What Gold’s Move Is Telling Smart Investors Right Now – Peak Prosperity

Summary

Join the discussion at Peak Prosperity: https://peak.fan/e9xpbw9u Contact Peak Financial Investing at https://peak.fan/5n6b6zk5 Is …

Transcript

Nothing in this program should be considered investment advice. It is for educational purposes only. Please hit pause and read this disclaimer in full. The hangover is going to be horrible when this thing ends. And I don't know how much longer it'll last. The momentum [music] is absolutely mind-boggling. Hello everyone and welcome to this episode [music] of Finance. I'm your host Chris Martinson here with Paul Ker of Kiker Wealth Management. Paul, so good to be back with you today. We have so much to talk about. How you doing? You ready? You got good energy? >> I'm ready. I got the energy. I'm wound tight. [laughter] >> All right. So, one of my favorite um themes that that shows up in the Bible over and over again is for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. And it's really important because that it speaks to the idea that you have discernment that that you're you're able to process what what reality is. You're able to receive it truly whereas you're not diluted. You're you're not reading it wrong. You don't have like the wrong narrative. I want to talk about this because I think gold and silver are screaming right now and I want to know if people are watching and listening. Um and so this is gold on a monthly chart. um you don't usually see parabas like that that little shape down there um outside of something really extraordinary happening. And if this is a AI stock or tulips or something like that, I know what I'm looking at. I'm looking at a bubble. But gold isn't a tulip. Gold is money. It is the only form of money in our system that's actually money because all the rest is money with quotes around it. Gold is the only financial asset that is not somebody else's counterparty risk. It's not somebody else's liability. When you own gold, >> you own it. If I own a bond, if I own a Paul bond, that's great. I have an asset, but it's your liability, right? So, >> that's right. >> Um, yeah. So, when money is screaming like this, I think we'd better listen. By the way, I I I found my favorite movie meme for this one. [laughter] Nothing to say. That's the perfect movie scene to display what's going on, >> right? But but I will tell you this. So So here, Paul, it's only in the United States that and maybe Europe too where the headlines it's just crazy. So like when you see Bitcoin make a new high, it's like Bitcoin achieves record high. What's possible? You know, it's all this active voice kind of language. Gold is like um uh gold uh you know um uh you know so just sort of like passively gold gold's like marks the new high this little sort of passive voice everywhere else in the world people are going crazy right now the retail shops are stripped clean in Thailand Vietnam Australia China Holland only in the US I just for my US listeners our US listeners I want you to understand that you are being deceived by the press that's working extra hard to make sure you're not paying attention to this. >> Right. That's how I receive it right now. >> Well, and this is what I always pay attention to. What's Wall Street pushing? Okay. What What are the >> So, Alex, the new adviser that's joined our team has some younger guys [clears throat] that are with the other firms. And this reminds me of, you know, corporate telling me in 1999, if you want to build a business, build it on Fizer right before it went down for 17 years, 18 years. But I mean, they're pushing crypto like crazy. AI theme and crypto theme. It's let's give people what they want. And you don't have Eric Trump coming out and saying gold's going to go to 20,000. But he is coming out and saying Bitcoin's going to go to, you know, a million. I think it was Eric Trump. It was one of the Trumps. So, there's this this this major push that's taking place right now. But then you look at what big money's doing and what big institutions are doing and what central banks are doing. They're making major purchases and accelerating their purchases in the physical gold and looking at silver as strategic. So, so you know, it's one of those it reminds me of fishing. You know, one of the things I do, and I never finished this story before, is when I go fishing, I go into fly shops now that I'm very experienced. I'm like, "What's the hot fly?" And I'll buy a couple of those, but I buy everything else because if the fish are saying the exact same thing for three weeks in a row, if you throw a little something else at them, then typically they're going to move along. This is the big shiny object that they're holding out there for investors. And I'm not saying you shouldn't have exposure to it because the momentum is absolutely there right now. But be very careful, you know, uh over the longer term, you you tend to be better off to buy the thing that they're