How To Get Money To Stick To Your Fingers

How To Get Money To Stick To Your Fingers

August 9, 2020 · by The Escape Artist

When I was young and in my first proper job, one of the senior people described a new client that he was excited to be working with.  He explained the reason by saying: “they’re the sort of person for who money just sticks to their fingers”.

Being an inexperienced idiot, I didn’t know what he meant. Perhaps that person had jam on his hands and sticky fingers? Perhaps he worked in a glue factory?

Er, no. What my colleague meant by that was that the person (a successful entrepreneur / businessman) had a Money Blueprint that meant they couldn’t help but get rich(er). They had a set of beliefs, habits and skills that meant that, all things being equal, they would likely go on to accumulate more wealth. There are no guarantees in life but a helpful Money Blueprint is…well, helpful to getting money.

Maybe they were born and raised by parents who were good with money, knew all about the stockmarket / property development and passed that knowledge on to them? That’s a form of social capital and some people inherit more of this than others. Or maybe they were from a background of poverty and were hungry and self-taught?

I don’t know how that rich person thought because I never lived inside their head but I would bet that success in business and with money was somehow tied up with their identity: the way they saw themselves.

The way I think about identity is with the phrase: I am the sort of person who…

So in my case, the ways I see myself (in relation to money) would include:

I am the sort of person who bends down to pick up 10p on the pavement

I am the sort of person who gets stuff done

I am the sort of person who doesn’t waste food

I am the sort of person who adapts, improvises and overcomes

I am the sort of person who turns the lights off when not needed

You may say I’m delusional and you may be right but these are helpful beliefs. The point is not so much whether they are objectively true; the point is that I believe them, they form part of my identity and they help me function in the world. We all have to believe in something, so why not believe in something that helps you?

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://theescapeartist.me/2020/08/09/how-to-get-money-to-stick-to-your-fingers/

How to Talk to Your Financially Irresponsible Partner

How to Talk to Your Financially Irresponsible Partner

Trent Hamm, Aug 3, 2020  Founder of The Simple Dollar

My wife Sarah and I have a good financial relationship. Sure, there are times when I feel like she spends too much on things like crafting supplies and extra camping gear, and there are times when she feels like I spend too much — usually on Kindle books or tabletop game items. We’re not perfect by any means, but we’ve reached a point where we’re clearly headed toward our shared goals and we recognize that we both are imperfect and make mistakes sometimes.

It wasn’t always this way. There were many times earlier in our relationship, particularly before we started taking our finances seriously, where we both perceived the other person as being financially selfish. I’d see Sarah getting tons of expensive coffees and believe in my head that she was the one being selfish and causing our financial problems, while she’d see me with a new video game or an armload of new books and believe it was me.

The feeling that your partner is being financially selfish and the cause of your shared financial problems is a common one, and it’s a tough issue to tackle. Often, people don’t know how to tackle that sense of a partner’s selfishness, so they either sit on that negative feeling until it festers and grows into an outburst, or they try to immediately address that feeling in a clumsy way and cause a fight. Obviously, neither one of those outcomes is a healthy outcome.

What should you do, then, if you feel like your partner is being financially irresponsible?

6 Things To Consider When You Feel Your Partner Is Financially Irresponsible

Remember your partner probably doesn’t feel irresponsible

This is the single most important thing that you need to realize when you’re feeling frustrated by your partner’s irresponsibleness. It is extremely unlikely that they view their behavior as selfish. They likely view their behavior as living a good life, and it’s very likely that it’s a life they want you to share in.

It’s common for you and your partner to believe that the other one is spending beyond a reasonable, unwritten budget. However, if your partner does not view their behavior as irresponsible, you will get negative backlash if you dive in and accuse your partner.. No one likes to be viewed negatively, especially if they don’t see their behavior or mindset as financially irresponsible. They’re going to get defensive, and when someone gets defensive, the conversation is just going to fall apart. You have to take a completely different approach.

Come up with a meaningful alternative

This is the first step in that process. If you want your partner to step back from behavior that you view as irresponsible, there has to be a meaningful alternative they care about and feel like they’re contributing to in a meaningful way.

