Schiff Sovereign Podcast

One of the wonderful people I’ve been fortunate to get to know in my life is legendary investor and prolific author Jim Rogers. I’ve known Jim for nearly 10 years now. He’s a great guy and I’ve learned so much from him– about finance, markets, travel, writing. But above all that, one thing in particular really stuck out: fatherhood. It seems like every time we’ve ever had dinner or drinks together over the past decade, Jim always brings up the topic of having children. He didn’t have children until later in life; he’s written about this extensively, saying that he never wanted kids and was quite content with his success and career. But when he started having children at age 60, he realized that he couldn’t imagine his life without them. And literally every time Jim and I have hung out, he has always encouraged me to have kids. I never took the idea seriously… until last year. Amid all of the fear, anger, violence, and totalitarianism that was gripping the world, I became convinced that it was the right time to have a child. You see– I’m an optimist. I believe wholeheartedly that no matter how many problems people create, no matter how dark the chaos, there’s always a solution. Human beings are natural tool creators. We solve problems and overcome challenges– and this is especially true for people who can think independently and plan proactively. I know that this chaos– the Marxism, the Woke fanaticism, the Covid-1984 totalitarianism– isn’t going away anytime soon. But I’m also wildly optimistic about the future, because I know there are plenty of solutions to de-risk these challenges… and at the same time I see a world full of vast opportunities. And all of that is what brought me to Mexico– my child was born here in Cancun earlier this month. I could not have asked for a better experience. Becoming a father has been an unimaginable joy… and choosing to have the baby in Mexico was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Yes, the “Plan B” benefits are nice; baby automatically received Mexican citizenship (which will be passport #5), and mommy and daddy both received Permanent Residency. But the benefits go way beyond that. The medical care, staff, facilities, lifestyle, costs, etc. have really been extraordinary. In this week’s podcast episode, I talk all about it… and tell a few stories about our experience here that are truly unbelievable. You can watch the video here. Or listen to the podcast here.

In last week’s podcast — the first podcast episode we’ve published in a few years — Viktorija and I discussed how central banks engineer inflation… and why inflation is probably here to stay. In this week’s episode, we dove even deeper into the topic to discuss a different type of inflation: ASSET price inflation. Remember that inflation rises whenever the amount of money in an economy increases relative to the amount of services and products available to purchase. And that even includes assets. There are only 500 companies in the S&P 500, which essentially means there’s a fixed number of assets available for investors to purchase. So whenever the central bank prints trillions of dollars, much of that money finds its way into the stock market, bidding up the stock prices of S&P 500 companies. The bizarre part is that this increase in stock prices doesn’t mean that a company has become more successful. In fact, Coca Cola is a great example here. Over the past decade, Coca Cola’s revenue has fallen. Its equity has fallen. Its profit has fallen. Its debt levels have exploded. Coca Cola has clearly become a LESS valuable company over the past decade. And yet its stock price has soared to record highs. Coca Cola’s record stock price has nothing to do with the company’s success; it has everything to do with the tidal wave of cash that the Federal Reserve has printed. Much of that money has made its way into the stock market, pushing up share prices– even when the companies are in decline. This is asset price inflation. We discuss this phenomenon in a lot more detail in today’s podcast… including why it’s so dangerous (because asset price bubbles always pop, eventually). Moreover, we discuss alternative asset classes– like venture capital and private equity, as well as why right now is such a great time to start a business. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/uRrfGLoQ78A Or download this week’s episode of our Freedom Podcast here:

