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Image | Success Strategies For Retirement
Success Strategies For Retirement
 PREVIEW
by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The Importance of Adding New Income Streams
  • Income-Producing Assets
  • Taking Advantage of Subsidies
  • Hedges, Cost-Controls & Other Strategies
  • The 14 Steps to Prosperity

If you have not yet read Part 1: The Great Retirement Con, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we revealed the woefully insufficient level of retirement savings — across IRAs, 401ks, and public pensions — America faces as it's largest demographic cohort, the Baby Boomers, now reaches retirement age. And eating quickly away at the scant savings that exist is the soaring cost of big-ticket essentials such as rent, higher education and healthcare that retirees can't avoid paying.

So what can we do about it?

There are only a few strategies that can make a real difference:  own assets and income streams that keep up with real-world inflation, radically reduce the cost structure of big-ticket household expenses, qualify for subsidies (i.e. lower household income), and/or adopt a healthier view of what prosperity in retirement means.

Owning Income-Producing Enterprises and Assets

This chart says volumes about the difference between wealthy households and middle-class households: the middle-class households’ primary asset is the family home, while the wealthy households’ primary asset is business equity: ownership of an enterprise or shares in enterprises.

src=

Developing a profitable enterprise is easier said than done (it helps to inherit a family business), and there is no guarantee a business that’s successful today will still be successful next year.

Nonetheless, it’s striking that the middle class is…

Success Strategies For Retirement
 PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The Importance of Adding New Income Streams
  • Income-Producing Assets
  • Taking Advantage of Subsidies
  • Hedges, Cost-Controls & Other Strategies
  • The 14 Steps to Prosperity

If you have not yet read Part 1: The Great Retirement Con, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we revealed the woefully insufficient level of retirement savings — across IRAs, 401ks, and public pensions — America faces as it's largest demographic cohort, the Baby Boomers, now reaches retirement age. And eating quickly away at the scant savings that exist is the soaring cost of big-ticket essentials such as rent, higher education and healthcare that retirees can't avoid paying.

So what can we do about it?

There are only a few strategies that can make a real difference:  own assets and income streams that keep up with real-world inflation, radically reduce the cost structure of big-ticket household expenses, qualify for subsidies (i.e. lower household income), and/or adopt a healthier view of what prosperity in retirement means.

Owning Income-Producing Enterprises and Assets

This chart says volumes about the difference between wealthy households and middle-class households: the middle-class households’ primary asset is the family home, while the wealthy households’ primary asset is business equity: ownership of an enterprise or shares in enterprises.

src=

Developing a profitable enterprise is easier said than done (it helps to inherit a family business), and there is no guarantee a business that’s successful today will still be successful next year.

Nonetheless, it’s striking that the middle class is…

Image | The Oil Threat
The Oil Threat
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • China's imminent peak in oil production
  • The final key player in this story: Russia
  • How to prepare before oil becomes a LOT more expensive
  • What to prepare for? Higher prices (for everything real), lower prices (for everything paper), and more wars…

If you have not yet read Part 1: If The Saudi Arabia Situation Doesn't Worry You, You're Not Paying Attention available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

China’s Impending Oil Peak

The motivations of China are completely obvious here.  China is eager to forge better relations with any country from which it can import oil and KSA is right at the top of that list.

A truly startling (to me) report from the China University of Petroleum put all of this in proper context and urgency came out earlier this year (2017) which announced that after conducting a wide-ranging study that China faces an imminent peak in oil output (from both conventional and unconventional sources) as early as 2018.

This is really big news.   The implications for global geopolitics, financial stability, and literally anything you consider personally important are huge.

China faces looming energy crisis, warns state-funded study

Oct 5, 2017

Nafeez Ahmed

A new scientific study led by the China University of Petroleum in Beijing, funded by the Chinese government, concludes that China is about to experience a peak in its total oil production as early as next year.

Without finding an alternative source of “new abundant energy resources”, the study warns, the 2018 peak in China’s combined conventional and unconventional oil will undermine continuing economic growth and “challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society.”

This also has major implications for the prospect of a 2018 oil squeeze — as China scales its domestic oil peak, rising demand will impact world oil markets in a way most forecasters aren’t anticipating, contributing to a potential supply squeeze. That could happen in 2018 proper, or in the early years that follow.

