Current issues with the market - Any ideas on avoiding the end?

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I have my own stock accounts and it drives him nuts, he thinks stocks are gay. He's got everything in savings, CDs etc. and the interest rates are frustratingly low. What do you do with your cash?
Diversifying isn't a bad idea, just make sure you're diversifying in a way you can handle. Sure, bonds and CDs might be good against downward pressure but what happens in the case of hard inflation like we're seeing now?

If you don't trust stocks or crypto, just set some money aside as your entertainment budget to put in those, so even if you do see a downturn it's money you can afford to lose and don't feel the need to withdraw.
 
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You sound like my husband, and it's a stand I appreciate. Whatever the fuck the world around us is doing, we're good, even though we are humble people.

I have my own stock accounts and it drives him nuts, he thinks stocks are gay. He's got everything in savings, CDs etc. and the interest rates are frustratingly low. What do you do with your cash?
What do I do with my Cash? As long as it is in a safe account, Nothing. But it gives me incredible leverage flexibility when I need to get things done. I have stated in the past I will use my wealth as a shield against those that would do harm. And like you I live modestly.

I've been there and done that and now I'm going to enjoy my life, because over the years I've earned enough tangible assets to make this happen. I plan to buy my last house in CASH... I then will buy my 1962-63 Lincoln with the suicide doors with cash as well. Both are Tangible assets and given time both will go up in value as well.

Work hard when you are young.... Work easy when you are old. I'm working easy now :)


IMHO you have to have a certain amount of cash to do things. As stated before I'm 65% income investments, 30% Cash, 5% Stocks. With Cash I can immediately buy more income investments or play the stock market or if there is an emergency I have it NOW. If I was younger it would have been 50% income investments 20 to 25% cash and 20 to 25% stocks. Age does play a critical point in investing.

When you are young you have the flexibility of youth. That is why I am HYPER Critical of people wasting their time and money away on things they DO NOT NEED BECAUSE THEY WANT IT NOW...


Next, I have "Oh Shit" Money I keep a small percentage on hand to deal with those emergencies that require cash. Yea I got great credit and that is used only as backup as I do not like credit card debt or any financial debt that does not benefit me. A good example of a good debt is taking the interest off of your mortgage for tax purposes.

Now the Stocks. I see no problem people playing this game. And I suggest you have a very diverse portfolio when you are dealing with stocks. If you are young (under 55 years of age) then go for it. You can be a bit riskier if you have money to play the stocks in your 30's to 40's, so if you take a loss you can recoup it later via time.

Just don't get fucking greedy. I've seen that happen too many times when they invest on the "sure" thing.

Right now at my age I have to be more conservative in what I do. 13 years ago I took a chance and got in and purchased some investment property and sweat equality it like I have done the rest. And it paid off handsomely.

My stocks ATM are Energy.
 
What do I do with my Cash? As long as it is in a safe account, Nothing. But it gives me incredible leverage flexibility when I need to get things done. I have stated in the past I will use my wealth as a shield against those that would do harm. And like you I live modestly.

I've been there and done that and now I'm going to enjoy my life, because over the years I've earned enough tangible assets to make this happen. I plan to buy my last house in CASH... I then will buy my 1962-63 Lincoln with the suicide doors with cash as well. Both are Tangible assets and given time both will go up in value as well.

Work hard when you are young.... Work easy when you are old. I'm working easy now :)


IMHO you have to have a certain amount of cash to do things. As stated before I'm 65% income investments, 30% Cash, 5% Stocks. With Cash I can immediately buy more income investments or play the stock market or if there is an emergency I have it NOW. If I was younger it would have been 50% income investments 20 to 25% cash and 20 to 25% stocks. Age does play a critical point in investing.

When you are young you have the flexibility of youth. That is why I am HYPER Critical of people wasting their time and money away on things they DO NOT NEED BECAUSE THEY WANT IT NOW...


Next, I have "Oh Shit" Money I keep a small percentage on hand to deal with those emergencies that require cash. Yea I got great credit and that is used only as backup as I do not like credit card debt or any financial debt that does not benefit me. A good example of a good debt is taking the interest off of your mortgage for tax purposes.