not talking about the most, especially when it's moving like this cuz any other stock, they would be highlighting every fund manager of an ETF that's in that sector, every specialist. You know, if Kathy Wood was in the gold mining space, she'd be all over CNBC right now, right? Yep. >> Well, let me take that back. If she was in the gold mining space, they would not have her on CNBC right now. >> Mhm. >> So, so you know, and and the move the move I think we we were talking about right before we got started has me nervous, right? I mean, I've I saw a move like this prior to 2008, but is it different this time, right? You know, what is it signaling? It's signaling something to us. And the only thing that I keep coming back to is counterparty risk or or somebody knows that they're willing to torch the currencies and they're they're about to go all in in money printing. >> Well, I I agree. And and by the way, um if we look back to this, where it really started to sneak away was back here, as we've discussed before, in 2022. And it didn't really make its first big breakout till the beginning of 2024, but it started to sneak up this whole time. And Nick, who we both know, said that the way he thinks about this, if you've ever played the card game spoons, right? The whole thing is people are passing cards around till somebody gets four of a kind and then you grab a spoon. There's one less spoons than participants. So there's this mad scramble. The person who doesn't get the spoon loses, exits thing, and you can continue on with one less spoon after that. So, one of the sneaky things you can do in that game, Paul, is instead of grabbing the spoon when you get your four of a kind, is to just keep playing and just as quietly as you can, just sneak a spoon off the table and watch how long everybody else keeps going while you're just have the little cat eating grin, you know, canary eating grin on your face, right? It's just it's fun. Spoons got started getting snuck off the table back here, >> you know, almost two years ago now. So, so now we're in in this phase of it. >> Silver is starting to play catch-up. It's about to bust through its alltime. If it closes here or around here, it'll be the highest monthly close since ever. Um, which would be a pretty big deal. Um, but it this is going to be significant resistance right here. They're going to do everything they can to keep it under the big round number of 50 because round numbers matter. But can we point out here it blew right past the big round number of 4,000 >> for gold, right? Okay. So, silver's playing catch-up. I want to keep that in frame as well. um the VANC gold miners. This is interesting for two reasons. One, this was about half this amount just about a year ago. Um you know, here it is at what 35? Yeah, it's half that amount just back here at the beginning of 2025. Oh my goodness, we're only what 10 months in now. >> But what was interesting, Paul, was at the close yesterday, it got sold down 2%. >> Because everybody knows how this works. When gold runs up this far, it gets sold in the overnight. So they front ran that and then oops this is pre-market when I grabbed this. They had to undo that because they had that all wrong. [laughter] >> That's right. >> So whoever sold that in anticipation of a big slam at night didn't get that. So that's telling us something. But this is interesting because KATUSA research says gold monthly RSI at 91. Never been that high before. Is insane. There's overbought and then there's price doesn't matter. Whatever that means. And I have Paul, I want to reframe this cuz I I all things being equal, he's absolutely right. We're in way overbought territory. Way overbought. >> Yeah. >> Like compared to how it's been for since decades, you know, way overbought means it's due for a correction. I have a different view of this, >> it isn't overbought. It's still underowned. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> Badly underowned. >> Right. And so Egon von Guyer says here biggest wealth transfer in history from paper to real assets stock and bond in property holders going to have the shock of their investment life against real assets like gold and silver the above bubble assets will fall by 75 to 95% and look at the Dow Jones to gold ratio look at that huge plummet downtrend has returned right >> if all things being equal it's going to get it's going to have to go way down to here somewhere >> right which means in simple terms down may still go up, but gold's going to go up a lot faster. Or the Dow may fall a lot, but gold will fall less than that. One way or the other, you know, it that'll that'll sort of play out um that it would be better to be in gold according to this chart. So, I ran the numbers before, we talked about them briefly, but I think the current exposure in United States families to gold is a percent or less. Oh, >> like in terms of a percentage of assets, >> there's $130 trillion of financial assets just held