There are various scenarios that follow from here  — China could: shift to reducing its massive demand for energy, a tall order in itself given population growth projections and rising consumption; accelerate a renewable energy transition; or militarise the South China Sea for more deepwater oil and gas.

Right now, China appears to be incoherently pursuing all three strategies, with varying rates of success. But one thing is clear — China’s decisions on how it addresses its coming post-peak future will impact regional and global political and energy security for the foreseeable future.

(Source)

The author of the article, Nafeez Ahmed (who we’ve interviewed before and admire greatly – he's one of the really good ones out there), left out one other option on China’s scenario table, which was to forge stronger relationships with the world’s two key oil exporters – Saudi Arabia and Russia.   That scenario is now a reality and already well underway. 

Here’s the mind-blowing chart that the study produced.  It literally tells the…

The Oil Threat
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • China's imminent peak in oil production
  • The final key player in this story: Russia
  • How to prepare before oil becomes a LOT more expensive
  • What to prepare for? Higher prices (for everything real), lower prices (for everything paper), and more wars…

If you have not yet read Part 1: If The Saudi Arabia Situation Doesn't Worry You, You're Not Paying Attention available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

China’s Impending Oil Peak

The motivations of China are completely obvious here.  China is eager to forge better relations with any country from which it can import oil and KSA is right at the top of that list.

A truly startling (to me) report from the China University of Petroleum put all of this in proper context and urgency came out earlier this year (2017) which announced that after conducting a wide-ranging study that China faces an imminent peak in oil output (from both conventional and unconventional sources) as early as 2018.

This is really big news.   The implications for global geopolitics, financial stability, and literally anything you consider personally important are huge.

China faces looming energy crisis, warns state-funded study

Oct 5, 2017

Nafeez Ahmed

A new scientific study led by the China University of Petroleum in Beijing, funded by the Chinese government, concludes that China is about to experience a peak in its total oil production as early as next year.

Without finding an alternative source of “new abundant energy resources”, the study warns, the 2018 peak in China’s combined conventional and unconventional oil will undermine continuing economic growth and “challenge the sustainable development of Chinese society.”

This also has major implications for the prospect of a 2018 oil squeeze — as China scales its domestic oil peak, rising demand will impact world oil markets in a way most forecasters aren’t anticipating, contributing to a potential supply squeeze. That could happen in 2018 proper, or in the early years that follow.

There are various scenarios that follow from here  — China could: shift to reducing its massive demand for energy, a tall order in itself given population growth projections and rising consumption; accelerate a renewable energy transition; or militarise the South China Sea for more deepwater oil and gas.

Right now, China appears to be incoherently pursuing all three strategies, with varying rates of success. But one thing is clear — China’s decisions on how it addresses its coming post-peak future will impact regional and global political and energy security for the foreseeable future.

(Source)

The author of the article, Nafeez Ahmed (who we’ve interviewed before and admire greatly – he's one of the really good ones out there), left out one other option on China’s scenario table, which was to forge stronger relationships with the world’s two key oil exporters – Saudi Arabia and Russia.   That scenario is now a reality and already well underway. 

Here’s the mind-blowing chart that the study produced.  It literally tells the…

Image | A Primer On How To Use TreasuryDirect
A Primer On How To Use TreasuryDirect
 PREVIEW
by Adam Taggart

Executive Summary

  • Create a TreasuryDirect account
  • Funding and transacting in your account
  • Laddering your transactions
  • Advice for your first transaction

If you have not yet read Part 1: Earn More On Your Cash Savings (With Less Risk) available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

If you have cash savings in excess of $10,000 stored at a bank, it makes good sense in today's low-interest rate environment to consider opening a TreasuryDirect account in order to obtain a much higher return for equivalent better risk, as detailed in Part 1.

I, myself, have done this with my own personal cash savings. And I currently remain actively invested in T-Bills through TreasuryDirect. So I have first-hand experience from which to judge the program.

Here in Part 2, I'll walk you through the straightforward steps for creating a TreasuryDirect account (which is free), funding it, and then making transactions within it. 