Now the Stocks. I see no problem people playing this game. And I suggest you have a very diverse portfolio when you are dealing with stocks. If you are young (under 55 years of age) then go for it. You can be a bit riskier if you have money to play the stocks in your 30's to 40's, so if you take a loss you can recoup it later via time.

Just don't get fucking greedy. I've seen that happen too many times when they invest on the "sure" thing.

Right now at my age I have to be more conservative in what I do. 13 years ago I took a chance and got in and purchased some investment property and sweat equality it like I have done the rest. And it paid off handsomely.

My stocks ATM are Energy.
Ur a fag
 
What do I do with my Cash? As long as it is in a safe account, Nothing. But it gives me incredible leverage flexibility when I need to get things done. I have stated in the past I will use my wealth as a shield against those that would do harm. And like you I live modestly.

I've been there and done that and now I'm going to enjoy my life, because over the years I've earned enough tangible assets to make this happen. I plan to buy my last house in CASH... I then will buy my 1962-63 Lincoln with the suicide doors with cash as well. Both are Tangible assets and given time both will go up in value as well.

Work hard when you are young.... Work easy when you are old. I'm working easy now :)


IMHO you have to have a certain amount of cash to do things. As stated before I'm 65% income investments, 30% Cash, 5% Stocks. With Cash I can immediately buy more income investments or play the stock market or if there is an emergency I have it NOW. If I was younger it would have been 50% income investments 20 to 25% cash and 20 to 25% stocks. Age does play a critical point in investing.

When you are young you have the flexibility of youth. That is why I am HYPER Critical of people wasting their time and money away on things they DO NOT NEED BECAUSE THEY WANT IT NOW...


Next, I have "Oh Shit" Money I keep a small percentage on hand to deal with those emergencies that require cash. Yea I got great credit and that is used only as backup as I do not like credit card debt or any financial debt that does not benefit me. A good example of a good debt is taking the interest off of your mortgage for tax purposes.

Now the Stocks. I see no problem people playing this game. And I suggest you have a very diverse portfolio when you are dealing with stocks. If you are young (under 55 years of age) then go for it. You can be a bit riskier if you have money to play the stocks in your 30's to 40's, so if you take a loss you can recoup it later via time.

Just don't get fucking greedy. I've seen that happen too many times when they invest on the "sure" thing.

Right now at my age I have to be more conservative in what I do. 13 years ago I took a chance and got in and purchased some investment property and sweat equality it like I have done the rest. And it paid off handsomely.

My stocks ATM are Energy.
Thank you for this reply. My husband made some shrewd decisions like you and he's also a frugal SOB - I know what to look for in a partner! My stock portfolio survived the 2008 and I can wait out whatever is going on for a couple decades with my boring as hell holdings, so I think we've got a nice combo of assets for when it's my turn to retire.

Scrolling through the Consoomer thread drives me crazy. Watching people speculate on hot stocks drives me crazy. Baring some kind of uncontrollable emergency, having a secure life is really quite simple, but it takes patience and self control.
 
Thank you for this reply. My husband made some shrewd decisions like you and he's also a frugal SOB - I know what to look for in a partner! My stock portfolio survived the 2008 and I can wait out whatever is going on for a couple decades with my boring as hell holdings, so I think we've got a nice combo of assets for when it's my turn to retire.

Scrolling through the Consoomer thread drives me crazy. Watching people speculate on hot stocks drives me crazy. Baring some kind of uncontrollable emergency, having a secure life is really quite simple, but it takes patience and self control.
Agree with you on your comments. The biggest thing that I have seen is the short term mentality on everything. It just does not work. It has been proven it just doesn't work... however people these days are so integrated to social media that they are lemmings to whatever influencers/corporations say to them.

Being Frugal is fine and it is highly suggested that you do this when you are young so in that way you can enjoy yourself when you get older.

Now Barring some kind of uncontrollable emergency comment. I've been through several, but again I thought long term.

I have long term care insurance. The best I could pick up when I was in my 30's. So instead of paying a massive medical bill, my long term care picked up the things that my normal insurance would not.

