Fill your brain with some goodness and read some of these recommended articles on debt, investing, health, time management, and other interesting tidbits to give you a leg up in life.
Simplify your life. Find your truth. Work towards your goals.
Financial Planning
- A little insight that deals with financial planning and health/longevity. There are more reasons to delay retirement (or at least re-think retirement). Perhaps the advice for us should be, “Keep working, just allow yourself to work on things that are important to you or that you enjoy doing.” You can do that if you are financially stable. If you aren’t, then it probably means a lifetime of jobs that you hate doing but you have to keep doing them because your finances are a mess – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/japanese-doctor-and-longevity-expert-who-lived-until-105-dont-retire.html
- So we know this much to be true – most investors are not that smart and behave terribly at both ends of the extremes of greed and fear. They buy when they should be selling and the sell when they should be buying. This has been going on for generations and its doubtful it will ever change as “humans will be humans.” If you believe that the principles of investing are “buy low and sell high” and then acknowledging that we are at extreme price levels of asset valuations, you would think people would be lining up to cash out, sell and banks the cash? But no…it’s quite the opposite. Investors are pouring money into the very assets that are at extreme price valuations. Buy high, hope they go higher, then sell when they crash – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/surge-in-investor-cash-to-stocks-triggers-more-melt-up-fears.html
Debt
- Student loan debt is now equal to that of high-yield junk bond market. Both clock in at over $1.3 trillion of debt outstanding. The issue right at the moment is that student loan default rates are rising with no end in sight – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-05/student-loans-raise-other-risks-as-debt-equals-u-s-junk-market
- Three steps to tame your debt in an hour or less – Check out this article from USA TODAY: – https://usat.ly/2B5e85C
Investments/Valuations
- If you don’t read and learn from John Hussman, then you are missing out on one of the best minds that independently values Wall Street and markets. His insights and math driven models are incredibly useful for any value based investor – https://www.hussmanfunds.com/comment/mmc171204/
- Valuation metrics show that mid-cap and small cap stocks are now the most expensive in market history exceeding levels of the tech-bubble – http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-05/small-caps-are-now-more-expensive-peak-tech-bubble
- Vanguard founder Jack Bogle predicts bad times ahead for U.S. pensions due to inflated equity valuations and low interest rates. It’s a horrible combination that will lead to pain ahead. That doesn’t even account for any major meltdown over the next 10 years which is a high probable event given the extreme valuations that we currently have in equity markets – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-07/vanguard-s-bogle-sees-pension-pain-in-decade-of-3-bond-returns
- One of the most successful investors of all time, Stanley Druckenmiller warns of assets bubbles all around us. Will investors listen (Nope…) – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/druckenmiller-central-banks-are-financial-worlds-darth-vader-creating-exploding-asset-bubbles.html
- There is overwhelming evidence that we are heading for a cliff in financial markets. Will investors take note as we approach our third bubble in less than 20 years? It’s doubtful. Investors will lose their shirts, Wall Street firms will adjust tactics, everybody will look for blame, but nobody will take responsibility for all the evidence that was right in front of them. There’s no need to look for evidence of a bubble if you are so personally vested in fairy tales, hopes, dreams, and wishes. – https://www.marketwatch.com/story/theres-overwhelming-evidence-that-the-us-stock-market-is-heading-for-disaster-2017-12-05
Macro
- You are just not prepared for what’s coming and most people have no idea what is coming. It’s all good times, fun and games when markets scream higher in unleashed bull markets fueled by central banks. But the second half of the cycle is so brutal and ruthless that the upside just isn’t worth the downside unless you are in the top 1% of global wealth. The average person is the one that feels the pain – https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/113504/youre-just-not-prepared-what’s-coming
- An interesting look at real economic growth metrics in the U.S. economy over the last ten years. If you yourself are saying to yourself, “This stock market just doesn’t add up to the real underlying data other than central bank stimulus,” then this article may help confirm your suspicions – https://dailyreckoning.com/the-illusion-of-growth/
- An inside look at global macro risks due to low volatility, massive debt, and investors ignoring valuation metrics believing that central banks will always be there to provide a backstop to their paper profits – http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-25/citis-shocking-admission-there-growing-fear-among-central-bankers-theyve-lost-contro
- IMF making note of how fragile China’s financial system is. That’s what happens when your growth is based upon on mountain of debt bigger than the economy itself. We know what eventually happens in these scenarios – KABOOM!!! – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/06/imf-financial-sector-stability-assessment-report-on-china-banking-system.html
- The hard part for every investor at this moment of history is assessing just how manipulated markets have become and what are the limits of central bank manipulation. Quantitative Easing has been running at massive levels for years, adding liquidity, encouraging debt and buying actual assets around the world regardless of price. Can this last forever and if not, when will it stop? – https://realinvestmentadvice.com/a-question-for-every-investor/
- Hedge Funds continue to close or shut down as investors flock to passive investing during bubble markets confusing “brains” with a bull market. This will all come full circle once the rug is pulled out from under passive investors who blindly buy regardless of price or use robo-advisors to allocate capital. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/passports-flagship-fund-to-close-after-unacceptable-returns.html
Health
- We are entering the age of technology where we will no longer need organ transplants. We will be able to produce new organs on demand through stem cells or 3D biological printing – https://futurism.com/artificial-organs-entering-era-transplants-obsolete/
- An extreme diet resulted in 86% of Type-2 Diabetes patients reversing their disease proving that diet alone could be a game changer – http://www.sciencealert.com/extreme-diet-reverse-type-2-diabetes-up-to-86-patients-remission-weight
- Resveratrol and a lab generated similar chemical compound shows promise in anti-aging process – https://flipboard.com/article/scientific-breakthrough%3F-experts-find-way-to-reverse-aging/f-6ea75bbfbb%2Ffoxnews.com
- There really is a connection between your gut and your brain. So when people say, “Listen to your gut,” you probably should. – https://ideas.ted.com/a-scientist-explores-the-mysteries-of-the-gut-brain-connection/