Financial Preparedness is a newsletter for prudent people who want to learn how to prepare for the unexpected so they can protect their life, health and wealth at a time of unprecedented and hidden fragility and danger.
Almost since their inception, the federal government and the Federal Reserve have been bailing out corporations that should have failed due to mismanagement. With each successive crisis and bailout, these institutions learned that they could privatize gains and socialize losses, which injected tremendous and unprecedented moral hazard into the financial system.
During the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, almost every financial institution got bailed out, no one was prosecuted, and nearly everyone not only kept their job but received a large bonus as well. The banks that were Too Big To Fail are now even bigger and more leveraged.
Since then, I have been predicting that the next financial crisis would be the worst of our lifetime, if not the worst in human history. Debt (which creates fragility) of all kinds is by far at a record level. Even before any new spending programs in the last 20 years, the federal government faced unfunded liabilities with a present value of over $200 trillion. Congress is spending (and the Fed is printing) insane amounts of “money.”
The real unemployment rate is near 25%, most Americans have no savings, and many of them now “draw” for a living. We have become a nation of takers, with a rapidly dwindling number of makers.
The media and commentariat class dream up “an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary” to justify taking away our treasure and liberty. Everything from financial markets to elections is rigged.
In light of events during 2020 and especially since the last presidential election, I now believe that the coming crisis will be even worse than I imagined, and may well include the collapse of the financial system, the rule of law and civil society itself.
Even if there’s never another financial crisis, there are hundreds of different natural or man-made Black Swan events that could occur at any moment that could have a profound and permanent effect on your life. Although it appears that man has fully tamed nature and mastered his world, an unprecedented number of highly unstable complex systems abound that could collapse at any moment, causing catastrophic destruction, death, hardship and misery. The thin veneer of civilization could suddenly be stripped away, revealing man’s true violent nature and once again making life “nasty, brutish and short.” It may be hard to believe, but we are only nine meals away from total chaos.
So I must speak out. I love to write and share important and helpful information with people, so I started a weekly newsletter that educates them about how to prepare for the very hard times that I believe are (or could be) imminent. Sign up now to receive it.
Writer ~ Lifelong Learner ~ Bibliophile ~ Polymath ~ Critical Thinker ~ Skeptic ~ Contrarian ~ Value Creator ~ Financial Psychologist ~ Spreadsheet Maven ~ Prepper ~ Humanist/Misanthrope ~ Health Nut ~ Pickleball Poet ~ Saunterer ~ Canine Idol ~ Individualist/Voluntaryist ~ Keeper of Lost Causes ~ Thoreauvian ~ Raconteur ~ Old Soldier/Redleg ~ General Badass
I have been a fee-only financial planner since 1995 and an aspiring writer since 2018. I am also a student of history, human nature, political economy and risk management. I have read hundreds of books, mostly about personal finance & investing, health & wellness, psychology, personal productivity & effectiveness, and preparedness & survival. I help people live a fulfilled life. My motto: Clean Living!
Formal Education:
M.S. in Personal Financial Planning, Georgia State University
B.S. in Political Science, cum laude, Stetson University
Designations:
Experience:
editor of the weekly Financial Preparedness newsletter since Feb. 2021
fee-only financial planner and investment advisor since 1995, self-employed since 1996
Oglethorpe University – Adjunct Instructor in the Financial Planning program
Price Waterhouse LLP – Consultant in the Personal Financial Services Group
U.S. Army – field artillery officer for four years, stationed in Germany
Achievements:
Distinguished Military Graduate
Phi Beta Kappa
Beta Gamma Sigma (graduate business honor society)
Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Smart Money, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Bloomberg Wealth Manager, Bloomberg Personal Finance, Mutual Funds, Dow Jones Newswires, Registered Investment Advisor, Reuters, The Atlanta Business Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Everything Money Book, Enron Proof Your 401(k), CNBC.com and MorningstarAdvisor.com
Volunteer:
U.S. Pickleball Association Ambassador for Cumming/Forsyth County (2015 – 2019)
youth soccer coach (2015 – 2017)
Member:
CFA Institute