Such as Complete home care with nurse with NO expiration date. Expensive but most long care insurances now have only plans that will last at the most, 1 year. I plan to die in my bed, in my home instead of being carted away into some nursing facility.

Again this is long term planning. I would not be able to continue this if I thought Short term.

With accumulated wealth and how you approach it those uncontrollable emergencies that will take out a normal person,... it will have little or no effect to your bottom line.

Most of this is just common sense and a great deal of research on whatever you want to get yourself into.

In ending yes,... you and your husband are doing the right thing. That is how you accumulate real and true wealth that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
 
The closest analog is probably late 60s-mid 70s lost decade of stagflation. But the Fed rate wasn’t zero going into it. If they follow the interest rate regime of that era it would control inflation at the cost of popping the asset price bubble. If they keep rates the same it might lead to uncontrolled inflation, or maybe not if the economy magically fixes itself (not likely given world events). Perhaps price controls could stem the bleeding, but the effects of that could be worse than the other alternatives. Or something even more drastic, like a redenomination of the dollar…
 
Or something even more drastic, like a redenomination of the dollar…
Thoughts on Zoltan Pozsar's comments on "Bretton Woods III"?

"We are witnessing the birth of Bretton Woods III – a new world (monetary) order centered around commodity-based currencies in the East that will likely weaken the Eurodollar system and also contribute to inflationary forces in the West," Pozsar wrote in a research note.

Amid the unfolding crisis, Pozsar added that the turmoil — partly inspired by punitive Western sanctions against Russia — is enhancing the "allure" of other forms of money, the analyst noted.

"Bretton Woods II was built on inside money, and its foundations crumbled a week ago when the G7 seized Russia’s FX reserves," he added.

Digital tokens and crypto-related stocks have been largely tracking risk appetite in equities. Crypto-related names like Microstrategy (MSTR) (-7.6%), Coinbase (COIN) (-17%) and Marathon (MARA) (-14%) continue to sell off relative to BTC.

Changing just below $39,000 on Tuesday, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down 13% over the past week, but traded flat on the day. The global market cap for cryptocurrencies shed a staggering $4.3 billion overnight, and sits at $1.74 trillion according to asset research firm, Fundstrat.

The second largest cryptocurrency, ether (ETH-USD) has sold off 2% for the same period, down almost 15% loss over the past week. It's 24-hour put/call ratio has climbed to an 5-month high, according to Coinbase Skew, which signals bearish investors are emboldened.
“This crisis is not like anything we have seen since President Nixon took the U.S. dollar off gold in 1971 – the end of the era of commodity-based money," the economist said. And when the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends, the analyst called for a “much weaker” U.S. dollar — and a stronger Chinese renminbi — supported by a basket of commodities.

“‘Money’ will never be the same again,” Pozsar wrote, “and Bitcoin (if it still exists then) will probably benefit from all this.”

 
What do I do with my Cash? As long as it is in a safe account, Nothing. But it gives me incredible leverage flexibility when I need to get things done. I have stated in the past I will use my wealth as a shield against those that would do harm. And like you I live modestly.

I've been there and done that and now I'm going to enjoy my life, because over the years I've earned enough tangible assets to make this happen. I plan to buy my last house in CASH... I then will buy my 1962-63 Lincoln with the suicide doors with cash as well. Both are Tangible assets and given time both will go up in value as well.
Cash is great when there's a liquidity crunch, like in March 2020, because you can use that cash to purchase great stocks at firesale prices. The monetary policies of our governments make holding cash disadvantageous since they try to keep inflation at 2%. It's especially bad now with inflation being 6-10%. Your strategy of paying houses/cars with cash is bad advice, at this moment, because inflation is something you want when you have debt. Buying with cash is something you do with high interest rates. You can thank the federal reserve. I expect high inflation for the rest of the year, but will be watching the fed for surprise actions. (Their default seems to be follow the 2-year treasury.)