Before I do though, let me make a few things absolutely clear. This is NOT personal financial advice. The investment choices I make are based on my own unique situation, financial goals and risk tolerance. And I may change these choices at any moment given new market developments. What's appropriate for me may not be for you, so DO NOT blindly duplicate what I share of my own personal investing plans in my writings on this website.

As always, we recommend working with a professional financial adviser to build an investment plan customized to your own needs and objectives. (If you do not have a financial advisor or do not feel comfortable with your current advisor's expertise in the market risks we discuss here at PeakProsperity.com, consider scheduling a free consultation with our endorsed advisor)

Suffice it to say, any investment ideas sparked by this report should be reviewed with your financial advisor before taking any action. Am I being excessively repetitive here in order to drive this point home? Good.

With that clarification, here's what you need to get started…

A Primer On How To Use TreasuryDirect
 PREVIEW by Adam Taggart

Executive Summary

  • Create a TreasuryDirect account
  • Funding and transacting in your account
  • Laddering your transactions
  • Advice for your first transaction

If you have not yet read Part 1: Earn More On Your Cash Savings (With Less Risk) available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

If you have cash savings in excess of $10,000 stored at a bank, it makes good sense in today's low-interest rate environment to consider opening a TreasuryDirect account in order to obtain a much higher return for equivalent better risk, as detailed in Part 1.

I, myself, have done this with my own personal cash savings. And I currently remain actively invested in T-Bills through TreasuryDirect. So I have first-hand experience from which to judge the program.

Here in Part 2, I'll walk you through the straightforward steps for creating a TreasuryDirect account (which is free), funding it, and then making transactions within it. 

Before I do though, let me make a few things absolutely clear. This is NOT personal financial advice. The investment choices I make are based on my own unique situation, financial goals and risk tolerance. And I may change these choices at any moment given new market developments. What's appropriate for me may not be for you, so DO NOT blindly duplicate what I share of my own personal investing plans in my writings on this website.

As always, we recommend working with a professional financial adviser to build an investment plan customized to your own needs and objectives. (If you do not have a financial advisor or do not feel comfortable with your current advisor's expertise in the market risks we discuss here at PeakProsperity.com, consider scheduling a free consultation with our endorsed advisor)

Suffice it to say, any investment ideas sparked by this report should be reviewed with your financial advisor before taking any action. Am I being excessively repetitive here in order to drive this point home? Good.

With that clarification, here's what you need to get started…

Image | What To Invest In When The Everything Bubble Bursts
What To Invest In When The Everything Bubble Bursts
 PREVIEW
by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Why conventional analysis may not be our best guide anymore
  • The critical importance of scarcity and value-production
  • Making the most of your time and capital
  • How to best prepare for the popping of the 'Everything' Bubble

If you have not yet read Part 1: What Could Pop the Everything Bubble? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we surveyed the economic and socio-political dynamics that will pop the credit/asset bubbles that have created an illusion of normalcy, continuity and prosperity for the past eight years. So how do we non-elites prepare for the end of the everything bubble and the rise of economic, socio-political disorder?

The Conventional Approach

The conventional approach is to seek out assets that will survive either a deflationary implosion (i.e. an implosive collapse of collateral and debt) or high inflation fueled by massive helicopter money distributions to keep the “growth” machine chugging forward.

The Usual Suspects are real-world tangible assets such as precious metals, real estate, orchards, oil fields, solar panels, etc.  These are touted as survivable assets because their utility value remains intact regardless of whether their price in currencies drops or soars.

Another Usual Suspect is intrinsically scarce collectibles such as fine art, early 1960s-era Fender guitars, etc.

A newcomer is bitcoin and the other leading cryptocurrencies, which are seen by many as holding scarcity value due to their limited issuance.

This approach is commonsensical and sound, as far as it goes. But it is ultimately a financial approach, not much different than any other form of sell high, buy low, sell high advice of switching out of overvalued asset classes into undervalued asset classes, and then riding the uptrend in the undervalued asset until it too is overvalued.

This approach assumes the larger socio-political-economic system will sort itself out in due time, i.e. it assumes continuity based on self-correcting mechanisms built into the financial status quo.

I’m not so sure that the financial system has any self-correcting mechanisms left, or that they will function as expected in a phase shift or supernova implosion.