It feels like it’s easily been two years since I’ve recorded a public podcast. But after yesterday’s article about inflation, I realized that I had so much more to say. Inflation– which is essentially the slow destruction of a currency– is already a major issue that’s capturing headlines. But there are plenty of reasons why it could be far worse in the future. This isn’t anything to be afraid of. But it’s definitely a topic to learn a lot more about. Understanding inflation is critical to making sound, long-term financial decisions, and creating a great Plan B. But it’s a complicated topic. To properly understand inflation, it’s imperative to first learn about how central banking works; for example, why does the Federal Reserve buy so many mortgage bonds? What’s the actual mechanism for ‘creating’ money, and how does this new money make its way into the economy? (We talk about all of this in today’s podcast, including the absolutely ridiculous and infuriatingly cozy relationship between the Fed and the biggest commercial banks.) More importantly, what are the long-term factors that could drive inflation a LOT higher? We discuss some of the obvious ones, like the federal government’s insatiable appetite to spend money. But there are a lot of other obscure reasons– like the fact that there are fewer farmers and fewer acres of farmland planted in the United States than at any other point in history going back to at least the late 1800s. That last one could be a pretty big deal; US food imports have been doubling roughly every 10 years. So the US is going to reach a point where it has to import a large quantity of its food, and pay for it all with a rapidly depreciating currency. You can probably imagine the impact that trend could have on future food prices. There’s a LOT more to discover here– like why the Fed keeps supporting a housing market that’s totally on fire, what they actually mean when they say inflation is ‘transitory’, and what types of businesses might make solid investments in this environment. We even walk through the details of the last financial crisis– and how the it mirrors what’s happening today. It’s been so long since we published one of these, I had to ask our Sovereign Woman, Viktorija, to help me out and guide my comments in the right direction. I sincerely hope you’re able to learn something from this and come away with a much better understanding of how to factor inflation into your own Plan B. You can watch the video here: Or listen to the audio here:

This morning I reached out to my old friend and colleague Peter Schiff to talk about some uncomfortable truths that very few people are discussing right now. I wrote to you about this yesterday: banks are in trouble. You can’t expect to shut down practically an entire world economy that is in debt to the tune of $250 TRILLION and not expect massive loan defaults. The last financial crisis in 2008 was caused by a spike in loan defaults. We’re about to see another spike of loan defaults due to all the layoffs and business closures… only this time the problem is much, much bigger than it was in 2008. And Peter and I discuss some potential scenarios. Be forewarned, they’re not pleasant. Think about it like this: before the last financial crisis, US government debt was ‘only’ about $9 trillion. It’s nearly tripled since then. The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet prior to the last crisis was $850 billion. It ballooned to $4.5 trillion, more than 5x as much. This means that we could see US government debt reach $40 to $50 trillion, the Fed’s balance sheet exceed $20 trillion. Could that possibly have negative implications for the US dollar? You bet. Peter and I talk about what might happen with the dollar, and more. You can listen in here. * Editor’s note: As you’ll hear in the podcast, Peter promotes a number of his businesses, mutual funds, etc. We need to be clear that those comments are his alone, and that we are not recommending in any way that listeners make any investment with any of Peter’s businesses.

I thought in this age of insanity that we are living in, nothing would surprise me anymore. But sure enough, there was a headline in the Financial Times the other day, “Central banks should consider giving people money.” It seems almost impossible that someone could believe in something so ridiculous. And yet this is the world we are living in. The path to prosperity is now based on unelected central bankers conjuring millions of dollars out of thin air. Bankrupt governments are issuing bonds with negative yields, meaning they are being paid to go deeper into debt. And there are more than $13 trillion of these negative yielding bonds in the world. If anything this makes a compelling case for why people should consider owning gold. It’s a store of value with a 5,000 year track record of withstanding inflation, political crisis, and monetary stupidity. I’ve been suggesting people consider buying gold for quite some time, especially over the last year. I argue that the supply of gold, is actually declining, yet the demand will increase in large part due to all of this central bank lunacy. And that has absolutely been happening. The price of gold is up more than 25% over the last year, and just surpassed $1,500 per ounce. But unlike most other assets like real estate, stocks, bonds, etc, gold is still far from it’s all time high. There could still be plenty of gains ahead. And silver would have to triple before it reaches it’s all time high. Every summer for the past eight years, I’ve enjoyed a week or two in the italian countryside at a 400 plus year old villa. Here I relax with friends, family, business colleagues, and some of our Total Access members who fly in from around the world, to break bread and enjoy really stimulating and entertaining conversations. This year Peter Schiff has been one of my guests. He’s an old friend who shares many of the same beliefs. And when our conversation this morning turned to gold, I thought it appropriate to record it, and make a Podcast out of it. In our conversation we talk about why gold and silver have plenty of room to rise, and a number of different ways to invest.