ATM my positions are mostly commodities, which are doing very well since Russian-Ukrainian war started, but that's pure luck, and there's some crazy volatility right now. Recession seems close given a lot of indicators. With EM as beaten up as it is, it looks to be an attractive buy (unless China starts a war with Taiwan 🎰).
 
I'm still trying to figure out how to predict the feds. My bets were hedged on the US government staying out of Ukraine and ignoring the economically useless shithole. Instead, they responded by sanctioning a major source of key commodities and a non-negligible trading partner. If we are to assume that the US government is controlled by ideologues, I'm having a tough time deciding what's the best place to put my money. The SP500 might be safe but meta and other key constituents are intent on committing suicide on behalf of the glowies. Commodities could be a good place, but they're volatile as fuck and a dangerous hold. As prices increase, previously unprofitable mines become profitable to tap and the prices start to regulate.

How do I predict the behavior of those who appear to work against their own economic interests? Aside from investing in WWE champions of course.
 
How do I predict the behavior of those who appear to work against their own economic interests? Aside from investing in WWE champions of course.
Unironically why I am holding GALA Tokens and video gayme stonks. Even if the world burns retards will still blow their rent money on neon pixels
 
If they follow the interest rate regime of that era it would control inflation at the cost of popping the asset price bubble. If they keep rates the same it might lead to uncontrolled inflation
Inflation targeting is a relatively new invention from the 1990s; recall that the marginal repo rate in the 80s was like 20%, but the real rate was, of course, much lower. Historically, it floated anywhere between 5 and 20% until the Fed implicitly started targeting inflation (and explicitly since 2012).

Inflation is expensive; the menu costs and sticky wages/prices can fuck with your economy in unpredictable ways. In the 80s, it was very normal to get a 10% cost of living adjustment per year regardless of your position, but these days most people see a 2,3% raise as a formality and depending on your seniority, you may be making $150k/yr and asking your COO for a cost of living increase will make you look like a rank amateur.

Now, as for what could happen... you're right about the stagflation. The two key ingredients are:
  1. Supply shock, such as a sudden increase in the price of oil or meat or lumber or labor... I hear Target is paying $25/hr in some places.
  2. Fiscal policies that have increased the money supply, such as--oh, I don't know--massive quantitative easing so the government could give everyone trillions of dollars, despite interest rates near-zero and a white-hot investment market with historic returns
If there's going to be stagflation, this is the absolute most perfect environment for it, only we don't have the tools to fix it because we blew our load all over the face of the average American taxpayer before we'd even had any foreplay, like an actual recession. Every Western government massively overreacted in March 2020, cancelled their stock market corrections, and now they don't have any room to fix the real recession. Hello price-wage spiral; goodbye 401k...
Perhaps price controls could stem the bleeding, but the effects of that could be worse than the other alternatives.
Price controls at this point would cause absolute chaos. You'd end up with Soviet-style corruption, a massive surveillance state to enforce it and more black markets than you could shake a stick at. This isn't the 1970s; we are a country that barely produces anything except video games, tv shows and shitty app startups...you can put all the price controls you want in place, but suppliers won't be able to compete for imports anymore and you're going to end up buying gas from the mafia for $50/gallon.

Some idiot wrote an article in the New York Times advocating for price controls (do they still have editors, because not having any is the only way I can see that getting published) and even Paul Krugman called him a dangerous moron on Twitter (and then deleted and apologized for his Tweet, because the champagne socialists started coming out of the woodwork). It's that bad of an idea, and the worst part is that I can see the tranny clown car we call the Biden Administration doing it.
And when the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends, the analyst called for a “much weaker” U.S. dollar — and a stronger Chinese renminbi — supported by a basket of commodities.
I agree with the weaker dollar, but China fucks with its currency, which is a shame because they really don't have to at this point--they have the manufacturing and population base to support a reasonable value. China also doesn't respect WTO rules, meaning its government can fuck with whatever country attempts to use it as a reserve currency--it could cancel an entire series of bills or refuse to allow foreign holdings of RMB to enter its banking system and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's also rife with government sponsored fraud.

