [Read more...]
ILLEGAL? ESG Is Strangling Oil Exploration, and May Break the Law
You know that the so-called "Masters of the Universe" at Wall Street's big money managers have taken it upon themselves to use their influence over investors' money to push their own political agenda on markets. In other words, you invest, and they win. That agenda has been pursued via an investing philosophy known as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing. A particular target for ESG investing has been oil and gas companies, which have found it very difficult to raise capital in the face of an investment industry that has become hostile to their efforts. The capital … [Read more...]
Calling Out Index Fund Activism
Along with Warren Buffett, the lesser-known half of the dynamic duo that has piloted Berkshire Hathaway for so many years is Charlie Munger. Munger recently spoke some truths out loud that many C-suite executives have been thinking to themselves, but failing to express. The problem Munger highlighted is one already known to readers of Your Survival Guy, activist (not to be confused with active) index funds. These are funds that vote the shares (investors' shares) in an effort to push a political agenda. The Wall Street Journal's editorial board describes Munger's comments, and expands on them, … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 18
- Next Page »