Each year, I invite an incredible mix of young people from more than a dozen countries to join me in Lithuania for an intense week of business, investing and entrepreneurship classes taught by the smartest people I know (it’s also entirely free for the students who attend. I pay out of my own pocket for everything). I do it because I feel strongly about self-education. It’s how I got to be where I am today. So I thought it would be an opportune time to give you my latest thoughts on how to get an education that really makes a difference in your life. Education has no age limit (for example, attendees at our camp range from 17 to 47 years of age). But today, I want to specifically address those young people either starting their university studies, or just about to graduate. Getting a university degree is one of the most important and impactful decisions you’ll ever make. And we’re expected to make this decision when we’re still teenagers, too often without afterthought as to what a decision like this really means for our future. In this podcast, I talk about how to approach the decision, whether or not to go to university, how to pick a major and how to manage debt. I also discuss compelling steps that you can take either instead of a university education, or to complement it. Listen here to find out how to make the most empowering choices you can about your education. (And if you’re 57 years old and considering doing something new with your life, this podcast will definitely be worth your time. It’s never too late to change your trajectory and make excellent choices.)

Last week in its annual report, the US government reported that Social Security’s long-term, unfunded liability now exceeds $50 TRILLION. Moreover, they state that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will run out of money in 2034. This is the government’s own calculation. Bottom line: The younger you are, the less you should count on Social Security in your retirement plans. You must take matters into your own hands and save independently for retirement. But that’s easier said than done, right? The traditional concept of ‘saving for retirement’ is to set aside some money from your monthly paycheck, and put it in something like an IRA. That works fine for some people. But what if you simply don’t have any more money from your paycheck to save? Or what if you’ve already hit the maximum amount you’re allowed to contribute to a conventional IRA? Fortunately, there are great solutions. We’ve written about SEP IRAs in the past. But there’s another structure I’d like to discuss called a Solo 401(k). A Solo 401(k) is an incredibly flexible, robust retirement structure that allows you to set aside potentially tens of thousands of dollars of income from a ‘side-business’ each year. This could be just about anything– selling products on Amazon, generating advertising revenue from YouTube videos, Airbnb rentals, freelance consulting, anything. And almost anyone can do this. You could literally be a 15 year old teenager walking dogs on the weekends for extra cash, and stash that money into a Solo 401(k). If you’re currently an employee at a US-based company, you might already have a regular 401(k); it allows you to make pre-tax contributions to your retirement, and sometimes the employer even matches what you put in. The plan probably doesn’t offer much leeway in terms of where you can invest that money, though. At best, they probably give you a list of mutual funds from which to choose. But a Solo 401(k) – a.k.a. an Individual 401(k), Self-Directed 401(k) or Self-Employed 401(k) – lets you control where your funds are invested. And unlike a conventional IRA – another common retirement structure – it lets you contribute MUCH more money to your retirement before it’s taxed. It just has to be done with income from self-employment, or from a side job. With all of the money-making options available today, it’s not difficult to stash a lot more money into a tax-advantaged retirement account. There are lots of details to consider when opening a Solo(k), but here’s the general idea: First, since we’re talking about self-employment income, you have to think of yourself as both an employer and an employee. As an employee of your own business, you can make a total of $19,000 in retirement contributions this year if you have a 401(k), plus another $6,000 on top of that if you’re over the age of 50. But you can contribute even more than that since you’re also the employer in your business. For this tax year, the maximum total contribution to a 401(k) between an employer and employee is $56,000 (for those under the age of 50) and $62,000 (for those 50 and over)… so that’s potentially tens of thousands of dollars in extra contributions you can make. More importantly, these contributions can be deducted from your taxes. So when the Bolsheviks come to power and ratchet up tax rates to 70%, you’ll be able to take a LOT of money off the table to set aside for your retirement that they can’t touch. Plus, Solo 401(k)’s are incredibly flexible. You can invest in so many different things, ranging from real estate (including property overseas), cryptocurrency, private businesses and venture-backed startups, etc. Solo 401(k)’s have an interest feature as well– you are actually able to BORROW money from your own retirement plan. The IRS allows you to borrow up to 50% of your Solo(k)’s value up to a maximum of $50,000, for up to five years, and subject to certain rules. You might not ever need it, but it’s nice to know that you have a source of emergency funds if necessary. And this is something unique to 401(k)’s. You can’t do this with an IRA. Naturally all of these benefits are predicated on you having some sort of side business– whether you’re driving for Uber, freelancing on Fiver, or selling lemonade on the street corner. But the ability to channel the vast majority of that business income into a structure that (a) keeps it away from the government, and (b) secures your future retirement, is a smart thing to do. And that’s what today’s podcast is about: all the great things you can do with a solo 401(k), and why you definitely might want to consider establishing one– even if you already have another retirement plan. You can listen to the podcast here.

