Well, my partners and I have lived through two markets crashes thus far in our career, and we know the next one is right around the corner…

And it’s going to be a bad one…

So I ask you…

If you knew a huge flood was coming, would you warn your neighbors?

Even if you knew they would laugh at you and think you were a silly tinfoil-hat wearing alarmist?

I would, my partners would, it is the RIGHT THING to do and so we have…

We are currently involved in the most ludicrous Keynes-driven monetary policy I have ever seen and this strategy for managing economies (endless debt stimulation) has worked out well in history exactly NEVER times.

And this mess is going to pop off right as the baby boomer generation starts to pull money out of the market to live out their retirement years.

But I don’t want this to become a misanthropic rant on how screwed up everything is…

If you look back in history it’s been a lot worse and we came through fine.

So let’s instead spend a few minutes doing an objective risk management assessment of the most likely problems you will face moving forward…

And I am going to throw out the possibility of terrorism, earthquakes, floods, wars, etc.

Let’s just look at the economic cycles that are in play at this time and how we can use that information to best help ourselves and our loved ones…

Zombie Pension Plans

Most pension plans and their payout expectations are built around a fantasy that they can get a steady 7.5% return from the markets by utilizing a wildly diversified buy-and-hold strategy.

These returns haven’t happened in some years, and add to this the sad fact that many pension plans have been “underfunded”…

Underfunded means that the money to fund the promised payouts hasn’t been put in.

It’s just not there…

You can spend time figuring out who to blame but that’s not going to put the money in…

Social Security is the same thing….

Why are these bedrock financial institutions collapsing?

Demographics, pure and simple.

We had a huge birthrate boom after World War II “The Baby Boom”, and now as that generation stops working, there aren’t enough new workers to replace them.

The baby boomers didn’t have big families, and so there are fewer workers paying into the system to sustain the pensions of the retirees..

Here is what the Social Security Administration has to say about this issue...

CLICK HERE TO READ

But wait you say???

I’m a retiring worker and I paid tons of money into the Social Security and pension system...

Where is my money????

I’m sorry to tell you that it was all stolen and that your retirement benefits are all dependent on your kids and grand-kids productivity.

One word who the thief is…

Inflation.

If you were born in the 50’s-60’s, then you probably started working and putting money into a retirement system in the 70’-80’s…

Which just happens to be on or after the date Richard Nixon took us off the gold standard, and inflation began to explode.

The $100 you invested in 1970 had the buying power of $616.65 today…

CLICK HERE TO CALCULATE VALUE FOR YOURSELF

So the bottom line is that you got hosed, and it wasn’t your fault!

Now, there isn’t a traditional investment model which can beat that kind of inflationary headwind long term…

And with the absurd debt increases over the last ten years, there is more inflation on the way…

Been to the grocery store and notice how prices have risen lately?

 So the pension managers have been working for years with the knowledge that they are continually falling short, and have been willing to accept more and more risk in their portfolios in the hopes of “coming from behind”.

The cold, hard reality is beginning to finally come out...

The Central States Pension Fund recently applied for a 60% reduction in benefits for over 400,000 pensioners in their system....

Imagine how you would feel if you received a letter like this in the mail???

CLICK TO READ THE CSPF-Letter-to-Participants-05-20-16

Forget any of our firm’s proprietary analysis for now, simply based on demographics alone the markets are due for a generational bear phase as the baby boomers who don’t get what they need from their pension plans start selling stocks in order to make ends meet.

So in my view, buy and hold is officially dead for a generation…

This phase in the markets will be seen by history as the ultimate “traders market”.

I would go so far as to say that if you are not willing to learn how to trade in and out of the markets with agility, or find somebody to execute that skill for you…

You have no business being involved in the markets!!!

Buy and hold is going to get killed.

So what to do?

See if you can cash out of your pension before the markets turn and the cuts come and what the penalties for that withdrawal might be…

Then have a very serious strategy conversation with your financial planner (not what we do here at RBJ Financial Group) about how he/she can help you hedge against a market decline.

Expect aggressive push-back from them, as this hedging posture flies in the face of all conventional wisdom.

But…

Ask yourself how well that conventional wisdom has served you in the last 5-10 years?

Be not afraid…

There are many tools that will allow you to protect your money in a high inflation market, or a declining market.

Once again, we are not financial planners or outside asset managers, but here are some of the tools you could research or ask about…

TIPS bonds, which are inflation-protected us treasury bonds.

Real estate for rental…research how the rental market has surged as household income and net worth has collapsed during the Obama administration, and think if you think this trend is likely to continue (Debt is also good during an inflationary time IF you have a steady income source).

Gold, Silver…I have spoken and written about this extensively, and our market forecast has already delivered a 20%+ gain in our forecast for the gold proxy (NYSE:GLD).

This chart shows why I think gold is such an important tool moving forward…

It seems to be nearly perfectly correlated with inflation these days so would provide not only a forecasting tool for the acceleration of inflation rates but also a hedged store of value.

Then…

LEARN TO MANAGE YOUR OWN MONEY!

I have been teaching people how to trade the markets for almost 20 years…

We have been hyper-successful at this task since the founding of RBJ Financial Group, and our traders produce consistent returns each and every month in spite of the current “bad markets”.

There is no excuse for poor performance in the markets…There IS plenty of profit opportunity always available!

LEARN REAL WORLD SKILLS!

I’m not a plumber but I can replace a toilet or fix a leaky sink.

I’m not an electrician but I can fix most house-hold appliances and generally get things working again.

If things went truly sideways, those skills might be just as valuable in a barter economy as my skills in forecasting and trading the world’s financial markets.

And last, if you really dig down into history and look for patterns during times of extreme economic chaos and war, the things that are most valued are little luxuries.

Cigarettes, coffee, women’s cosmetics and perfume.

I’d add to that toilet paper (Thank you Venezuela) and deodorant.

If we went into full on zombie apocalypse, think about what you could bribe or barter for with a pound of coffee or a pack of Marlborough Reds?

In the meantime, if you want to learn how to manage your investments and understand how trading can allow you to take back control over your financial future...

Please reach out to my partner Roger Khoury, the developer of the 3D Apex Probability Analysis Layer™ (The engine that drives all our forecasts) for a break-through strategy session at this URL:

CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A FREE STRATEGY SESSION

The way we figure out what your particular needs are is to do a strategy session which will help you get clarity on your particular needs and issues and then we can tailor a custom solution using the tools we have available to take you from where you are to where you want to be

P.S. We don't believe in selling or pitching... there will be no selling or pressure on the call...

We look forward to speaking with you soon.