More importantly, just because you care about a goal doesn’t mean that they care. Try stepping back and talking about both of your individual goals, financial and otherwise. What are the things you want out of life in the future? Which of those things are things that you share? You might find that the things you think that your partner really should care about, the things that they’re being irresponsible by not contributing to, are simply things that your partner doesn’t value. You might be all about early retirement, for example, but your partner loves their job and doesn’t want to walk away from it.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/financial-wellness/feeling-like-your-partner-is-financially-irresponsible/

11 Family Finance Tips During the Pandemic

11 Family Finance Tips During the Pandemic

Trent Hamm, Aug 3, 2020  Founder of The Simple Dollar

In this week’s reader mailbag, we’re talking about families, particularly financial issues involving children and parents. This is a topic near and dear to me as a member of the “sandwich generation,” meaning that I simultaneously have young children at home as well as parents and in-laws who are already retired. Most of the questions in this mailbag deal with those challenges.

1. How much should we save for having kids?  2. Caring for a parent without retirement

3. Managing kids’ virtual learning while working   4. Saving for college without stocks

5. Setting “rent” for in-laws   6. Making inexpensive school lunches at home

7. Kindle Unlimited for daughter   8. First pet for a child   9. Cleaning out parent’s stuff

10. Returning to a job after a year   11. Cheap healthy kid-friendly food

Q1: How much should we save for having kids?

I’m 29, my wife is 26. We have been planning on having kids in our early 30s and decided a couple of years ago to get our finances straight. We are trying to decide how financially stable we should be before having kids. Is there a net worth level we should be aiming for, or some other measurement?  – Andy

My experience with the finances of parenthood is that the most important thing you should build before having kids is a healthy cash flow. You should be spending significantly less than you earn before you have kids, on the order of spending 70% or less of your income on living expenses, monthly bills, and minimum payments on debt. That other 30% should be used for something wise, whether it’s extra debt payments, saving for retirement, building an emergency fund or saving for a down payment.

If you’re finding it difficult to make ends meet now before having kids (and all of the extra expenses they bring), it’s going to be doubly hard when you’re dealing with all of the costs that a baby introduces — child care, diapers, clothes and food. If you both continue to work, child care is going to be a big cost. If one of you stays home, that’s going to be a huge salary hit (recouped by being able to lean more into eating at home).

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag/questions-about-finance-and-family

Wealth Transfer

Wealth Transfer

The Final Wake Up Call By Peter B Meyer

 Once In A Lifetime Opportunity

More than any other time in history, people can exponentially increase their standard of living during this upcoming collapse, without being exposed to great risk. Normally the precious metal community’s wisdom says that gold and silver are not investments, but rather they are wealth insurance. While this has always been true in history, there also were brief moments where gold and silver have been simultaneously the safe haven and the best performing investments, achieving truly massive gains in absolute purchasing power.

 The wealth transfer that is now upcoming is set against the backdrop of global imbalances that dwarf any that came before. But this one is in combination with the fact that all world currencies are fiat which are exhibiting signs of expiration and death. This is an incredibly unique situation never seen before in history.

It is probably a once in a lifetime occurrence of all of humanity’s existence, an opportunity that may never occur again. The coming wealth transfer will be of a magnitude that the world has never witnessed. Buying physical precious metals is rapidly becoming acknowledged more widely as an investment that will benefit you and your offspring in the future.

Whatever the price is for gold and silver, if the world’s currencies were to collapse, the purchasing power of those who have not accumulated gold and silver or other precious metals would get transferred to those that did, and that will be a mind-boggling quantity of wealth. More than in any other time in human history, people that own precious metals will be able to increase their standard of living exponentially during the coming upheaval, without being exposed to great risks. 

Right now, the world is in the early stages of the next great bull market in gold and silver, and if not acted upon soon, you may miss the opportunity to make quick, easy, triple-digit gains. In the coming month Gold is to double and Silver to triple! Therefore, hurry up and buy what you can before the prices are too high to buy and it is too late. Gold and Silver will be the real winners, but this time in an absolute gigantic proportion of wealth transfer.

Knowledge is power that can be worn as a suit of armour, and Truth is a weapon that can be wielded like a sword, slicing through the propaganda of misinformation and deceit, laying bare the lies for all of us that are AWAKE, so now there is no fear but just enthusiasm to defeat the Deep State cabal for once and forever.