Put another way…

What To Invest In When The Everything Bubble Bursts
 PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Why conventional analysis may not be our best guide anymore
  • The critical importance of scarcity and value-production
  • Making the most of your time and capital
  • How to best prepare for the popping of the 'Everything' Bubble

If you have not yet read Part 1: What Could Pop the Everything Bubble? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1, we surveyed the economic and socio-political dynamics that will pop the credit/asset bubbles that have created an illusion of normalcy, continuity and prosperity for the past eight years. So how do we non-elites prepare for the end of the everything bubble and the rise of economic, socio-political disorder?

The Conventional Approach

The conventional approach is to seek out assets that will survive either a deflationary implosion (i.e. an implosive collapse of collateral and debt) or high inflation fueled by massive helicopter money distributions to keep the “growth” machine chugging forward.

The Usual Suspects are real-world tangible assets such as precious metals, real estate, orchards, oil fields, solar panels, etc.  These are touted as survivable assets because their utility value remains intact regardless of whether their price in currencies drops or soars.

Another Usual Suspect is intrinsically scarce collectibles such as fine art, early 1960s-era Fender guitars, etc.

A newcomer is bitcoin and the other leading cryptocurrencies, which are seen by many as holding scarcity value due to their limited issuance.

This approach is commonsensical and sound, as far as it goes. But it is ultimately a financial approach, not much different than any other form of sell high, buy low, sell high advice of switching out of overvalued asset classes into undervalued asset classes, and then riding the uptrend in the undervalued asset until it too is overvalued.

This approach assumes the larger socio-political-economic system will sort itself out in due time, i.e. it assumes continuity based on self-correcting mechanisms built into the financial status quo.

I’m not so sure that the financial system has any self-correcting mechanisms left, or that they will function as expected in a phase shift or supernova implosion.

Put another way…

Image | Running Out Of Room
Running Out Of Room
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

The idea of an 'industrial economy' is an extremely recent human invention. And we’ve staked quite a lot on its continuation.

But it faces a massive predicament: It’s running out of resources.

When talking about the “economy”, we're really referring to the flow of goods and services — which are themselves entirely dependent on energy. No energy = no goods and services = no economy. It’s really that simple.

So to track where we are in this story, put on your ‘energy goggles’. If you do, you can discover quite a lot.
Running Out Of Room
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

The idea of an 'industrial economy' is an extremely recent human invention. And we’ve staked quite a lot on its continuation.

But it faces a massive predicament: It’s running out of resources.

When talking about the “economy”, we're really referring to the flow of goods and services — which are themselves entirely dependent on energy. No energy = no goods and services = no economy. It’s really that simple.

So to track where we are in this story, put on your ‘energy goggles’. If you do, you can discover quite a lot.
Image | It’s High Time For Action
It’s High Time For Action
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Beware the coming reduction in global central bank money printing
  • The full-blown ecological emergency
  • Uncovering the hidden downside risks to the markets
  • Steps to take now

If you have not yet read Part 1: Are You Infuriated Yet?available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

I keep circling back to the financial markets because they are the chief signaling agent for most people. As long as the markets are doing okay, people’s attention wanders away from our predicaments and towards believing in the dominant "all is fine" narrative.

But, with the crystal-clear connection we see between asset prices and central bank money printing, prices in today's “markets” are really a creation of monetary policy. As a result, the signals the markets send us increasingly have no bearing on actual reality.

Here’s a good example: McDonalds' stock is hitting new high after new high. This is a function of both the ever-rising markets but also of the company's own internal accounting hocus-pocus.

This chart explains much:

(Source)

The red line tells us that MCD’s revenues are down a stunning 15% since 2014. The green line tells us that their stock price is UP an even more stunning 65% over the same time period.

Meanwhile total debt of MCD’s has mushroomed from $14 billion to $29 billion, while total assets have shrunk. Yet MCD's stock price has risen handsomely.

The critical insight this is telling us about today's markets is…

It’s High Time For Action
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Beware the coming reduction in global central bank money printing
  • The full-blown ecological emergency
  • Uncovering the hidden downside risks to the markets
  • Steps to take now

If you have not yet read Part 1: Are You Infuriated Yet?available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

I keep circling back to the financial markets because they are the chief signaling agent for most people. As long as the markets are doing okay, people’s attention wanders away from our predicaments and towards believing in the dominant "all is fine" narrative.