by the top 10% of families in the US. If one day their brokers call them up and say, "I think you should have a 5% waiting to gold," right? Which would be a very nominal, very steady, I think, personal, not advice, but I think that's a too too small of an allocation given where we are in this story. But anyway, if they said, "Hey, we think you should bump up from 1% to 5%." That means we have to find room for about five or six trillion dollars just from the top 10% of families. That has to go over to gold. Great. How big is the gold market? It's about $2.5 trillion. So, how do you squeeze 5 trillion into two and a half trillion? >> You double the price or triple the price or quadruple the price. It's all supply and demand. >> Mhm. But gold is still badly underowned by >> people, particularly in the United States. I would submit compared to other countries. >> Well, I mean, just look at this and I'll share. So, and I look, I I apologize. I do not have the reference to wherever I got this, but was from a credible source. I just forgot to put it down here. >> But this is gold on a weekly chart going back to 2019. So, when gold was what is that about 1,900 an ounce global financial assets and gold share? >> So, all the global financial assets gold was only about one and a half%. of that. By the time we got here, we were 2.1. So, a little over a half a percent increase took us from what 1,800 to what was that somewhere around there? 3,200. And I that that report will come out at the end of the quarter and I'm going to find it again. But, you know, this this just Yeah, you've got some retail flow that's going in there, but this is this is more central banks and big institutions and big investors. >> These are big players. >> Yep. Well, I I want to get to the main thesis I have around this because it's really really kind of interesting and important. I hope I hope I can't wait to see what you think about it. But um uh so this is the purchasing power of a dollar since the Federal Reserve started. And you can see how they've been doing >> well. They torched it. >> They're like, "Oh, we have to dual mandates, price stability [laughter] and full employment." Whoops. Well, one out of two ain't bad. Um, no, but I mean the reason I said the trouble with money and I put quotes in it. This isn't money. This is fiat currency. Money is a store of value, a medium of exchange, a unit of account. It had but that first part, it has to be a store of value. >> Please point to the store of value on this chart. Um, you know, none. >> It's absolutely been the opposite of that. So, it's not money, it's money. And people are starting to figure that out. Inflation is bad. It's accelerating. Man, we've got some some tough stuff to talk about a little later. So, Paul, um I just want to let people know who are watching this. At Peak Prosperity, I also I put out this thing called Fatpipe. It's where I sort of synthesize the world over the past week and talk about what's happening. I had a lot of topics this last time. This just came out on on Monday, which is two days ago now. And so, you can see obviously there's there's a lot of commentation around this and all that, but I want to talk about this one thing. Japan's urgent monetary warning out of all of these things because this is important I think and so I'm going to talk about the end of money and it starts here. Quote, "For the longest time I thought Japan would be that black swan event for the Western banking system. It's an integral part thoroughly wrapped and woven into the monetary and banking machinery of the West. If it blows up, then keeping the machine intact will prove to be exceedingly difficult." I'm being euphemistically polite there. Uh before I post the next few pieces of data, let's recall Martin Armstrong's theory on what happens when investors lose faith in sovereign debt and abandon that for corporate stocks and bonds. From Grock, the summary is um Martin Armstrong, an economist and forecaster known for his economic confidence model, has long theorized that escalating government debt levels, fiscal irresponsibility, and rising taxation will erode investor confidence in sovereign debt. The loss of faith triggers a major capital shift away from government bonds and towards private sector assets such as high-grade corporate bonds and equities. And so what I wrote was in practice, I mean, what's that going to look like? It looks like a decline in the price of longdated government paper and a corresponding spike in interest rates with that concominant shift into purchasing of stocks and bonds of those domestic corporations for the for the bonds involved. Did you see this? So, this was just a couple days ago. Japan's 40-year, it gapped. I mean, it just gapped. The 40-year just jumped. And you know what happened at the same time? The NIK absolutely gapped and spiked. So, Paul, here's how I'm interpreting this. Somebody in Japan finally said, "I'm out of sovereign paper. Just get me into