Panic And Chaos Will Break Out

The world’s silver supply would be gone in a nanosecond once the people realise there isn’t as much metal as is believed, because it’s a very small quantity available for sale. At this moment, there’s a shortfall in the world’s gold supply. The message is clear: Buy gold and silver coins and bullion now, for as much as you have liquidity available, and keep doing so till the prices escalate. The world is running out of silver, which makes  Silver the dark horse in the market.

There is shortness developing in the market, and the central bankers are out of ammunition, so eventually, a tipping point will be reached, where the investment public completely loses faith in the U.S. dollar, and all other paper currencies.

The day is coming when people will realise that holding a purchasing contract for gold or silver that doesn’t exist isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, and this is also the case for all paper monies. Panic and chaos will break out. Prepare for a chain reaction collapse, wiping out everyone who owns paper!

Gold and silver have revalued themselves throughout the centuries and defeated all fiat currencies, bringing those fraudulent monies to justice. This is as certain as the sunrises in the morning. The honest physical precious metal investors will be rewarded with gains that will overshadow the stolen wealth by the Khazarian thieves.

Demise Of Paper Currencies Is A Certainty

The flip side of credit is debt, and this is where the problem lies. There’s no limit to how much money can be created. In a world of real money, each additional currency unit represents additional wealth. But with fiat credit or debt-money it is different. With credit, spending can be increased dramatically. But there is a limit to how much can be borrowed. Eventually, a point is reached where the cash flow dries up because it is servicing the interest on the debt. At this point the system is insolvent and broken.

 Fiat Currencies lead to corruption and a crushing debt burden, which are at the root of the world’s troubles. Virtually everywhere, governments and their citizens are borrowing more than ever before, and in many cases, they are far beyond any chance of orderly repayment. The point of no return has been passed – where even at zero interest, payments drown the ability to generate free cash to cover those payments.

Consequently, the debt burden is growing greater and greater. It must be clear by now; the banksters thrive spectacularly when fiat currencies are in place, at the people’s expense.

 When interest rates are pushed down by central banks to artificially low levels and held there for an extremely long period of time, credit expands and the burden of debt grows. That has been happening for almost four decades. And now, the entire economy depends on something that cannot continue, as debt cannot grow forever.

As long as rates stay low, the system is maintained and supported, but as the amount of debt increases, the quality decreases. Debtors’ balance sheets become weaker and weaker. Eventually, the credit markets change direction. Interest rates start rising. Then the weight of all that debt comes crashing down like an avalanche. And once it gets started, there is no stopping it. 

The banking system is an absurd business-model; they lend money they don’t have and charge lenders interest on it. Add to this, the ‘fractional reserve lending’ that allows the banks to lend ten times more than what they have on deposit. In other words, they lend ‘money’ they don’t have and which doesn’t even exist, correctly called – credit money– while they are legally authorised to charge interest on it.

It does look increasingly certain that the end of the fiat money hegemony is in sight.  The only questions at this point are:  When does it end, and when does the real panic begin? Regardless of the timespan, the demise of paper currencies is a certainty.

The fiat economic system’s counterfeit money makes counterfeit public policy, and ultimately destroys an economy, a society, and a political system. In short, when money can be created by just tapping a few keys of a computer, people are brainwashed to believe anything.

 Why Gold Is So Useful As Money

Those people may think that it is okay to shut down the whole economy, as they can cover the losses with “money from the government.” But the “money” from the government is counterfeit. Real money is part of the real world. It is limited, like time.

It is impossible to create a surplus of it just because it would be convenient to have more of it. If governments want to fund one project with real money, they have to take the money from something else. That’s why gold is so useful as money. Gold is limited, like time itself. Each ounce of it has to be discovered, dug out of the ground, processed, and stored.

 This is the way that gold connects “money” to the real world of time, sweat, toil, and risk. In that real world, any decision, any choice, must be considered in light of compromises. How much time will it take? How many resources will be required? What does it take away from the other things we want or need?

Usually, these questions are reduced to a single one: How much does it cost? But did anyone bother to ask that critical question as the COVID programs were rolled out – the Lockdown, the Rescue, the Pay-check Protection Program (PPP), and unemployment compensation?

