I've been thinking

What keeps you going in these economic times?

2009-03-11T11:31:00.003-04:00

I just saw this question on discussion board on Entreprenuer.com's website, "What keeps the fire burning in your belly during these tough economic times?" That's a great question! I'm rarely motivated to throw my 2 cents into these type of discussions but I just couldn't help myself this time. And then I decided to share my response here on my blog.

My desire to be a survivor keeps me going. I may be as focused and as driven as I've ever been. I try to be acutely aware of what's going on in the economy right now. Some say that you're being negative if you're focused on the economy. But, I liken it to watching the radar as a storm approaches. If I'm aware of what's headed my way, I can be prepared. I can be ready to take action. And maybe I'll check the radar and find out that the storm is going to miss me, so I don't need to take cover. I think that being prepared goes a long ways towards your chances of survival in any crisis.

I also focus on my mental attitude a great deal. I'm just finishing the book titled, Napolean Hill's Keys to Success. Few books have had such an impact on my life. I have really become aware of my mental attitude and that I can control my thoughts. In fact my thoughts are really the only thing that I can control.

Banking - Thomas Jefferson's Thoughts

2009-01-27T09:34:00.003-05:00

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson

When will we seek the wisdom of our founding fathers?

Greatest Wealth Transfer

2008-12-20T11:08:00.006-05:00

If you haven't read anything else that I've recommended in previous postings, please read this article, The Greatest Wealth Transfer in the History of Mankind Starts Now! by Michael Maloney, NOW!!! It's not very long. It will take you less than 10 minutes to read it.

Maloney presents several charts that illustrate the enormity of what's going on right now. As he says, "Neither you, nor I, have the power to stop what is coming. But we do have the choice to either freeze in panic and be crushed under the wheels of the economic freight train that is bearing down upon us, or catch the ride of our lives on the road to immense wealth. "

At the end of the article Maloney lists steps that every investor should do. His first step is, "Get educated. Don't take my, or anyone else's, word on this. Read books and newsletters on the subject and decide for yourself. " That's all that I'm asking you to do.

From the very bottom of my heart I ask you -- Please don't ignore what's happening.

Thomas Jefferson Quote

2008-12-17T11:10:00.002-05:00

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." -- Thomas Jefferson

I like this quote and ran across it again this morning and decided to share it. It really doesn't require any commentary or explanation. Just take a moment to think about it and what our government is doing today. I'm always amazed at the wisdom of our founding fathers.

Euro Pacific Capital Website

2008-12-16T08:35:00.014-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I recommended a few books that provide a good understanding of what our current economic situation is, how we got here and what we as individuals can do to survive this crisis. I strongly encourage you to read at least one of these books. I really don't know how someone can make good, informed decisions going forward without this information.

The books provide a good foundation, but you also need some analysis and interpretation of the current events as they unfold. There are several good websites that Jim & I use for this purpose. I originally intended this post to be a list of these sites but as I was writng about the first site, I realized that it would take me forever to complete the task and the post would be way too long. So this post will be a recommendation of Peter Schiff's website, Euro Pacific Capital. Other websites will be recommended in future posts.

Peter Schiff is the author of Crash Proof one of the books that I recommended. His new book was released this fall, The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets. While my intention is to really just recommend Peter's site as a great source of information, I can't resist sharing this You Tube video called Peter Schiff was Right 2006 - 2007. It is a compilation of interviews with Peter. You'll be able to hear his predictions and the predictions of others during the past few years. I'll let you decide, who was right.

Euro Pacific Capital is Peter Schiff's website. Explore this site. It's packed with information. I'll just mention a few areas that you should check out. The home page has a section called Recent Economic & Market News which has links to news articles from a variety of sources. These links are updated each day, so this is a great one-stop place to see the economic headlines of the day and read an article or two.

Under the Resources menu, you'll see "Live Weekly Radio Broadcasts". Peter does a weekly broadcast that you can listen to online each Wedneday night at 8pm EST. Each week, Peter gives his thoughts on what's happened in the economy during the past week and then he answers questions from callers. But if you don't want to spend your Wednesday evenings listening live, there is also a link that you can go to to get prior broadcasts. The prior shows are also available via Podcast.