Today’s podcast is with Marin Katusa. Marin is a world-class resource investor and lead analyst for Katusa Research – his publishing company, where he shares the details of many of the private investments he makes. Marin’s been investing in resource stocks for twenty years. And he’s gained a reputation as a guy who can get things done (and get the best terms) when raising capital to invest in companies – over the years, he’s put hundreds of millions of dollars to work in the sector. In our discussion with Marin, he explains his boom/bust/echo theory of investing in natural resource stocks and where we are today in that cycle (it happens to be the part of the cycle where you can find the greatest value). We asked Marin to walk you through some actual examples of private investments he’s made so you can learn when you should be looking to invest (and also understand the massive, upside potential when buying resource stocks near the bottom of a cycle). I’d encourage you to listen to the end, when Marin shares the names and tickers of his two favorite gold stocks today (like the rest of the gold sector, they’ve been pretty beaten up). He also shares a few details of his most recent investment – the largest personal bet he’s ever made. So if you want to hear about where we are in the gold market, which types of gold companies you should be investing in today and hear Marin’s outlook for the gold sector going forward, you can tune in right here.

Today’s episode of the Sovereign Man Podcast features non other than Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose, talking about not one but two highly successful, targeted investment strategies with proven track records. If you are a regular Sovereign Confidential or 4th Pillar reader, then you’re familiar with Tim’s wit, his financial probity, and his impressive stock picking skills. Today, he’ll tell you how he goes about looking at the markets at a time when nearly everything is overpriced. Also, if you’re curious about Tim’s top recommendation today, you can get more details here… A quick general summary of what’s discussed: Intro – A bit about the markets… what Howard Marks and Warren Buffett think… 2:30 – A bit about Sovereign Man’s Chief Investment Strategist, Tim Staermose, and his track record 3:30 – Why Tim is finding great deals in this “pre-frontier market” 6:30 – What investors can do in today’s market, the mistakes most investors make, and the difference between the macro and the micro investor 9:30 – Tim’s take on “deep value” investing 12:00 – The other strategy Tim has been employing lately 13:00 – The analysis Tim does when deciding how to invest in takeover arbitrage 14:30 – The advantage of investing in markets based on British Common Law 16:00 – Why today is a good time for M&A investing 16:30 – Tim’s take on gold acquisitions – the majors… 18:30 – … and the juniors 19:20 – Where gold prices might go 19:45 — Tim talks about one of his most exciting recent picks We hope you enjoy and learn from today’s podcast.

Today we bring you a fresh episode of the Sovereign Man Podcast, where Simon Black unpacks why the people in charge have no idea what they’re talking about… and how you can protect yourself from their policies. Freshman politicians want to nationalize entire industries. They want to increase the marginal tax rate to 70% or more. They want to ban corporations from buying back their own stocks unless those companies meet stringent requirements. They want to raise capital gains taxes. In short, they want your money. In this episode, Simon gives you a roundup of bad policies, why they don’t/won’t work… and the one big thing you should do if you don’t want the Socialist train to run you over. A quick general summary of what’s discussed: Intro – It’s here, and… they have “NO IDEA!!!!” (Jim Cramer was right.) 2:00 – Why stock buybacks are stupid… but why the government should drop the idea of regulating them 7:20 – What all this is REALLY about 9:15 — Equality vs. Freedom and why you can’t have 100% of both 16:50 — The rise of Socialism in the US and what’s behind it 22:00 — Taxes: Why raising them never solves income inequality (and what does) 28:00 — How NOT to become wealthy 31:00 — Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump said the same thing 32:30 — Solutions for you, including what to focus on now 34:00 — Simon’s warning — and his big Obama quote of the day 36:45 — One place that is getting it right 37:45 — Proof that they don’t REALLY want free education 39:00 — The best entitlement ‘demands’ you’ll hear all day 44:00 – The ONE thing you need to do if you want to protect your money in an age of Socialism We hope you enjoy and learn from today’s podcast.