anything. I guess I'm buying stocks." Right? >> That's what that looks like to me. big old sell off in bonds with a gap up in yields and a big old immediate and powerful rotation. This is a 5% move. 5%. That's not insignificant. >> No, that's a huge move. And and I'm still needing to do some research on it. But from what I understand, they had a a completely different election outcome with this new lady that's been elected over there that's that's, you know, like, hey, we got to we got to get this fixed. And and and the knock-on effects of that is the the yin carry trade, right? So I mean they had a policy of keeping their currency weak, interest rates low, so hedge funds, institutional investors can go buy, you know, borrow money over there, invest it over on this side. And that is a massive trade that's out there. And I was shocked when that move took place. I looked to the US equities markets and uh just a yawn, you know, it's like >> yeah, I know >> the FOMO is still there. And um it hasn't mattered yet, but that's a major shift that's been in place what since the NK bubble burst in ' 89. and uh I think it was '89 that's been building over all these years and it's a foundation trade for the large majority of of Wall Street. Yeah. Well, it it it's I just wanted to point it out cuz you know I think that's that's what it would look like, right? And guess what? The Bank of Japan has been working like just overtime to get that back under control, desperately trying to regain control. So, Robin Brooks writing here, quote, "Looks like Japan intervened to bring the 30-year JGB Japanese government bond yield back down after it spiked earlier this week on news that his prime minister is a fiscal dove. Yield caps like this aren't the answer for Japan. They just lead to uncontrolled yen devaluation. We watched this movie in 2024." So, they they had to intervene. They just came riding right in hard. But you can feel this is sort of that creaking popping sounds. You know, this is a major market, Paul. And and I the thing I really want to point out here is that people are right to be losing faith in the sovereign situation because of out of control debt levels, fiscal irresponsibility. Japan, let me just be clear about this. Japan needs a shrinking economy because it has a shrinking population that's aging. People who are past working age tend not to consume quite as much. So you there's not no no amount of horsehing with interest rates and free money stimulus that's going to make them change that behavior because they're not in their 30s, you know, buying a house and and doing all that. So instead of saying, "Wow, our money system should be in just a medium of exchange, should be in service to the economy, which by the way should be serving the people, what do they need?" No, we're just gonna, she just said, we're just going to throw more debt and money at this until it behaves the way we want it to, which is really broken. It's really broken. >> And I don't think that's been lost on the Japanese people, Paul, because this is um gold priced in yen. They they're like, >> "Look at that. Look at that. >> Get me out of dodge." >> Well, and here's another thing to point out. So, you got Japanese investors are taking cover in gold from that standpoint. You know, if you've got all the money in the world, and that's one thing that that you pay attention to, currencies being somewhat tied together and linked together, all the money in the world starts chasing that finite asset of gold. And going back to the monetary value, the lack of counterparty risk and just the lack of trust in institutions. I mean, the lack of trust in institutions is enough for you to go over and purchase purchase the physical metal from that standpoint. I mean, we've not even gotten started on the price movements yet. If if if we're at that slowly and then suddenly part [music] now markets are facing heightened uncertainty and thoughtful portfolio management has never been [music] more important. If your current strategy relies solely on passive investing or diversification without active [music] oversight, it may be time to consider a different approach. At Peak Financial [music] Investing, we connect you with experienced wealth managers who actively manage portfolios [music] using disciplined, research-driven strategies designed to adapt to evolving market [music] conditions. Our focus is on helping clients navigate volatility with clarity and confidence. While no investment strategy can guarantee results [music] or eliminate risk, we believe that preparation and active management can make a meaningful difference over time. Visit peakfinaniallinvesting.com [music] to schedule a complimentary consultation and explore whether our approach aligns with your goals. I'm Dr. Chris Martinson and I am proud [music] to support Peak Financial Investing. This is not a guarantee of future performance, but [music] a call to take your financial planning seriously. Again, that's