Resource-based currencies like the Canadian dollar or Norwegian Krone, or--to a lesser extent--the Australian dollar, will probably do quite well vs. the US pairing once they get their production back up to pre-pandemic levels. Unfortunately, they too threw money at their citizens, so they too may experience a price-wage spiral which will exacerbate the supply issues.
 
I believe the article about price controls in the New York Times was an opinion piece. So I would not put any weight on this. A lot of newspapers are opting out into giving a broad range of views an avenue. Sometimes that's retarded for sure. But that's how minority views get some publicity. Hell, even people that denied or downplayed the risks of smoking/second hand smoke regularly got their views published. So why not some economic autism?

I am still mostly in the stock market. I play the long game (still 35+ years) and assume that the supply issues will fix themselves within the next few years. I put a higher focus on renewable energy manufacturers since the EU clearly learnt their lesson when it comes to energy dependency.

I am more interested in the outcome of the Ukraine - Russian conflict. I was surprised that Russia is apparently struggling to keep a country like Ukraine under control. Now reports from the US are out that they asked China for military assistance in form of vehicles and so on. Maybe it is just the US trying to shit on China but the US reports so far were accurate, including the reports of the coming invasion.
I wonder what is going to be Chinas stand on it. Will they support a mediocre military effort and for what? Maybe Russia will get so indebted to China that Russia is fucked for decades to come, just a puppet of China. And I think we know how China handles it's business in Africa.

So I think broad market investments are still a good bet for the long term. Maybe a bit more defensive for stocks of the typical household goods providers and of course renewable energy manufacturers as well as suppliers of trains and railroad equipment. I think these will get some boost from the aforementioned dependence of oil. Companies that manufacture insulating materials or heat pumps as well.
 
I am still mostly in the stock market. I play the long game (still 35+ years) and assume that the supply issues will fix themselves within the next few years. I put a higher focus on renewable energy manufacturers since the EU clearly learnt their lesson when it comes to energy dependency.
I should clarify that I too have not changed my investment strategy, except I took about 75k in profits in December just to have some cash to deploy (owie ouchie oof inflation y u do dis?). My portfolio is "growth-oriented", but I couldn't tell you exactly what's in it as it's managed externally--it's about what you'd expect only with private equity replacing a good chunk of growth stocks.

As they say, pigs get fed, but hogs get slaughtered.
So I think broad market investments are still a good bet for the long term. Maybe a bit more defensive for stocks of the typical household goods providers and of course renewable energy manufacturers as well as suppliers of trains and railroad equipment. I think these will get some boost from the aforementioned dependence of oil.
No reason you shouldn't. Oil will be back sooner rather than later. Domestic production of shale or oilsand oil is way below capacity and this latest thing should kick everyone into high gear. Trains can't do what trucks can; especially in the US. I dunno; you could be right; this may be the financial equivalent of "nothing ever happens".
 
I wonder what is going to be Chinas stand on it. Will they support a mediocre military effort and for what? Maybe Russia will get so indebted to China that Russia is fucked for decades to come, just a puppet of China. And I think we know how China handles it's business in Africa.
China knows their reputation in the West has been trashed with Chairman Xi's "Wolf Warrior Diplomacy", treatment of Uyghurs, China's debt trap-laden foreign investment as competitor to Western debt traps like the IMF, the fuckery in Wuhan, etc. Foreign investment has been fleeing since they're becoming too expensive for cheap labor.

Russia is pretty much a natural partner to China since they have resources but sparse population while China has population but increasingly few resources. And don't forget, China's nuclear arsenal is much smaller and very possibly could not "win" a nuclear war with the US (although they'd cause unprecedented damage). IIRC China's nuclear policy was always aimed at competing with India rather than the West. Russia's nuclear arsenal is still huge and could cause mutual annihilation with the US.
No reason you shouldn't. Oil will be back sooner rather than later. Domestic production of shale or oilsand oil is way below capacity and this latest thing should kick everyone into high gear. Trains can't do what trucks can; especially in the US. I dunno; you could be right; this may be the financial equivalent of "nothing ever happens".
EVs are a rapidly expanding market and subsidies/research for renewables are strong and ongoing. Like it or not, that's what governments and financers are throwing their money at.
 
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