The Building Wealth Blog
Recession Proof Your Life Part 4
October 30, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
This is the 4th of 5 parts in my blog series on Recession Proof Your Life. This segment contains the final item regarding the Best Job In The World (the one you have!) and how not to lose it. It has to do with a generally valuable and ubiquitous skill that can be used in all different areas of your life, learning how to handle conflict (something I could have done better at in any number of jobs I have had, by the way).
Learn How to Handle Conflict - Face it, the workplace is full of people not all of whom have you on their Christmas card list. The following few points will help you emerge intact from the high tension environments of general chaos, layoffs and the always present possibilities of interpersonal warfare should they arise. With the number of mergers already underway and more bank failures and challenges to come, there will be plenty of conflict to come as everyone scrambles to cover their own butt. You need to be ready for it. Read more
Recession Proof Your Life Part 3
October 29, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
Part 3 of my 5 part series on Recession Proof Your Life contains some guidance on keeping the best job in the world … the one you have!
I will argue against that being true in the long run (see Part 4 of this series), but if you are currently gainfully employed, good for you. Let’s assume for the moment that you want to keep your job. This is generally a good choice, particularly in troubled economic waters.
There are 6 things you can do to have increase your chances of keeping that job. The first 5 are listed below. Item 6 is pretty long and will be included in Part 4 of this series.
- Add Value. This is a business.Your boss, and his boss and however far up it goes to the top are there because in theory, they are a part of a much bigger system that actually produces a profit for the owners/shareholders.If you can figure out how to pull it off, become indispensable. Know how to do things (expertise with a particular piece of software, machinery or relationship with a customer). Show that you can multi-task. Take on additional responsibilities, especially where there is the opportunity to learn (and become the expert: see previous point made above). Read more
Mark T. Rafter on the Radio at KBS
October 28, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
A short while back, I was a guest on the Wayne and Jayne Show on KBS out of British Columbia (yes, there are people up there too… maybe they go moose hunting with Sarah Palin?).
I forgot to post this right after it happened but … better late than never.
You can listen to the interview on the their blog.
Silver and Gold
October 28, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
The warden says,
the exit is sold,
If you want a way out - silver and gold.
Silver and gold.-from Silver and Gold by U2
I keep telling people to buy gold (and silver … which I think will have a longer term upside as the Au/Ag ratio is way skewed to the high side right now). After I pronounce this small piece of now seemingly commonplace investing wisdom, I will usually get asked one of two questions (or both):
1) Yeah, but why do they keep going DOWN?
2) I have tried to buy gold (or silver) and cant find it anywhere without it being 30-50% above the spot market price.
Precious metals are getting crushed like everything else by hedge fund deleveraging. These funds are having to dump everything of value to meet their margin calls (paying back borrowed money they have plowed into stocks, etc. that are now way down in value). Mostly they are dumping paper contracts to buy gold and Read more
Free Financial Literacy and Business Training Courses
October 27, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
This is a quick post to let anyone who is reading my blog to have access to this really cool blog posting that I found today. It is a collection of free resources/courseware (lectures, problems. white papers) from leading universities (MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, etc.) on entrepreneurship, business and finances. They range from good, everyday guidance and info to more esoteric stuff which is of questionable value to anyone but a rocket scientist.
But, it’s all free and chance to get something from the leading educational institutions without selling your first born.
You can find it all at this entry from the Cultivate Greatness blog.
Recession Proof Your Life Part 2
October 23, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · 1 Comment
Part 2 of my 5 part series on Recession Proof Your Life contains a variety of guidelines on what you can do to protect your finances and manage the money you have when the economy is looking grim. In Part 3 we will discuss how you keep the income coming in so you actually have money to manage (and buy food, shelter, gas … things like that which we have become used to).
There are 8 different things to do to manage and protect your current financial situation.
- Set Up an Emergency Fund. Most financial advisor recommend having three to six months’ worth of living expenses held in savings or a money market account. In the event that you lose your job (we’ll talk about how to avoid that in just a little bit), you don’t want to end up tapping your investments or relying on credit cards. For most people, it’s pretty hard to put the money away all at once (and even harder to keep your hands off of it). If you do a little at a time, adding to it no matter what, you’ll sleep better at night knowing that you have a cushion. This is no different than the ongoing philosophy of ‘paying yourself first’ that you hear with regards to saving money for the future. Except now you really need to do it. Read more
Recession Proof Your Life Part 1
October 20, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · 1 Comment
I was actually out doing various speaking programs on this subject back in the beginning of 2008.