But, with the crystal-clear connection we see between asset prices and central bank money printing, prices in today's “markets” are really a creation of monetary policy. As a result, the signals the markets send us increasingly have no bearing on actual reality.

Here’s a good example: McDonalds' stock is hitting new high after new high. This is a function of both the ever-rising markets but also of the company's own internal accounting hocus-pocus.

This chart explains much:

(Source)

The red line tells us that MCD’s revenues are down a stunning 15% since 2014. The green line tells us that their stock price is UP an even more stunning 65% over the same time period.

Meanwhile total debt of MCD’s has mushroomed from $14 billion to $29 billion, while total assets have shrunk. Yet MCD's stock price has risen handsomely.

The critical insight this is telling us about today's markets is…

Image | Fighting Back: A Call To Action
Fighting Back: A Call To Action
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Future Betrayal
  • Call To Action: The Positive Steps For Fighting Back
  • Becoming the change agent these times need

If you have not yet read Part 1: Betrayed! available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Positive Responses – A Call To Action

It’s time folks. This whole enchilada is about to run off the rails. You know it, I know it, and especially “they” know it. The only people who don’t know this are so distracted by life’s insignificant details, and so hopelessly incurious, that they won’t have any clue until their own lives fall apart.

These people will experience the future as if they were blindfolded participants at a free-for-all boxing match. In other words

Until and unless we admit we have a problem, there will be no hope of repair or recovery. It doesn’t matter what the problem is – alcoholism, addiction, infidelity, lying, cheating, stealing – recovery begins by admitting that a problem exists.

Which means we need to talk about betrayal and the many ways we are being betrayed, and are even betraying ourselves. It won’t be an easy conversation to hold, but it’s entirely necessary.

The alternative is the equivalent of an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting that has decided to eliminate 11 of the steps and just go with one step; “Hey, in this meeting we just pretend nothing’s wrong and we keep on drinking.” Sadly, this exact one-step program is oversubscribed in many communities.

Until and unless that happens, you, we, all of us need to be prepared for more, not less, violence. We should expect more business-as-usual decisions not fewer. We should anticipate more distressed people doing increasingly desperate things, such as checking out via drug use and other addictive behaviors.

You may have overlooked or ignored betrayals – small or large – in your personal life that will now exert themselves to the front of your mind. You may lash out at your betrayers, be they at work, These will take over and shape your destiny, so our advice is that you should get out in front of them.

You will need additional tools to clear these out, manage them, and work with whatever other emotional stressors in your life so you can continue to move forward, grow, develop and have a happy and full life.

If you are ready to learn how to improve and strengthen your emotional capital then…

Fighting Back: A Call To Action
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Future Betrayal
  • Call To Action: The Positive Steps For Fighting Back
  • Becoming the change agent these times need

If you have not yet read Part 1: Betrayed! available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Positive Responses – A Call To Action

It’s time folks. This whole enchilada is about to run off the rails. You know it, I know it, and especially “they” know it. The only people who don’t know this are so distracted by life’s insignificant details, and so hopelessly incurious, that they won’t have any clue until their own lives fall apart.

These people will experience the future as if they were blindfolded participants at a free-for-all boxing match. In other words

Until and unless we admit we have a problem, there will be no hope of repair or recovery. It doesn’t matter what the problem is – alcoholism, addiction, infidelity, lying, cheating, stealing – recovery begins by admitting that a problem exists.

Which means we need to talk about betrayal and the many ways we are being betrayed, and are even betraying ourselves. It won’t be an easy conversation to hold, but it’s entirely necessary.

The alternative is the equivalent of an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting that has decided to eliminate 11 of the steps and just go with one step; “Hey, in this meeting we just pretend nothing’s wrong and we keep on drinking.” Sadly, this exact one-step program is oversubscribed in many communities.

Until and unless that happens, you, we, all of us need to be prepared for more, not less, violence. We should expect more business-as-usual decisions not fewer. We should anticipate more distressed people doing increasingly desperate things, such as checking out via drug use and other addictive behaviors.

You may have overlooked or ignored betrayals – small or large – in your personal life that will now exert themselves to the front of your mind. You may lash out at your betrayers, be they at work, These will take over and shape your destiny, so our advice is that you should get out in front of them.

