The Fight at the Bottom: S&P 800

There is a real tug of war going on right now: the battle for the market bottom.  Much prevailing wisdom saying there is a lot of support for the S&P 500 at around the 800 mark.

The market is cris-crossing back and forth over it right now.  If we can stay above that at the close, it may be a bear market rally of 10-15%.  If it closes or dives below, we may retest the market lows of November before the turn.

When will all this uncertainty end?  Answer: no time soon.

In the 1970s when we went off the gold standard and inflation ate away at purchasing power, the typical American household became a 2 wage earner reality to pay the bills.  In the 80s and 90s, our savings rate went to zero as we spent more and more of our available income to keep up our standard of living.  In this century, we have moved to deficit financing to keep the party going.

What is left?  How is the American consumer, 70+% of our economy and 40+% of the world economy going to “get things going again”?

Answer: no time soon.  Prepare for, in the words of our new President, a “lost decade” my friends.

To show you where my head is at, the most recent additions to the clutter on my desk are 2 boxes of shotgun shells and the 10 oz of Platinum that I bought back in Dec (finally delivered … now worth 35% more than I paid for them).

Like Hunter S Thompson once said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

Later…

Recession Proof Your Life Part 5

This is the 5th and final installment of my series on Recession Proofing Your Life.  In this blog, I talk about where you really want to be going in the long(er) run and that is owning your own business, the statistically best chance for you to become a millionaire.

Part 5 – The Real Opportunity

In my wealth coaching practice (a hybrid of business and life coaching), I have talked to any number of people – peers and clients – who have said “losing my job was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” ‘Why is that?’ you might ask. Because it forces us to re-evaluate our job situation and, hopefully, the rest of our lives. We all too often get weighed down by “what is.” What we’re used to, the status quo, not rocking the boat, etc. Often, we attach far too much importance to a J.O.B. and rely on them not only for our self esteem, but as the focal point around which our lives are defined.  Some people are lucky and really love their jobs. The last I checked, the percentages who claimed this mythical status was in the low 20% of those employed for someone else (the number goes up significantly for the self-employed). In general, being an employee turns out to be better than nothing (quite often a true statement) and the path of least resistance.   In the current economic climate, the best job in the world could indeed be the one you have (last Friday’s unemployment numbers were the worst in years) so let me say this again: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING A JOB.  However, in my experience, the employee route is typically - there are always exceptions - antithetical to growth and keeps us from our full potential as human beings. Read more