The lunacy of the unemployment bonus is obvious. The average recipient actually earned more money from unemployment compensation than on the job, where wealth was created. The economic law of honest exchange demands only things of real value instead of currency that can be manipulated. As German-American economist and philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe once said:

“By virtue of the saver’s saving, even the most present-oriented person will be gradually transformed from a barbarian to a civilised man. His life ceases to be short, brutish, and nasty, and becomes longer, increasingly refined, and comfortable.”

Everyone by now should know that today’s money is phony, all the compensation programs are fake, the economy is counterfeited, and the stock market is a scam.

How Booms And Busts Are Created

It’s critical to understand what’s happening in credit. The credit market is the largest financial market around the globe, it drives the entire economy. It is highly cyclical. When interest rates are low and credit is cheap, “booms” are experienced. When rates rise and credit tightens, “busts” are experienced.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, credit has been kept cheap and easy to access. Creating, in the current credit cycle, the biggest excesses that ever have occurred in corporate debt. When the credit market starts to turn, as more and more high-yielding corporate “junk” bonds i.e. debt turns bad, the next crisis will be kicked off.

Many experts will tell that gold and silver generate no proper yield or income stream, but that isn’t true. First an example scenario to explain how precious metals are rightly employed creating an income stream for the long-term:

If a house was sold in 1971 for $ 20,663 and silver purchased for that amount, by January 1980 this investment would have outpaced real estate by a factor of 17, growing to $770,796. If you then sold your silver, you could buy eighteen median-priced single family homes, all in cash at the 1980 price of $ 42,747 per house and benefit from 100% of cash flows from these properties.

Today the situation is even better for a similar transaction. Real estate has become much more overvalued, and silver has become extremely undervalued. Measured against silver, the median priced single-family home in the US hit its peak in 2002, at a price of 38,123 ounces of silver, some two and a half times higher than at the beginning of the last precious metals bull-market in 1971.

When silver hit a peak in 1980 of $ 52.50, it was not atypical. When the gold and silver market explodes, the financial news will react just as it did in 1980, and the only thing to hear is about gold and silver. The scarcity of silver will go from something that a small fraction of the world population knows about today to something that everyone can become an expert on. It will turn out to be the Dutch tulip mania of 1637 all over again. Expect that less than 500 ounces of silver will buy a median-priced single-family house sometime in the future.

 Riding The Opposing Cycle Of The Correct Asset Class

Therefore, buy silver now and wait till silver is overvalued again and real estate is undervalued.

Because both cycles empirically are dissimilar to each other. The best thing to do now is to join the flow of precious metals, by betting that they only go up from here to their true value, which is quite realistic and certainly possible. The winnings will likely be quite large.

 In the above housing sample, even with 50% tax and other expenses included, you could still own twelve homes for rental income, against one home in today’s dollars. The biggest mean reversion in history is almost here, and be assured that every asset price over time always returns to the average value in the long run.

Whether news is good or bad, once you are riding the cycle of the correct asset class as an investor, it doesn’t matter. Investors who are aware of this will experience a huge accumulation of wealth, whereas the ones that are caught unaware may end up with nothing but debt.

As encouragement to the Trump Team and the Patriots going ahead by removing the Deep State Globalist mafia, every awake individual can help by flying the American or your own national flag until after the next election on November 3. This is the very best visual demonstration of our solidarity for Q and the Trump Team.

http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/2020/08/05/wealth-transfer/

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance”

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance”

Personal Finance  Financial Planning  Justin / August 2, 2020

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance” – Tim Maurer

A couple of weeks ago Morgan Housel joined The AGC™ for one of our weekly webinars. During the conversation, he shared what he called his “worst financial decision, yet his best money decision”.  The short version of this decision is he and his wife aggressively paid off their mortgage. You might initially question why he might consider this his worst financial decision–paying off debt is typically a good financial goal and milestone.

However, with mortgage rates at historical lows, spreadsheets and financial planning software would suggest investing the dollars that would be used for additional payments instead of paying off a mortgage; the long term expected return of a diversified portfolio is greater than current mortgage rates. Yes, I’m aware that past performance does not predict future returns, but even the most skeptical investor has to believe the long term return of a diversified portfolio should do better than the interest rate on a mortgage today.

