Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a
while, you could miss it. Ferris Bueller
Being able to recognize what might seem to be unfathomable is
essential to recognizing when it is time to make a change. I’m
increasingly alarmed at what has been happening in China and feel it
is time we consider eliminating it from our portfolios. The second
largest economy in the world might not be investable? Is this as
unbelievable to you, as it is to me?
I’m one of Jim Cramer’s longest standing fans, partly because he is
known to make bold, controversial calls. He was one of the first
mainstream CNBC commentators to warn his 5:00 pm viewers that
they needed to sell oil and gas stocks…that renewable energy was
going to take make fossil fuel companies obsolete.
Monday, Jim urged viewers to remain cautious on the stocks of
Chinese companies, contending there’s too much regulatory risk to
invest in them; “I don’t know how much simpler I can make this.
When an explicitly communist government forces for-profit
companies to turn into nonprofits, it’s probably not a safe place to
invest your money,” the “Mad Money” host said.
Another strong voice, Perth Tolle, the founder of Life + Liberty
Indexes and creator of the Freedom 100 EM Index (ticker FRDM) is
several years ahead of traditional wall street voices. Prior to forming
Life + Liberty Indexes, Perth lived and worked in Beijing and
Hong Kong, where her observations led her to explore the
relationship between freedom and markets. She says; “It’s not every
day you come across a genuinely new take on investing.”
Find more about Perth Tolle at https://freedometfs.com/news/ and
look for next week’s Thoughts as I profile how we can identify the
funds that are invested in the countries we need to avoid. 40% of the
Emerging Markets Index is comprised of China…so this is
compelling work. Stay tuned: next week I’ll introduce you to
Magnifi, the newest piece of software to join my arsenal.
“Today’s tax policies may not be sustainable. Throughout history,
tax revenues relative to GDP have tended to follow government
debt levels. Today is the first time we are seeing such a large
divergence between the two.”
😲Why does this matter to you? Could this be any more obtuse? Why this chart matters to you…is that tax rates have been significantly higher, historically and based on the amount of debt we are now carrying, they will be going higher. We can help you minimize the impact this has on you.
Remember when the predictions were that solar and wind would never capture more than 5% - 6% of the total energy market? That oil, gas and coal would always be the most cost effective form of energy and they would continue to dominate the energy landscape?
😊 😲Why does this matter to you? This graph is startling…as it demonstrates that in only a decade, the entire world as we know it can be upended: fossil fuels are on track to become a thing of the past: hopefully, sooner rather than later! We can never be so attached to our beliefs that we refuse to take on new information and change our views. I think this is why I love this work: it is never boring.