peak financial.com. [music] Investing, of course, involves risk, including the potential loss of principle. [music] Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please consult with a qualified adviser before making investment decisions. So, I do think that I love the analogy of sneaking the spoons off the table cuz that's what's been happening. But once that mad scramble for the spoon starts, then we discover that um us little people are just are just priced out of the game. Just priced out. Because when when billionaires who have this they're suddenly worried about their depreciating dollars, they they want gold. Does it matter if it's 5,000 an ounce, 10,000, 80,000? It doesn't actually. It's irrelevant. The only thing that matters is do you have it or not? >> Mhm. >> How many ounces do you have is the relevant question, I think, in this story. >> Well, I I'll give a good conversation that I had with my uncle the other day. So, for since the breakout, the finish of that big cup and handle on gold, you know, we've talked about gold and precious metals for 25 years. Okay. So, but he's a good representation of just the average investor that's out there because he's not he's a good man. He makes a, you know, touches a lot of people, but he doesn't spend a whole lot of time researching or listening to podcast just a generation where they're kind of outside of that. So, he doesn't know the math behind and I try to explain the math and he just can't get over the fact that the price is higher. So, finally he calls me the other day feeling a little bit of panic. He's got some so he's good. >> But he's like, you know, instead of going, "Do you think it can go higher?" He's like, "Do you think it'll ever go down again?" You know, >> but frozen to be able to reallocate some more capital over there. And I'm like, "Well, of course it can, but look at the big picture of where you want to be right now." Okay, you got to look at that big picture. Does it really matter if it goes down in the short run? Because let's say we have a deflationary collapse, right? Let's say they unzip the great taking. >> Well, are fiats debt based? Are currencies are, you know, all currencies of the world are debt based? Everything is leveraged across the board somewhere in business. So if you did have that great taking collapse, the lack of counterparty risk, so what if it's 50% below here? If everybody else has lost 90% of their purchasing power, you've still built wealth, but you've got this, you know, anchoring to where the where it is now. But if if if we are to the point, see, I've always thought that they were going to wait till we had a little bit more cover, right? So let's let's say we have a quick deleveraging 30 40 50% decline in the market. Let a little bit of pain come for the average investors. They're going to be screaming for bailouts on Wall Street and then they just unlock the printing presses and then poof, we're off to the races. We may not get that. They may have decided that we're not even willing to do that. We're we're at the end of this stage. So we're just going to print everybody into oblivion. We don't know. But the one thing that gold is telling us is there's big serious money out there that's worried enough about something to move aggressively in the path less traveled. And it looks more it looks more like passive investing, right? Because passive investors are price insensitive. They don't even realize half the time that they've got 38 to 42% of their investment going into six stocks. They don't care what the revenues are. They don't care what the price to earnings ratios are because they've been deceived that that stuff doesn't matter anymore. But like you said, price doesn't matter at this point for for some of these large institutions because they're looking for where we're going to be five years from now. They're not so worried about where we're going to be three or six months from now, which is what retail worries about a lot of times. >> Well, sure. And you make a good a great point about, you know, if I buy gold and it goes down tomorrow, I feel like just terrible. But if I do that with stocks, well, that happens, you know. Um, nobody picks the top. So, like there's been this conditioning that somehow a loss in gold, a loss, meaning you still have an ounce at the end of the day. If you bought an ounce and it goes down 300 bucks, you still have an ounce, right? So, no loss was actually incurred. But, but if you had to sell it, you incur the loss, right? And so, that loss is terrible. But stocks, oh, they go up and down. They're volatile. You know, you get used to that. So, it's marketing. But on that point, um, Ross Hendricks, I thought, made a great point here. He said, "In real money terms, the S&P 500 has lost 70% of its value in the last 25 years. So, this is just dividing the S&P by gold." >> Mhm. >> Yeah, >> that's a terrible chart. >> You look at that and you're like, "Ah, I don't want to invest in