Morgan admitted he knew from a financial standpoint, he would most likely be better off by keeping the mortgage and investing. He knows and understands the numbers behind the decision, but the peace of mind of not having a mortgage was more valuable than the additional dollars he could earn from investing–this is where personal finance becomes more personal than finance.

I was reminded of this last week when my friend Dasarte Yarnway posed a question on Twitter. He asked if it’s better to buy or lease a car.

My response was that it depends. The spreadsheet answer is you buy a car, pay it off, drive it for a long time, and have many years without a car payment. But, if you like to drive a new car and would be trading in every couple of years, despite knowing the numbers showing it’s not the right spreadsheet answer, then a lease might be a better option (there are other benefits to a lease as well).

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://allaboutyourbenjamins.com/financial-planning/personal-finance/

Don’t Be That Person

Don’t Be That Person

Adam M. Grossman    August 2, 2020

THE TRICKY THING about investing is that there’s no single “right” approach. In an earlier article, I described the approach I favor—what I call the five minds of the investor, which involves being part optimist, pessimist, analyst, economist and psychologist.

But there are many other ways to be successful: You might invest in real estate, or follow a quantitative investment strategy, or invest in private companies. There are plenty of people who do very well with these approaches.

That said, there are also many investing styles that look like they might work, but often don’t. Want to fare well financially? Here are five common approaches to investing that you should probably avoid:

1. The Raconteur. A raconteur is no ordinary storyteller. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a raconteur is “a person who excels in telling anecdotes.” That’s exactly what’s dangerous about this approach to investing. Though their evidence might be anecdotal, raconteurs truly believe they are using facts to support their views.

Suppose a raconteur is trying to research a consumer electronics company. He or she might speak with someone who works for the company or might try one of its products. In both cases, the raconteur is collecting real data, but it’s too limited to be conclusive. Nonetheless, that information can be woven together into a story that sounds compelling.

Raconteurs, in fact, love to invoke the concept of “buy what you know,” an idea popularized by Fidelity Investments veteran Peter Lynch. In the introduction to his book One Up on Wall Street, Lynch argued that individual investors should buy stock in companies that they know and understand. “If you stay half-alert,” he wrote, “you can pick the spectacular performers right from your place of business or out of the neighborhood shopping mall….”

He goes on to describe how he discovered several winning stocks—including Taco Bell, Dunkin’ Donuts and Apple—using just that method. But raconteurs overlook one key fact: It isn’t that simple. Yes, Lynch recommended that investors keep their eyes open for new ideas. But he didn’t stop there. Read the rest of Lynch’s book, and you’ll quickly see that anecdotes were just his starting point. He then moved on to hard analysis.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://humbledollar.com/2020/08/dont-be-that-person/

Inheritance Tips So You Don’t Screw Up Your Child’s Life

Inheritance Tips So You Don’t Screw Up Your Child’s Life

Posted by Financial Samurai

If you’ve amassed a decent amount of wealth, you will likely want to leave some of it to your children. Let’s discuss some inheritance tips so we don’t screw up our children.

One of the reasons why my 30-year-old neighbor still lives at home with his parents is probably because he expects to inherit a boatload of assets. His parents’ home, alone, is probably worth about $2.5 million.

The great thing about my neighbor’s living situation is that his parents only come to visit during the weekends. His parents have another home in the North Bay. He also rents out one of the rooms to his friend.

By continuing to live rent-free in his parents’ house, my neighbor is not only saving a lot of money, but he’s also laying claim to his future assets. When his parents eventually pass, surely the house will go to their by then 50+-year-old son who has been living in the home all this time.

However, despite being in a position to inherit millions, my neighbor doesn’t seem to be progressing in life. Although he graduated from college in 2015, he still works at a dead-end job. He’s not in a relationship either. Instead, he’s used much of his disposable income to buy and maintain two cars and two noisy motorbikes.