One other thing that I'd recommend are the Video Interviews which you can get to from the Resources menu. Peter Schiff is often interviewed on the cable news channels and his appearances are archived on his website.

What are you waiting for? Check it out & let me know what you think!

Too Big to Fail?

2008-12-08T09:19:00.001-05:00

Too big to fail. It’s a phrase that we hear often these days. We’ve been told that investment banks were too big to fail, AIG was too big to fail, and of course the automotive industry is definitely too big to fail. It has made me think a lot about failure and its consequences. Is failure really such a bad thing?

Failure is defined as a lack of success. And success is defined as a favorable or desired outcome. So failure is simply the lack of a favorable or desired outcome. Since we all want success, maybe failure is a bad thing. I’d rather think of failure as a step to success. We rarely get the desired outcome the fist time we attempt anything, so this implies we’ve failed. Now, if we quit here then yes we’ve failed. But it’s what we do with this failure that makes the difference. If we learn something from our first attempt, modify what we did the first time, and try then again, we might achieve success. It’s the failures that teach us what we need to know to achieve success. You know the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” It’s really saying, “If at first you fail, try, try again.”

Many people that we consider very successful had their share of failures before achieving the success that they are well known for. Did you know that Milton S. Hershey failed in the candy business three times? He didn't achieve success until his fourth attempt. Thomas Edison had thousands of failures before he was successful at finding the right filament for the light bulb. To Edison each failure meant that what he was trying to do couldn’t be done and that he had to try something else.

Thank goodness that these men and many, many others did not adhere to the “Failure is not an option” school of thought. They were willing to accept failures as steps to success. I think that they would tell us, “Quitting is not an option."

Books

2008-12-04T08:46:00.000-05:00

I’ve wanted to put together a resource list of the books and websites that I’d recommend if you wanted to begin to understand what we’re facing, how we got here, and what we can we do to survive and hopefully prosper. But for one reason or another I hadn’t really tackled the task. Well thanks to a good friend that asked for me to send her some recommendations, I’ve gotten started. For now I think that I will just make recommendations in blog entries. Then, at some point, if there is a need or an interest I’ll compile the recommendations into one document.

Here are three books that I’d recommend. If you’re like me, as you read the information in these books, you’ll be asking yourself, “Why wasn’t I taught this?” The principles and concepts are fairly fundamental, but we’ve been misled and trained to think differently.

How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century,
by Howard J. Ruff 2008
I recommended this book in my November 20^th blog entry. Again, this is a good starter book. The first third of the book explains the problems with our monetary system, introduces you to the concept of purchasing power, and outlines the terrible effects of inflation. The second part of the book gives specific advice on surviving the coming economic crisis and the third part is Ruff's advice on how to prosper.

Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver,
by Michael Maloney 2008
Don’t let the title scare you off. Even if you have no interest in or intention of investing in gold and silver, you should still read this book. It is excellent. The first half of the book discusses the history of money and really illustrates the difference between money and currency. You will see how throughout history the economic cycles have been the same and that no fiat currency (which is what we have) has ever survived. It’s fascinating to see how the demise is always caused by the same factors. Believe me, you’ll begin to recognize where we’re headed. Michael Maloney gives a very good road map of where we are today and how this will play out. I really think that everyone should read at least the first portion of this book.

Crash Proof,
by Peter Schiff, 2007
I'm about half-way done with this book. This book is particularly interesting from the standpoint that it was written in 2006. So as you’re reading it you will see that Peter understood the fundamentals and was able to predict where we’d be today. And yet, all of the so called experts act as if they’re surprised by this crisis.

While these books all cover the same general topic, they each come at the information from different angles and emphasize different aspects. They don’t overlap as much they reinforce each other. Let me know what you think of these books as you read them.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving, just the word conjures up good feelings. I don’t think that you could even say the word in a grumpy or grouchy way. When you hear the word, thanksgiving, do you think of turkey dinners, pumpkin pie, and time spent with family? There’s nothing wrong with that. This time of year, we all probably think of these things.

I love Thanksgiving Day because of what it represents, a day set aside for us to stop and give thanks for all that we have. But we don’t have to wait for this one day each year to do that. We can make thanksgiving a mindset. We can make it a part of each and everyday.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary gives the following definitions for thanksgiving:

1: the act of giving thanks

2: a prayer expressing gratitude

3 a: a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness

b: capitalized : thanksgiving day

Interesting isn’t it that Thanksgiving Day is part of the last definition?