No one wanted to listen to me, “Mr. Gloom and Doom”.
Yeah, you know what? Reality bites … can you hear me now?
This is the first of five parts of an article I wrote in January 2008 summarizing the material from my talks.
———————-With just about every financial prognosticator coming around to the view of “not if, but when” the US economy will be in a recession, now is time to take action. Waiting until the next few quarters of economic growth have confirmed that a recession is upon us, lumps you in with the rest of the crowd. Just like any good investment, you want to get in on it before everyone else figures out what’s going on.
This Article is organized into 5 parts. Part 1 briefly discusses the mechanics behind the current economic situation and just what a recession is (kinda boring but if you don’t know, read it anyway). Part 2 contains a variety of guidelines on what you can do to protect your finances and manage the money you have when the economy is looking grim. Part 3 discusses strategies for keeping your current job (if you are lucky enough to have one). Part 4 gets into one of my specialties: helping you to thrive. Wouldn’t you like to be in the situation of not only being unconcerned about what is going in the broader economy but actively excited and anticipating these changes and the opportunities they will present? I thought so. The fifth and final part will provide you with a list of resources that you will find useful as you make some decisions – both near term (tactical) and long term (strategic) – about your future.
What Is a Recession Anyway?
That’s when your neighbor loses his job (a depression on the other hand, is when you lose your job). Read more
Good for Stocks, Bad for Real Estate
October 17, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
As I was noting the possibility of in my previous post, I think we hit the double bottom and can expect the stock market to trend upwards for awhile. Could only be a few months, could be the better part of the next 12 months. Who knows.
Thank God … whereas I am only down (as of today) just over 10% in 2008, that’s a big enough number for me to be pissed off about it. I have bet heavily on physical precious metals and the ETFs that hold them. Yesterday’s brutal ~$50 drop in gold and a commensurate % drop in Silver has been killing me (and it continues today). Goes back to hedge funds deleveraging and other conspiracy theories which I think will settle out and result in a huge run in gold and silver.
I am indeed holding my breathe … this is not for sissies. Turning blue that is … Read more
The Stock Market Conundrum
October 16, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
…is driving me nuts. Anyone else out there feeling the same way? It appears to be trying for a double bottom (factoring in last Friday’s disaster). This would be a good thing according to the die hard chart guys. Truly, if we can rally into the end of the day (the Dow and S&P averages are already up off their lows), this would be a good sign for the near term, maybe into next year … who knows.
My general opinion is that even if we do rally today and into the rest of the year (even early next year) we are still in for a nasty ride, this is not EVEN going to be the end of this bear market. Read more
What Comes After a Trillion?
October 13, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment
Look at all the new things in finance that have now increased our vocabulary: Collateralized Debt Obligations, Structured Investment Vehicles, and the really important one … Credit Default Swaps. All of these “creative” financing and investment products have precipitated the crisis we are now enduring. This is why the government is having to throw a trillion here and a trillion there to stem the malaise of what will become known as the “credit crisis of all time” (or something like that)
And we haven’t even got the ugly part we knew about before all this mess came home to roost: Social Security, Medicare and pensions.
The combined unfunded liabilities of the U.S. Govt for these accounts is in excess of $50 trillion dollars.
The Credit Default Swaps that are out there represent a liability of about the same number: $54 trillion (give or take).
Together we are talking about a problem that goes into 12 DIGITS … OVER 100 TRILLION DOLLARS. So I had to ask myself - since we are only one digit away - what comes after a trillion?
Quadrillion. Quadrillion comes next.
Maybe I didnt want to know that …
- Set Up an Emergency Fund. Most financial advisor recommend having three to six months’ worth of living expenses held in savings or a money market account. In the event that you lose your job (we’ll talk about how to avoid that in just a little bit), you don’t want to end up tapping your investments or relying on credit cards. For most people, it’s pretty hard to put the money away all at once (and even harder to keep your hands off of it). If you do a little at a time, adding to it no matter what, you’ll sleep better at night knowing that you have a cushion. This is no different than the ongoing philosophy of ‘paying yourself first’ that you hear with regards to saving money for the future. Except now you really need to do it. Read more