Awkward Neighbor

It would be one thing if he was cheerful and happy every time we cross paths. However, he never says hello and always seems angry.  One time, I was walking down the sidewalk pushing my baby daughter in her stroller. He decides to pull out one of his vehicles and block the sidewalk. He sees me, but doesn’t say hello.  I stop to play with my daughter, assuming he would continue driving his truck into the street or reverse back into his driveway so we could pass. We wait for three minutes. Nothing happens. Instead, he decides to get out and leave his car in the sidewalk. Nice.

If I was his father, I would be concerned. As a parent, all we want is for our children to be happy and independent. I’m afraid that if we can’t teach our children social skills or develop their emotional intelligence, then some of us will decide to just throw money at our children.

Millennials Are Going To Be The Wealthiest Generation

For all the talk about Millennials getting financially screwed over by Gen X and the Boomers, the Millennials seem to have it pretty good. Millennials get to benefit the most from their parent’s prodigious wealth accumulation without having to do much on their own!

By 2030, Millennials will have inherited roughly $68 trillion dollars of wealth according to one study by the real estate brokerage, Coldwell Banker. I’ve seen the figure range from $38 trillion to $68 trillion. Whatever the real inheritance number is, Millennials will be inheriting a crap ton of money!

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.financialsamurai.com/inheritance-tips-so-you-dont-screw-up-your-childs-life/

Some Clear Thinking On Gold At Its All-Time High

Some Clear Thinking On Gold At Its All-Time High

Notes From The Field By Simon Black  August 3, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of Bruce Lee.  I was probably about four years old when I first watched one of his movies. And I was instantly hooked. The guy was legendary.

As a teenager, I learned more about how he lived, and I began to admire his tenacity, discipline, and relentless pursuit of self-improvement… qualities that I endeavored to attain. I remain a fan to this day. In fact there’s even a Bruce Lee mural on the wall at our office in Chile.

So when I had the opportunity to purchase some of Bruce Lee’s artwork a few years ago-- sketches that he drew with his own hand-- I jumped at the chance.  It cost me around $8,000… but it was the best money I ever spent. I had it professionally framed and hung in my home, and it’s probably my most prized possession.

I doubt I’ll ever sell it. But it’s the only asset that I allow myself to be sentimental about.

In everything else related to money, I force myself to be unemotional. I don’t fall in love with prospective investments, nor do I have an emotional attachment to businesses that I own.

You hear this a lot with entrepreneurs, who often refer to their companies as ‘their baby’.

I don’t have that view. Bruce Lee aside, I’m willing to sell any asset for the right price… especially if someone is willing to pay far more than what I think it’s worth, or what it could be worth in the future.

And this brings me to gold.

The price of gold is now at an all-time high in nearly every major currency, including US dollars. On Friday, in fact, gold briefly passed $2,000 per ounce, and it’s still hovering near that figure now.

A lot of people have an emotional attachment to gold… a borderline fanaticism.

I don’t. I write about gold quite frequently. But I’m not a ‘gold bug’.

My views on gold are unemotional, grounded in a rational understanding of gold’s advantages, and the disadvantages of the financial system. I’ve written about this extensively.

But one important thing to understand about gold is that it can be very difficult to value.

I can much more easily value a business like Apple, or private company that I own. The analysis is never perfect, but I can project future cash flows and market-based asset prices, and derive an appropriate value for what an asset is worth.

But gold does not intrinsically generate cash flow like a business or rental property, so that analysis doesn’t work.

People often try to predict the price of gold by examining certain financial benchmarks.

For instance, in theory there are some loose relationships between the gold price and the money supply. But these relationships are far from perfect.

The previous peak for gold was in 2011 when it reached around $1900. The gold price then fell for more than four years, reaching a low of around $1,000 in December 2015.

Yet during that 4+ year period, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet increased 70% from $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion, and M2 money supply in the US increased 30% from $9.5 trillion to 12.3 trillion.

Gold should have performed well from 2011 to 2015 given all the money the Fed was printing. Yet instead the gold price fell.

There’s another theory that gold prices increase because the dollar is weak. But this relationship is also far from perfect.

In the summer of 2018, I wrote a note to our readers suggesting that it was a good time to buy gold, and that the price could double over the next few years.

At the time, the gold price was around $1200. But the ‘Dollar Index,’ i.e. the standard financial benchmark for the US dollar’s relative strength, was around 94.

