The Freedom Factory

We are moving closer towards a political economy every day. Every dollar borrowed, taxed, printed, and spent by government really comes from the private sector.  Trillions of dollars of national resources are being allocated by politicians and bureaucrats towards things they claim will benefit our economy. Congress just passed a $3.6 trillion budget ($1.2 trillion in deficit), and combined the Federal Reserve and Treasury have dumped $13 trillion into the economy in the last 16 months. What we must all ask ourselves right now is whether or not we trust government with our money? Continue Reading

An often overlooked element to lifetime financial planning is the value of human capital. It can be an ephemeral concept, but if analyzed properly has a discrete value that depends on some basic assumptions. In an interview with CNNMoney.com, retirement expert Moshe A. Milevsky (associate professor at York University’s business school in Toronto) illustrates the importance of considering your future earning power in the labor market in addition to traditional financial assets. We are often better off than we realize, but that’s only if we efficiently translate human capital potential to tangible future value.

Continue Reading

Americans should be afraid of the long term value of the dollar. The country has massive fiscal imbalances that only look to be worsening. The social-political trajectory we are on is not likely to change, so a prudent thing to do is start transferring assets out of the country. A great way to do that is to buy foreign currencies. Exchange-traded funds (ETF’s) allow the regular investor to gain exposure to a variety of the world’s largest currencies, including Euro, British Pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Japanese Yen, Swedish Krona, Mexican Peso, and Swiss Franc.

Continue Reading