Strategic Asset Management LLC

Recession is Coming. Get Ready.

Recession is Coming Recession is coming. No one likes to hear it but a storm is brewing. The ...

The Lament of a low risk investor.

http://merrillovermatter.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-lament-of-low-risk-investor.html

Low risk investors right now are being punished for saving money. This has repercussions throughout the entire risk spectrum

The Lament of a low risk investor The Lament of a low risk investor 10 year TIPS rate source: Federal Reserve One of the challenges in managing a portfolio during the distr...

Please. Please! Do not buy a bankrupt company's stock unless you are very knowledgeable about the company and all the intricacies of capital structures, DIP funding, and how a companies value is re allocated in bankruptcy.

Hertz is an excellent example:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-22/the-best-fraud-is-in-plain-sight

The Best Fraud Is in Plain Sight Hertz, D&O insurance, Wirecard, Insys, eBay, travel insurance and toilet plumes.

Upside down car loans: Do not do this!https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-45-000-loan-for-a-27-000-ride-more-borrowers-are-going-underwater-on-car-loans-11573295400

A $45,000 Loan for a $27,000 Ride: More Borrowers Are Going Underwater on Car Loans Consumers, salespeople and lenders are treating cars a lot like houses during the last financial crisis: by piling on debt to such a degree that it often exceeds the car’s value. This phenomenon can leave owners trapped.

When the curve inverts (10 year Treasury yields less than 2 year Treasury yields) it is time to start looking for the equity market exit signs. With the Fed signalling more rate increases this day may come soon.

Scammers pretending to be IRS agents are back now that tax season is upon us. Be careful and suspicious of phone calls from anyone stating they are an IRS agent.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/scam-phone-calls-continue-irs-identifies-five-easy-ways-to-spot-suspicious-calls

Scam Phone Calls Continue; IRS Identifies Five Easy Ways to Spot Suspicious Calls | Internal Revenue Service IR-2014-84, Aug. 28, 2014 — The IRS issued a consumer alert today providing taxpayers with additional tips to protect themselves from telephone scam artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS.

Porsche gearing up for Electric Vehicle fight https://buff.ly/2zbkKyD Profit margins are never static

Porsche admits EV investment to take on Tesla is an "enormous burden" It’s no secret that Porsche is looking to soak up market share away from Tesla when the automaker releases its long range, all-electric Mission E in 2019. Arguably one of Tesla’s strongest potential…

Treasury Bond bear market hasn't started yet

LNG based shipping is coming, and it's a good thing

Big polluters: one massive container ship equals 50 million cars New research has found that in one year, a single large container ship can emit cancer and asthma-causing pollutants equivalent to that of 50 million cars.

What happens when debt growth turns down in these over leveraged countries? We may find out soon. https://buff.ly/2ksdqZe

Some investments are VERY long term https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfSIC8jwbQs

The Centuries-Old Debt That's Still Paying Interest In the archives of Yale University, there's a 367-year-old bond from the water authority of Lekdijk Bovendams, in the Netherlands. And it's still paying inte...

The US Stock market is very expensive right now. There are other alternatives.

https://www.guggenheimpartners.com/perspectives/macroeconomic-research/stocks-for-the-long-run-not-now

www.guggenheimpartners.com

The equifax data breach is massive. Equifax is making it worse.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/are-you-an-equifax-breach-victim-you-must-give-up-right-to-sue-to-find-out/

Are you an Equifax breach victim? You could give up right to sue to find out Visiting Equifax site to see if you're a victim can require you to waive lawsuit rights.

Interesting divergence in employment ratios between 25yo-54yo and 15yo-74yo https://buff.ly/2hCaSGh

A recent tweet by Kevin Smith of Crescat Capital (someone I've had the pleasure of meeting in person) reminded me of just how far we've come since 2008 and the Great Recession...

Please go to
https://merrillovermatter.blogspot.com/2017/07/chasing-next-credit-bubble-it-feels.html

for the rest

A long interview with Jim Chanos. Watch it. http://buff.ly/2rjcREb ht Marketfolly

#BloombergInvest Spotlight: Jim Chanos The legendary short seller talks with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Scarlet Fu about what he sees for the markets in this most unpredictable of years.