Today gold is at a record high-- up more than 60% since I wrote that article. Yet the dollar index is almost exactly the same-- 93.8.

But if the theory is true, the gold price should be the same as it was in summer of 2016.

Finally, there’s a theory that the gold price is correlated with ‘real interest rates’, i.e. the rate of interest after adjusting for inflation.

This relationship is also far from perfect; real interest rates in 2011 and 2012, for example, were negative. Yet the gold price was falling.

Real rates in 2017 were rising. But the gold price was also rising. So this theory is also flawed.

The bottom line is that there’s no magic formula to tell us what the gold price should be. Dollar weakness, real rates, and money supply are all useful indicators. But they’re not predictors.

It’s fair to say, for example, that gold is still undervalued right now relative to recent growth in the Feds balance sheet.

Or that, over very long periods of time as central bankers print money and create inflation, gold tends to keep up.

After all, gold has a 5,000 year track record of holding its value against inflation.

In the short-term, however, the biggest driver of gold prices ironically seems to be emotion... specifically negative emotions like fear and mistrust.

Few people buy gold because they’re happy. Some forward-thinking central banks and investors may buy gold when it’s cheap because they understand its value and potential.

But for the most part, the price rises when people lose confidence in the financial system, in their government, in their central bankers, or in each other.

And that’s what we’re seeing now.

Nearly every government around the world looks incompetent and heavy handed against the Coronavirus.

Central bankers seem desperate.

Banks are sitting on trillions of dollars of losses, while regulators have actually asked the public ‘please do not withdraw your money.’

And social cohesion has practically collapsed. People are ripping each other apart over masks, social justice, political views, and just about everything else.

It’s hard to have trust and confidence at a time like this. And that’s been a key driver of the gold price.

If you own gold, congratulations. You’ve done well. But don’t be emotional about it.

A record high milestone like this is a good time to check your outlook; be rational and determine whether you want to buy, sell, or hold at this level.

Being rational means being able to see all sides of an issue.

You could easily make a strong case that the fear, uncertainty, and desperation could continue for quite some time. And that, long-term, gold continues to make sense.

You could also make a case that, given how quickly gold has risen in price, a short-term correction may be in order. Or that some of the fear subsides if a Covid vaccine is produced.

Remember that great quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald-- “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

To your Freedom & Prosperity  Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/investing/some-clear-thinking-on-gold-at-its-all-time-high-28481/

Overcoming Financial Obstacles To Investing In Gold And Silver

Overcoming Financial Obstacles To Investing In Gold And Silver

July 9, 2020   Investing Precious Metals

So far, we’ve unpacked the top two most frequently cited objections highlighted by recent research: 1) the investor is taking time to consider an investment proposal currently in hand, and 2) the investor is still in the initial research phase of his or her precious metals exploration.

The third most common reason given has to do with the price of gold. Specifically, investors cite objections such as not having "enough" money for gold and wanting to “time the market” by waiting for the price of gold to drop.

Below, we’re teasing out the nuances of these topics and providing what we hope will be helpful insights for anyone else who may be grappling with the same trepidations in their investment journey. Read on to learn more!

Not Enough or No Money for Gold Right Now

A typical charge we hear time and again is that the price of gold is too steep to begin or continue investing, which is subsequently and falsely projected onto the whole precious metals market at large. Many investors, both novice and seasoned, think they don’t have enough cash to start or continue investing in precious metals. While the availability of funds is an important consideration when making any long-term financial decision, precious metals are often more attainable than many people think.

Alternatives to Gold

While the yellow-hued metal has proven itself time and again to be a reliable store of wealth for investors of all backgrounds, acquiring precious metals does not mean having to add only gold coins to your asset portfolio. If you think the price of gold is indeed too high for you right now, there are a variety of other options from which to choose.

The silver market, for example, is a great complement to gold. Silver is often available at lower price points than gold, palladium, and platinum, making breaking into the precious metals sector more attainable for many investors. Silver is also typically regarded as a metal that gives investors a bigger “bang for their buck,” allowing them to accumulate more ounces per dollar than other higher-priced options.