that." But if you just look at it in dollar terms, oh, it looks great. New highs, new highs, break highs. How much higher can it go? Price targets moved up, you know, on and on. >> Yeah. But the point I really want to make here is that I'm I'm worried that what So ears to hear, eyes to see. It's possible that gold is telling us, well, here's what I know for sure. It's big money driving it right now. Big I mean big, right? Sure, central banks, but I mean big money. This isn't retail except in places like China where retail is actually a force to be reckoned with. And it's possibly telling us that there's a gigantic monetary accident coming because gold is the place you go when you're worried about sovereign risk, monetary risk, big systemic risk, you know, things that you really fundamentally can't control, >> right? >> Mhm. >> I'm a little worried that's what it's telling us. That's why you would think, you know, after investing in gold at 300 an ounce, I'd be the guy, you know, cha. I'm not. I'm I'm sitting here kind >> either. I'm like, "Oh, no. This is what I was worried about, you know. >> Yeah. You know, and I saw a headline come out even from a a pretty credible source the other day. Is is is silver about to crater like it did, you know, after the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market? Yeah, of course it probably can. But but when you look at what gold's doing on the other side, you know, gold's doing right now and silver's playing catch-up. It has a long way to go before it even closely catches up. But it's those headlines that get there. We're not seeing headlines about uh AI or you know the AI trade or the the top 10 you know coming out in major sources that are saying are we about to crater right? Yeah. They're saying oh it's a bubble but it doesn't matter because this is going to move a lot quicker than it did in the past. >> So one thing I'd like to encourage people Chris is you're talking about that from from that perspective and I want to read it here because it just came to mind and as as much as I can reference them I have to read them sometimes and I'll share. I just did a quick search. Um, let me make sure I've got the right one. So, Proverbs and Proverbs is my favorite book of the Bible just because it's applicable. So, um, Proverbs 120 through 23 and I like the ESV. Wisdom cries aloud in the street. In the market, she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy street, she cries out. At the entrance of the city gate she speaks. How long, oh simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will mockers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. And I get cold chills reading that. If we are humble enough to ask for wisdom and pray for that and we search for it with everything that we have, we're going to walk a path that's sustainable. >> You know, Proverbs tells us there's there's four individuals. There's the wise. And all of us understand when we think of somebody wise, there's an individual that comes to mind that's poured some type of guidance or blessing into our lives that we may not have liked the advice to begin with, but it stood the test of time. And and really that's what gold's done over history is it stood the test of time through thousands of years. And then there's the fool, you know, and we we all have an image of a person that comes to mind as a fool. And then there's the simple. And then there's the scoffer. And um you know, I I encourage all of us, we're all at some point in our lives wise, a fool, simple, and a scoffer. But let's hunger to be wise because that's what we're going to need. Our families are going to need it. Our communities are going to need it because I'm concerned at this point that we're headed down a path that can't be stopped. We just have to we just have to to seek wisdom and utilize tools that can help us make wise decisions and be prudent with the resources we have. And and that goes back like return of capital is more important than return on capital right now. And uh from a from a debt default standpoint, but at the same time, maintaining purchasing power is going to be more important if we're at that suddenly phase now that continues to accelerate. And it's not an easy environment to navigate. I mean, you know, it's not it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be navigated perfectly. But if you're hungering for wisdom, you have the courage to face truth and embrace that truth regardless of how painful it is. You're going to come through it fine because you're walking a prudent and sustainable path, not a foolish or simple path. >> You know, when I was talking with Brett Weinstein a while ago, he's an evolutionary biologist. He said, "Wisdom is when an animal can display delayed gratification." >> And so he he said, "I know dolphins are wise because dolphins will are um rewarded with um uh fish if they get trash out of the SeaWorld pool." So they found these dolphins who would take a piece of