You will need additional tools to clear these out, manage them, and work with whatever other emotional stressors in your life so you can continue to move forward, grow, develop and have a happy and full life.

If you are ready to learn how to improve and strengthen your emotional capital then…

Image | How To Defend Against An Unfair Re-Set Of The System
How To Defend Against An Unfair Re-Set Of The System
 PREVIEW
by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The source of leverage being used to manipulate us
  • The powers that be have a much weaker hand than we realize
  • The increase use of force to control the system will ultimately undermine it
  • What options are available to those who want to free themselves from this supression?

If you have not yet read Part 1: Upon The Next Crisis, The Rules Will Suddenly Change available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1 we surveyed the dynamics driving ever-expanding state control, the state’s priorities in crisis management (secure the state’s authority and the wealth/power of elites) and the authorities’ current preference for indirect control of the market.

Leverage and the Market as a Signifier

Markets are no longer markets—they are simulacra of markets, displaying the superficial appearance but not the dynamics and uncertainties of real markets, which have an unnerving tendency to veer away from the state-approved scripts of permanent, stable expansion.

Why have central banks and states (which includes blocs of nations such as the Eurozone with a centralized governing elite) chosen to cloak their control of markets?

The answer is has two parts:  1) central banks/states must leverage their intervention due to the monumental scale of global markets; owning assets worth hundreds of trillions of dollars is at best awkward in the current arrangement and at worst politically impossible.  

While financial leverage is a relatively straightforward tool, 2) the real leverage is exerting psychological control over the market by transforming market price action into a signifier (i.e. signaling mechanism) that persuades participants to…

How To Defend Against An Unfair Re-Set Of The System
 PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • The source of leverage being used to manipulate us
  • The powers that be have a much weaker hand than we realize
  • The increase use of force to control the system will ultimately undermine it
  • What options are available to those who want to free themselves from this supression?

If you have not yet read Part 1: Upon The Next Crisis, The Rules Will Suddenly Change available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

In Part 1 we surveyed the dynamics driving ever-expanding state control, the state’s priorities in crisis management (secure the state’s authority and the wealth/power of elites) and the authorities’ current preference for indirect control of the market.

Leverage and the Market as a Signifier

Markets are no longer markets—they are simulacra of markets, displaying the superficial appearance but not the dynamics and uncertainties of real markets, which have an unnerving tendency to veer away from the state-approved scripts of permanent, stable expansion.

Why have central banks and states (which includes blocs of nations such as the Eurozone with a centralized governing elite) chosen to cloak their control of markets?

The answer is has two parts:  1) central banks/states must leverage their intervention due to the monumental scale of global markets; owning assets worth hundreds of trillions of dollars is at best awkward in the current arrangement and at worst politically impossible.  

While financial leverage is a relatively straightforward tool, 2) the real leverage is exerting psychological control over the market by transforming market price action into a signifier (i.e. signaling mechanism) that persuades participants to…

Image | Smart Strategies For Building & Managing Your Cash Savings
Smart Strategies For Building & Managing Your Cash Savings
 PREVIEW
by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Is it better to hold cash in savings/checking accounts, or securities accounts?
  • Where will the dollar likely from here?
  • What will likely happen with retirement accounts?
  • Ways to diversify your cash risk

If you have not yet read Part 1: The Cardinal Sin Of Investing: Permanent Impairment Of Capital available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Role Of Cash In The Informal Economy

In stagnating formal economies burdened by over-regulation, high taxes and financialization, one of the few bright spots for employment and entrepreneurism is the informal or cash economy.  The more stultified and elite-dominated the economy, the larger and more vibrant the informal economy.  In some highly regulated, high-tax European nations, up to 30% of the economic activity is underground/cash.

The elimination of central bank currency will not eliminate the informal economy. Rather, the participants in this sector will adopt non-central bank issued forms of cash—precious metals, coins, other nations’ paper money, perhaps even digital currencies such as bitcoin or its gold-linked cousins (Bitgold, etc.)

Those with little income often do not have bank accounts, as the fees are costly. Eliminating cash will hit the poor who earn money in the informal economy especially hard. Though the poor are essentially powerless in our influence-is-auctioned-to-the-highest-bidder system, this could change once the working poor who benefit from the cash economy are pushed even deeper into poverty by the banning of cash.