Thanksgiving is the act of giving thanks. That’s pretty simple. We thank people everyday. Sometimes we probably say “thanks” without really even thinking about it. It’s just part of what we do in polite society. But I challenge you to look for opportunities to say a heartfelt “Thank You” to someone each day. You will probably make that person’s day. And in the process you’ll find yourself looking for the good and positive things in every encounter with someone.

Thanksgiving is also a prayer expressing gratitude, which in my mind is really just lifting up a heartfelt “Thank You” to God for his blessings, which are endless. God’s blessings are all around us each and everyday and as we recognize them we need to lift up a prayer of gratitude to thank God for the particular blessing. You will be amazed at how you’ll feel when your heart is filled with gratitude.

So, thanksgiving doesn’t have to be limited to just the fourth Thursday of November. That’s just the day that’s set aside for the public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness. I’m very thankful that we have such a day in this country. But in the year ahead let’s make thanksgiving a part of each and everyday.

I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving Day and a wonderful year of thanksgiving!

I'm Warning You - A Storm's Headed Your Way

2008-11-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

If I were to call you up and tell you that I had just looked at the radar and there was a severe thunderstorm with tornadic activity headed your way, would you think that I was being negative? If I suggested that you take precautions like getting in your basement would you think that I was crazy? If you hadn’t heard the tornado sirens yourself or hadn’t had a chance to look at the radar, would you appreciate my warning; even if the tornado missed your house or didn’t develop? Would you feel like I cared about you and your well being? I think so. Well that’s what I’m doing now. I have looked at the economic radar and the storm clouds have formed and are headed your way. We are in for some very rough weather. I know that a lot of people haven’t recognized the storm that’s on the horizon or even if they see the storm they don’t now how to prepare or protect themselves. That’s why I’ve created this blog. I want to warn you so that you can prepare.

If you are going to read just one book to gain an understanding of what’s going on in our economy and how to prepare for what’s ahead then I’d recommend How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century by Howard J. Ruff. This book went on sale in April of this year. It covers a lot of ground and gives specific and practical recommendations on how to prepare for and to prosper in the coming difficult economic times.

We have given this book to several family members and the reaction is usually “Gosh that’s a pretty depressing title”. They focus on the “Coming Bad Years” portion of the title and neglect the “How to Prosper” portion. This book really isn’t a doom and gloom book. Was I being doom and gloom when I called you to warn you of the tornado? Ruff describes the storm and gives you background on what created the storm. Once you recognize and understand the storm you can prepare.

I’ll share other books and resources with you in future posts.

God Bless!

The truth is out there

2008-11-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

Jim and I have each encountered people recently who mention that they feel like things aren't right and that things are going to get worse before they get better. They say they’re worried but don’t know what to do. They feel helpless. We find ourselves wanting to be able to offer these people something because their gut is right.

We know that the economy is in a shambles and that the “solutions” proposed by the politicians are only going to make things worse. We are facing things in this country that neither of us has ever lived through. We are very concerned and have consequently spent countless hours in the past 8 months reading and listening to a lot of different voices on the subject. As a result there are several books that we highly recommend if a person wants to really understand what is going on, what is coming our way, and most importantly how to prepare. In addition to the books, there are several good websites that we now depend on for our news and analysis of current affairs. With this knowledge that we now have, things aren’t scary or mysterious anymore. Because of the things that we’ve learned, we’ve made changes in our personal life to prepare for the coming storm. And we’re finding that these preparations give us a sense of security now. We know that as even more troubled times arrive, we’re prepared. We’ll survive and possibly even prosper.

We want all of our family and friends to have that same security and peace of mind. It is for this reason that we are going to compile a suggested reading/resource list. It will be something that those who have that gut feeling that something isn’t right; can use to gain the knowledge and understanding that we now have. We can’t tell you what to do because no two families situations are the same. We don’t know all of the answers but I believe that we do know the truth now. As we post our recommendations, I urge you to read them and see if it they make sense to you. If so, take action. Protect your wealth but most importantly protect your peace of mind.