It's essential to keep in mind that lower prices don't mean the investments are necessarily inferior when it comes to shoring up hard-earned wealth. Much like gold, silver has consistently increased in value over the last several years, allowing it to serve in its own right as a reliable hedge against inflation for many investors. Silver has and continues to be a reliable means of safeguarding wealth for many investors across the country.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.usgoldbureau.com/news/financial-obstacles-invest-gold-silver

People Fear They’ve Got Too Much Cash in Their Bank Accounts

People Fear They’ve Got Too Much Cash in Their Bank Accounts

Donald Moore  Bloomberg July 31, 2020

(Bloomberg) -- The savers are getting restless.

Running out of guaranteed ways to get meaningful returns, some people are increasingly being tempted to raid their interest-earning cash savings to load up on assets such as bitcoin, gold and stocks. The comfortable, if small, returns of high-yield savings accounts are looking less palatable as volatile assets take off.

For a while, Brian Harrington, 28, had been satisfied with a high-yield savings account at Ally Bank, earning a risk-free 2%. Now, the marketing consultant in Anaheim, California, is planning to convert his remaining $15,000 in savings into bitcoin. He thinks the future is one of long-term economic stagnation and low rates.  “I’m not rooting for Doomsday,” he said. “But you have to keep searching for yields.”

The last few months have, in some respects, been a boon for account balances. Nationwide lockdowns enacted to slow the spread of Covid-19 have cut consumer spending, and stimulus checks arrived for millions of Americans. The personal savings rate rose to a record 32.2% in April. Mint, a financial planning platform, told Bloomberg that its customers deposited 16% more into their accounts between March and June compared with the same period last year.

There’s one problem: Now isn’t a great time to hold onto money.

It had become standard advice in personal-finance subreddits and Facebook groups to keep extra cash in high-yield savings accounts, but the rates on those have fallen steadily for the past year. Popular brands such as Ally and Marcus — the consumer arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — offered rates in July of 1% and 1.05%, respectively; both were over 2% a little over a year ago, when the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.

“Some banks will drag their feet a bit to stand out from the crowd, but they’re all working their way down,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, explaining the drop in returns across the board.  There’s no guarantee that yields for these accounts will rebound any time soon.  “The interest rates the Fed sets is a huge component, but it’s also related to the health of the overall economy,” said Anand Talwar, deposits and consumer strategy executive for Ally.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/people-fear-ve-got-too-091502928.html

10 Steps to Become a Millionaire in 5 Years (or Less)

10 Steps to Become a Millionaire in 5 Years (or Less)

Increase your income, lifestyle, and joy  Benjamin Hardy, PhD  Mar 23, 2019

It doesn’t matter where you currently are in your financial situation — whether just starting out or already making lots of money.  Most people, no matter what their income, are treading water. As a person’s income rises, so does their spending. Few people understand how to continually increase their income, lifestyle, and joy at the same time.

In this article, you will learn:

How to become wealthy

How to build a life that continually increases your level of confidence and joy

How to continually expand, learn, grow, and succeed as a person

How to develop mentorships, friendships, and strategic partnerships with nearly anyone you want

If these things are not interesting to you, then this article was not written for you.

Here’s how it works.

1. Create a wealth vision

“When riches begin to come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years.” — Napoleon Hill

Step one of becoming financially successful is to actually create a vision for yourself financially. Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Arden said creativity is more important than experience.

How much imagination do you have for your future?

Do you see huge potential and possibility for your life?

Or, do you see a pretty average life?

Creating a vision is an iterative process. You don’t just create a vision once and then never look at it again.

You continually create and write your vision — every single day.

Look at any area of your life in which you’re doing well, and you’ll find it’s because you see something beyond what you currently have. By that same token, look at any area of your life that isn’t exceptional, and you’ll find that you don’t see something beyond what you currently have.

Most people are living in and repeating the past.

Having a vision is focused on the future.

Your life and behavior immediately shift when you begin imagining a different future and stridently strive for it.

In order to do this, you must obliterate your need for consistency. From a psychological perspective, people generally feel the need to be viewed by others as consistent. This need causes people to retain behavioral patterns, environments, and relationships that are ultimately destructive and unsatisfying for far too long.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://medium.com/better-marketing/10-skills-to-becoming-a-millionaire-in-5-years-or-less-e16b8b20500c