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A few weeks ago, one of our Europe-based Total Access members reached out to ask us about a bank account he was considering for his new business. This is important stuff. As I’ve written before, most people spend more time thinking about what they’re going to have for dinner than even considering whether
Probably around the time I was 12 years old, my parents opened up a bank account on my behalf. Decades later, even though 99% of my assets are outside of the United States, I still maintain a small balance at that bank. I appear to be suffering from some sort of bizarre financial
[Editor’s Note: Peter K, the chief analyst of Sovereign Man’s private investment division, is filling in for Simon today.] I’m visiting my brother in Indonesia right now. Being a good host, he was fixing us vodka martinis, when he realized he ran out of olives. Both of his drivers had finished for the
It’s my usual custom whenever I land at a major airport to stop by the rental car counters and inquire how much it costs to rent a vehicle. For me this is a sort of informal, albeit imperfect, economic indicator. High prices suggest strong demand from plenty of business travelers and tourists, which
I’ve written before a number of times about the long laundry list of reasons why I base myself and most of my business operations in Chile. I could go on forever about this, but in short the country presents an exceptional mix of business, investment, and lifestyle opportunities that are extremely difficult to
In 1927, US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote that “taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” This quote is enshrined at the Internal Revenue Service, and it’s a rallying cry for people who constantly argue for higher taxes. Almost everyone completely misunderstands what he meant. First of all, tax
In a scathing editorial published in the Wall Street Journal today, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, blasted US banks, saying that they still lacked sufficient capital to withstand a major crisis. Kashkari makes a great analogy. When you’re applying for a mortgage or business loan, sensible banks
About 20 years ago when I was still a cadet at West Point, my economics professor organized a class trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The part of the trip that I remember most was touring the Fed’s high security vault, 80 feet below street level beneath the bank’s main
If you’ve been a reader of this letter for any length of time, you may have noticed that I try to spend my weekends and free time at our farms in Chile. I’m still on the road at least 6 months out of the year and travel to 30-40 different countries annually. But
There are lots of famous investors and hedge fund managers who are legendary stock-pickers. Warren Buffet is a great example. Others are hard-core quantitative analysts who build complex trading algorithms. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, is neither. He’s a macro investor whose fortune was built on an uncanny ability to
Every year around this time the US federal government releases an annual financial report to the public. It would be hilarious if the numbers weren’t actually true. Just like Apple or Exxon, the government’s annual report contains several important financial statements and detailed commentary about their finances and operations. But unlike Apple, Exxon,
On April 12, 2009, the government of Zimbabwe officially abandoned its currency. You probably remember the stories; starting in the early 2000s, the Zimbabwe central bank began printing massive quantities of money in order for the government to make ends meet. This resulted in one of the worst episodes of hyperinflation in modern
In the year 440 BC, more than two decades into the reign of Pericles, an audit of treasury in Athens showed a massive surplus of more than 9700 “talents”. A talent was a common unit of measurement in the ancient world, especially for gold and silver. And, based on today’s precious metals prices
The numbers are pretty startling. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. 1 out of every 3 Americans has nothing set aside for retirement. And, according to Federal Reserve data, the median working-age couple has saved just $5,000 for retirement. How is this even possible? How could it be
Most of the world is in an uproar right now over the travel ban that Donald Trump hastily imposed late last week on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. But there was another ban that was quietly proposed last week, and this one has far wider implications: a ban on cash. The European
