A Preppers’ “Investment Mindset”
Many have money in the bank, but their food pantry is bankrupt. Others waste money on consumer “status symbols”, yet are unable to protect their loved ones! Having a holistic mindset of “no weak links” in your preparedness is key. Often we are attacked when we are weak, or in our weak areas. Why have 12 months of food, but only one week of water? Why invest in “stuff” and not have skills? Also, many times will beats skill, but what about the person that is squared away in all things in their life? We are preparing for life, not just a disaster. How many people over the age of 50 regretted having food storage? NONE! How many people that had a life-challenge regretted being debt free?!?
Why have preparedness items (food, water, hygene, survival gear) and not be able to protect it?!?
I have found that I have a pretty unique view on resource prioritization, planning for everyday life & planning for life’s disasters (common and uncommon).
I often joke that I invest in “copper & lead” AKA FMJ & HP ammunition. Seriously though, we need to use “tools & planning” to ensure our futures. Failing to plan for your future financial posture; means you plan to fail.
Lets talk about real diversity of investments(not putting all your eggs in one basket). To me, I group stocks, bonds, mutual funds & index 500 funds all into the same bucket. There are many “experts” that would have you drain your retirement funds and try something “radical”, that they happen to benefit by. My solution for you is a rational, disciplined, hard-work and planning!
I recently read, “The Millionaire next door” and “The Richest Man in Babylon“. One key thing I learned is not to isolate your children from adversity, otherwise they will not know how to overcome difficulty; and always be fearful of hard things. Do NOT provide “family welfare”, it ruins them (at least until they are matured).
I recommend you play “Cashflow” with your family/kids.
I HIGHLY recommend both books. Seems each author is “jaded” towards their “investment pet”. You must PLAN and structure your life so you can save a minimum of 10% of your income. Again, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail (Benjamin Franklin).”
Phase1: Structure your life with a budget, so you live within your means (spending LESS than you make–seems so unAmerican 😉 — Having Financial Independence is REAL FREEDOM! (Freedom FROM and Freedom TO).
Phase2: Debt is Cancer, Kill it! Seriously, you are shortening your life and destroying your current/future happiness with debt! “Things” don’t give you real comfort, having a rainy day fund helps you sleep better at night! (Priceless!).
Becoming debt free! wow, I’d say this is one of my all time best investments! I breath easier, sleep better, live life happier! It helps me be a better husband and father too!
Also, think about your ROI on paying off your credit cards! Find me somewhere you can make more than 15-20% ROI from! Paying off a credit card, saves you 15-20%! And its not a maybe ether!
Phase3: START TODAY saving 10% of your income. Don’t touch it until you have 3-6 months of expenses! Anything above 6 months can be invested.
Phase4: Investing. Whatever you choose to invest in, your focus is on “not losing your principle”, secondary is increasing your investment. AKA Return of Principle vs return on investment (ROI).
INVESTMENT VEHICLES:
I’m almost 40, and I’ve seen a lot of “scams” come & go. I’ve made money & I’ve lost money. The following are some traditional and non-traditional investment vehicles; each with their own pros/cons.
MY PET, of course is” Copper & Lead, Blue Steel and Stainless steel. I have a major case of “Black Rifle Disease” (BRD), in case you couldn’t tell 😉
PROS of “Firearms” as an “Investment”:
1) Firearms have an inverse value to the stock market; meaning when stocks tank and the world seems to be tanking, gun value is at a premium.
2) Most importantly, Guns can and do save your life! When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away! No matter how much money you have made in your lifetime, when monsters attack your family; if you do not have the training & means to protect what matters most to you(your family), then you have failed! Do NOT fail to protect your family!
3) Guns are fun and teach responsibility & discipline.
4) Guns are a hedge against the worst of times. I can not think of anything more valuable than a good person armed and trained during an extended emergency! Why buy food/water before buying a gun? That food/water will be taken from you without a gun. Buy the gun first, then acquire food/water; otherwise you are extending the life of monsters so they can attack other good people!
5) Guns are a remarkably liquid asset, so long as the govt doesn’t mess things up, you can sell a gun within 72 hours for cash or trade.
Investing in Training/education etc:
Education and IT certifications has been pretty good to me and has helped me provide and protect my family. But, I’m getting the impression that college is another govt-scam. A 4year degree seems like graduating from high school these days! I have a BS, MS and half a Phd. I’d say its been worth the time & effort for me because I didn’t have over a year of school-loans!, I wouldn’t recommend a Phd for everyone 😉
Again, why even own a gun if you don’t have professional training to go along with it! BE ARMED AND TRAINED! Its fun, it gives you confidence in all aspects of your life, you meet awesome people/friends–but above all if (WHEN) thugs attack you, you can protect yourself. Also, if there is a long-term emergency, you can team-up with your neighbors to protect your neighborhood.
Gun Training/defense training has been VERY beneficial to me and my family.