That might spark…

Smart Strategies For Building & Managing Your Cash Savings
 PREVIEW by charleshughsmith

Executive Summary

  • Is it better to hold cash in savings/checking accounts, or securities accounts?
  • Where will the dollar likely from here?
  • What will likely happen with retirement accounts?
  • Ways to diversify your cash risk

If you have not yet read Part 1: The Cardinal Sin Of Investing: Permanent Impairment Of Capital available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

The Role Of Cash In The Informal Economy

In stagnating formal economies burdened by over-regulation, high taxes and financialization, one of the few bright spots for employment and entrepreneurism is the informal or cash economy.  The more stultified and elite-dominated the economy, the larger and more vibrant the informal economy.  In some highly regulated, high-tax European nations, up to 30% of the economic activity is underground/cash.

The elimination of central bank currency will not eliminate the informal economy. Rather, the participants in this sector will adopt non-central bank issued forms of cash—precious metals, coins, other nations’ paper money, perhaps even digital currencies such as bitcoin or its gold-linked cousins (Bitgold, etc.)

Those with little income often do not have bank accounts, as the fees are costly. Eliminating cash will hit the poor who earn money in the informal economy especially hard. Though the poor are essentially powerless in our influence-is-auctioned-to-the-highest-bidder system, this could change once the working poor who benefit from the cash economy are pushed even deeper into poverty by the banning of cash.

That might spark…

Image | How To Deal With Our Dangerous Markets And Failing Future
How To Deal With Our Dangerous Markets And Failing Future
 PREVIEW
by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Controlled markets can't be controlled forever
  • Confidence is beginning to fail, even at the top
  • The leading indicators to monitor closely
  • The reason to get excited about gold & silver again

If you have not yet read Part 1: Who’s Going To Eat The Losses? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As we recently covered in this week's special webinar, the geopolitical tensions across the world, alone, should have created some sort of ‘risk off’ response in the equity markets.  With China, Russia and North Korea all increasingly at odds with the US for a wide variety of reasons, it’s very hard to make a case that Everything is Awesome!

Instead, it’s very easy to make the case that the world is on the brink of a period of destructive trade wars, if not actual 'hot' wars. 

Again, that alone should be introducing some uncertainty, some ‘risk off’ behaviors by which we mean some sort of a selloff in equities. But that’s just not the case.

In fact, the current stock ramp-up is the second longest without even a 3% sell-off in all of US equity history.

It's my firm belief that these calm markets do not represent the collective wisdom of millions of independent traders and investors.  They are instead the result of both direct and indirect support of said markets by monetary authorities and their proxies. That is, the central banks and the big banks they actually represent and look out for. 

But this lack of volatility will have a very painful cost some day. No different than in a political crisis where an oppressed people finally rise up, the suppression of market volatility will spill over and…

How To Deal With Our Dangerous Markets And Failing Future
 PREVIEW by Chris Martenson

Executive Summary

  • Controlled markets can't be controlled forever
  • Confidence is beginning to fail, even at the top
  • The leading indicators to monitor closely
  • The reason to get excited about gold & silver again

If you have not yet read Part 1: Who’s Going To Eat The Losses? available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

As we recently covered in this week's special webinar, the geopolitical tensions across the world, alone, should have created some sort of ‘risk off’ response in the equity markets.  With China, Russia and North Korea all increasingly at odds with the US for a wide variety of reasons, it’s very hard to make a case that Everything is Awesome!

Instead, it’s very easy to make the case that the world is on the brink of a period of destructive trade wars, if not actual 'hot' wars. 

Again, that alone should be introducing some uncertainty, some ‘risk off’ behaviors by which we mean some sort of a selloff in equities. But that’s just not the case.

In fact, the current stock ramp-up is the second longest without even a 3% sell-off in all of US equity history.

It's my firm belief that these calm markets do not represent the collective wisdom of millions of independent traders and investors.  They are instead the result of both direct and indirect support of said markets by monetary authorities and their proxies. That is, the central banks and the big banks they actually represent and look out for. 

But this lack of volatility will have a very painful cost some day. No different than in a political crisis where an oppressed people finally rise up, the suppression of market volatility will spill over and…

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