As long as countries keep abusing citizens and their currency, gold will still have value http://buff.ly/2oKeKoE What value is the question

The World's Top Gold Market Just Had Its Strongest Buying In 3 Years Sentiment has turned up in the gold market the last few weeks. And new data from the world's top consuming center -- India -- shows there may indeed be cause for optimism amongst bullion buyers.

A good explanation as to why I ignore the Dow Jones Industrial Average http://buff.ly/2l93xuB ...a poorly designed index

Episode 443: Don't Believe The Hype People are talking about how the Dow Jones Industrial Average is about to hit a new record: Twenty thousand. We have a pretty strong opinion about the Dow. We think you should ignore it.

US expected to become natural gas exporter in next few year http://buff.ly/2lwolzx via John Kemp

Liquefied natural gas exports expected to drive growth in U.S. natural gas trade - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, diesel, propane, and other liquids including biofuels and natural gas liquids.

Interview with David Hay of Evergreen Financial Advisors

Evergreen Virtual Advisor - RVTV Interview - Evergreen Capital Click here to view the PDF version. “Buy not on optimism, but on arithmetic.” – BENJAMIN GRAHAM, mentor to Warren Buffett INTRODUCTION The investment landscape and headlines of today would be…

The Evolution of Competition http://buff.ly/2ltLNyL Another way to look at the Phenomenon known as Trump

The Evolution of Competition - Salient The Trump presidency is breaking us. Not because of the specifics of his policies or whether they’re right or wrong or anything like that. It’s breaking us because we now routinely talk past or yell…

It's important to know when to swing for the fences and when to play it safe, Super Bowl edition http://buff.ly/2lhu3Xd via Aron Pinson

Here’s a lesson in investing from the Super Bowl Here’s a lesson in investing from the Super Bowl

Wells Fargo and the culture of banking and business:

Wells Fargo pushed its bankers so hard that some of them opened multiple accounts (up to 2 million!) people without their permission.

This short term culture of profit uber alles destroyed a long term brand built up over the years as well as being just plain wrong.

The PR from Wells Fargo has been quite transparently wrong. Please look over some of the links below for the real story.

If you have funds or business at Wells Fargo I suggest you vote with your feet. May I suggest using a local credit union. Our family moved our primary banking business to a credit union years ago and I've been quite pleased with the service.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/10/07/497084491/episode-728-the-wells-fargo-hustle

https://news.vice.com/story/wells-fargo-bank-scandal

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/04/496508361/former-wells-fargo-employees-describe-toxic-sales-culture-even-at-hq?sc=tw

Episode 728: The Wells Fargo Hustle We take you inside the headquarters of Wells Fargo bank. It's a place where a bunch of young, stressed-out workers were rewarded for doing some very bad things.

The Middle East still can't get along, and that means they can't agree to restrain oil production ---> oil prices shall remain subdued for a little longer at least

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-meeting-deal-idUSKCN0XF2B3

The global oil deal that never came to be It was supposed to be the easiest deal ever reached among key oil market players, a mere formality.

It's a very strange (financial) world we live in right now. Nearly a THIRD of the developed world's debt trades at a negative yield

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-09/world-s-negative-yielding-bond-pile-tops-7-trillion-chart

World's Negative-Yielding Bond Pile Tops $7 Trillion: Chart More than $7 trillion of government bonds offered yields below zero globally as of Monday, making up about 29 percent of the Bloomberg Global Developed Sovereign Bond Index. The total is poised to swell further after Japan’s 10-year yield went below zero for the first time on record on Tuesday, as c…

Debt to GDP levels for two major commodity countries, Canada and Australia, are approaching or exceeding our (United States) levels just as our housing bubble went bust. Considering the continued decline in commodity prices this does not bode well for their economies in general.

Doing some year end work in the bond market. It's challenging due to the international cross currents and bloodbath in the energy markets but there are some opportunities presenting themselves...

Very long post at my blog, too long to repost here. Please click on over....


http://merrillovermatter.blogspot.com/2015/11/oils-eventual-recovery-part-one.html

Merrill over Matter: Oil's eventual recovery, part one

IRS' computer systems hacked - Identity theft on a whole new level

While one can exercise good security with respect to one's own personal financial information; identity theft is still possible. It's a sorry state of life but unavoidable.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/08/irs-estimate-of-tax-records-stolen-by-fraudsters-soars-to-over-300000/

IRS’ estimate of tax records stolen by fraudsters soars to over 300,000 Using data from previous corporate breaches, fraudsters frolicked in IRS transcript data.