Investing in Guns & Ammo has also been a very good investment. Its hard for me to diversify away from Guns & Ammo. Its a solid investment unless you shoot the ammo 😉 (WORTH IT when you are at Professional Firearms training like www.MarksmanshipMatters.com
Investing in Real-estate:
Real estate has been HORRIBLE for me. TWO properties pretty much hosed me for at least a decade! I’m still trying to recover. It hurts me to see my family & kids suffer because of my poor choices in this regard.
Investing in Multi-level-marketing (MLM) and other scams:
I got a taste of a MLM when I was in my 20s, and it really made me sour for them…for the rest of my life. You can talk to me until you are blue in the face, I just don’t trust nor like MLMs…period. They seem to give you something…for nothing.
Other scams that come to mind:
1) govt-scam social security
2) govt-scam health insurance
3) anything that comes after govt-scam…
Investing in Traditional Markets:
The Stock Market has been “ok” for me, I put all my money into a money market a few months before the market tanked in 2007/2008 and I’ve not been really into the “Market” since the socialist took over our country. Recall 2007/2008 was the market “adjusting” to the socialist govt take over! The market lost 57% of its value!
In 1999 when I began my professional career, I got stock options & participated in Employee Stock Purchase Plan; where you buy stock at a big discount, and then resale it. That worked out ok, but then I learned I could sale the “silly stock” and buy guns 🙂
My thought is, inflation is a “hidden” tax imposed by the govt AKA Fed. Many try to use the stock market to out-pace inflation. I think they are playing the stocks at Las Vegas. Sooner or later, they will lose big time!
401ks and other similar programs are “The Most Controled” money on the planet! It almost always makes sense to do an ROTH IRA (pay the taxes now). Think about it, we KNOW taxes are going up! Why not lock-in a “tax rate” now and not have to pay in the future. I’m happy to double my money by having my employer’s match. But I do NOT go above the match. I don’t feel it necessary to put my money and my employer’s money at risk in the market (taken over by the socialist).
See my friend John Pugliano’s article on “Investing in markets”.”So what am I doing? As noted in a previous article, I took profits early and for now remain mostly in cash, patiently observing market conditions.”
http://www.investablewealth.com/first-quarter-closes-flat/
John is an expert in markets, I trust him because he has that prepper mindset.
Investing in Food:
FOOD – inflation on food has been about 20-30% EACH year (don’t believe the CPlie (CPI))! imagine the return on investment of making 20%!!!
Its hard to waste money on food, assuming you eat what you store and store what you eat! Buy 2-3 of everything you are already buying for food!
Investing in your posterity:
So many delegate or offshore the raising of their children! Think about the growth opportunities missed by hiring someone to take care of your yard (when your children need to learn how to work). Or, delegating the education of your children to a govt-school teacher! Not that teachers are bad, but they are trying to work within a socialist-education system; with high-cost, low-quality, high-corruption and low-freedom (All socialist systems have those attributes).
Investing in my children non-govt school education (yeah, socialist education is another govt-scam!), but man I love to see my children grow and learn the things I never learned. Think of the things (bad/good) you learned from govt schools? Really…anything worth while? Now think of the things you learned from your parents and those that love you! I’m really trying to teach my kids to be self-sufficient and be successful in life (BY BEING HAPPY!)
Investing in Precious Metals:
Silver being at 60 units to 1 unit of Gold, instead of 16:1, means that silver is under valued…or Gold is over valued.
Do NOT invest in precious metals, until you read this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Advisors-Investing-Financial/dp/0446510998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396804666&sr=8-1&keywords=rich+dads+advisor+silver
The pros of Silver are as follows:
1) Hedge against many risks. Do NOT invest over 20-30% of your wealth in Precious Metals.
2) off-grid, anonymous “value” (see also bit coin!)
3) long-term holdings.
Investing in Permaculture:
Permaculture is our only hope for the future, IMO. It’s the only way to beat the looters and to safeguard your way of life from the looters (the looters of today in govt & the future looters that would steal your gear you need to survive).
Organize your life, business, home, garden and education based on Permaculture principles!
Wealth Building Cottage meeting
I recently hosted a cottage meeting with John Pugliano of investablewealth.com and I’m NOW “converted” into leveraging the stock market.
John has an excellent podcast! http://www.wealthsteading.com/
Here are my notes from the cottage meeting.
Why is money management so important? Because studies show that ½ divorces are related to money…or intimacy. Consequences of money mismanagement 10x years==very hard consequences to you and your family.
Realities of a “auction” of consumers w/o savings because of job loss or other life-event-disaster.
3 phases of money management.
Phase 1 – debt free
Phase 2 – 10% saving until 6 month of emergency fund, then move to phase 3. But NEVER touch your emergency fund…unless its an emergency.
Phase 3 – Return on investment. Passive income greater than expenses.
Questions:
Q:What is a commonly accepted 20 year avg of ROI on Index 500?
A:6-8%
Q:How much did Index 500 drop in BO crash of 2007?
A: 57%
Q: Assuming our house is paid for, how much should we plan for retirement?
A: 1-2 million depending on individual circumstances. John suggested that I have 2 million upon retiring.
Strategies on being disciplined? Americans consume because prices are going up & buying power is going down! No good ROI on money. We are Social Engineered to consume…not save.
Weird what happens in your mind when you know you can get 15% ROI…vs .0001% ROI. Easy debt from the govt vs private capital investment. Who owns who?
Pros/cons of investment vehicles.
-preps – food/gear/water/sanitation/defense
-permaculture
-stock market
-foreign currency exchange
-realestate
-small business/side business. IE buy $500 of leather, turn that into $5,000…with skill & labor
-Over funding a universal life insurance. AKA maximum funded tax advantage. AKA Missed fortune.
A: If it sounds complicated and they are making money off you, do NOT trust them.
– Roth IRA – employer match 100% of 6%…into a money market account vs stock market.
Scenarios.
ONE – socialist take over…consequences in the stock market
100k in 2005 invested in the market. Blindly dollar cost avg adding to Index 500…doing what the financial liers say.
How much money do you have in 2015? 10y later?
If you lose 50% in one year. after 10y, you have 89k!…assuming 6% ROI..except that 1 year where you lost 50%.
TWO-credit card debt. instant 17% ROI
5,000 in credit card debt. paying ONLY minimum payment.
How much will you owe in 10years?
THREE: 250,000 house. 15 year loan vs 30 year loan. 1% lower on 15y. 15y…no mortgage insurance.
250k 30y 4.5%. payment 1266+200 for tax and home owners insurance. plus 150 for mortgae insurance. Total 1617. Total financing charges 206k!
10y later you owe 200k
250k 15y 3.5%, pmt 1787, junk fees (tax/ins), total= 1987.. total financing charges 71k!
10y later you owe 96k!
cost diff. between 30 vs 15y. 2000-1600=$400.
plug in your numbers:
Home Mortgage calculator
psychology of wealth
**saving
**basic investing principles
**pay smallest debt first
qualitative not quantitative–human nature
law of 72
72/10=7.2 interest –amount of time or amount of money
72/6=12 years –6% interest.
80% of millionaire in america are approx 50 years old, they live next door, 1 wife. Typically 1 house and 1 wife. House swapping and divorces are expensive!
Build framework of:
–take 20% profits
–limit losses to 8%
don’t buy stocks during confirmed downtrends
consider selling stocks during market turbulence
BUILDING WEALTH
-apprentice –7 years to master
-business model (entrepreneur)– make money off skill. takes the risk, get reward.
-investment income–
Summary of key-take-aways:
Once you are debt free, saving 10% of your income until you have a 3-6 months of expenses (emergency fund). Then you can sock that 10% into a money market account. Once you have 50k, then buy Index 500 when the stock market is down. Sell when the Index 500 is flat or nearing highs (like it currently is), then go to cash (money market).
So, I’ve had a mix for my ROTH IRA of 85% money market, 15% index 500. I put everything into a money market because I believe the stock market is unjustifiably high & BO Insurance (AKA unhealth care) among many other things, like every tax payer will pay 1.1 Million for future unfunded “social justice” programs. AKA unconstitutional programs.
When the market corrects and is near the bottom, I will convert the money market and buy index 500. When I make 20%, I’ll convert to money market again.
My key take-aways is…be debt free. build a frame work where you are saving 10%. Once you have 50k (self advisement) 250k(hire John to manage) put that money to work for you. The return of the principle is more important than the return on investment 🙂
Watch the Index 500(and/or read John’s blog) , when it peaks or levels off…go to cash. When its bottomed out, convert the cash to index 500.
How NOT to lose your savings in the stock market
Principles taught by John Pugliano of wealthsteading & investable wealth
The index 500 fund within our retirement is called:
Vanguard Institutional Index Instl Pl http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/VIIIX/quote.html
The money market is a bit easier to identify:
Vanguard Prime Money Market Instl
Most of us have had a nice ride up the past 4 years (2011-2015), take your profits early and protect your principle.
The simpletons buy & hold and have dollar cost avg, but if you listen to John’s podcast, you’ll be able to swing trade and not lose 20-30% and be able to make 20+%
http://www.wealthsteading.com/category/wealth-building-principle/
I suggest you read this article from John.
http://www.investablewealth.com/swing-trading-in-one-chart/
by following the 50 day moving avg & 200 day moving avg, you would have missed out on all the times the market really tanked.
Here is my chart I watch…almost daily.
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5EGSPC+Interactive#{“showArea”:false,”lineColor”:”#000000″,”lineWidth”:”4″,”showSma”:true,”smaColors”:”#38761d,#e69138,#ff0000,#9900ff”,”smaPeriods”:”5,10,50,100″,”smaWidths”:”1,1,1,1″,”smaGhosting”:”0,0,0,0″,”lineType”:”line”,”range”:”1mo”,”allowChartStacking”:true}
I was lucky enough to be in a money market BEFORE 2007 crash!