trash, tear it up into little bits, stash the bits all over the place, and hand the bits in one at a time to get more fish. Right. >> Wow. >> Delayed gratification. Yeah. >> Wow. So, so I I think about that that is wisdom often time is is like knowing when when to do nothing. >> Knowing when you have to do something even though it's uncomfortable. It's it's knowing that I'm going to do this thing now so that in X years, 5 years, 10 years, I can have my delayed gratification, right? That but that that is wisdom. And I do feel that our culture through the media, through social media is really all about instant gratification. And it's all about exactly what do I have to do right this second? And and I think that robs many people of of that that stillness you need to sort of think about how am I going to lay down this plan for myself, for the people who follow me, for my children, grandchildren, all of that. It's just takes real wisdom to do that. >> It does. And one thing I encourage individuals to do is really consider alternative paths. Okay? Like let's just say you're passive. you're new to to to listen to Chris and u you know share some wisdom and knowledge with you the facts about what's really going on underneath the surface and you're really not sure what to do yet. Take yourself through the mental exercise of what what would it take for me to walk a different path to to to pursue the path of wisdom. There's no instant gratification in it. And think about the emotions that you're going to deal with. So, I was having a conversation a minute ago with somebody that was asking and uh they're very familiar with the situation that happened in Zimbabwe. We didn't go as far as I wanted to go down the conversation. We ran out of time. And I'm fascinated because I've studied the Zimbabwe hyperinflationary collapse in depth. And you know, I was explaining I said one of the good things about our strategy and our approach is I spend a lot of time, you know, stress testing scenarios so that mentally I'm prepared to take those two steps. And and sometimes, right, you take two steps to the side from the from the herd. There's time to be with the herd and there's a time to separate from the herd. You take two steps to the side, you might get a couple of steps behind and the information doesn't continue to unfold, but now you come back in. But if you've prepared yourself for what needs to be done in a currency collapse, what needs to be done in a in a shipping collapse, right? I mean, let's say an EMP goes off in the United States. You can either stand there and and be frozen in fear or if you've thought about that, I'm walking to the grocery store and I'm getting, you know, spending purchasing everything that I can because you've thought through what'll happen to supply chains on the other side of that. >> Yeah. So the point being is if you've got a strategy and you've considered that, yeah, you're going to take those steps with fear and trembling, but if the information continues to unfold and you're 10 steps ahead, 20 steps ahead of the average person before they've processed what is occurring, then you've protected your family, your community, and and and helped shelter yourself like the prudent foresee danger and hide themselves. So I think this is a time where people need to be going through those exercises and really thinking about, you know, alternative paths and what the emotions would feel like so that yeah, you're going to have some fear in that. Uh but you're making prudent and wise decisions instead of, you know, emotional decisions because weak people make emotional decisions. They get sucked into things and we're all weak at some point. But wise individuals, like you said, with that that delayed gratification, you're willing to walt that path less traveled so that you're where you need to be either where you need to be or better protected down the road than what you are in the next week or two. And it's not as fun when you're sitting around at Thanksgiving bragging to your brother-in-law unless you've, you know, um, not bragging, having conversations with with family members. I have a good brother-in-law, y'all. Both of them are good. So it's just a an analogy most people can understand. But you know for those you know the interesting thing is is for for the when I was looked at like a a two-headed goat in 2016 when we started reallocating back into gold pretty heavily again. You know around most of your conversations. You know they're going you must be excited about where it is now. I'm like, "No, actually, I'm I'm really terrified because it shouldn't be moving this f this far this fast and and especially with big institutions going into it unless somebody knows something that we don't know yet that we're going to find out in the future. And I don't think it's good. You know what? Gold and silver are my top choices to protect my wealth against inflation and economic instability. Now, with all the monetary debasement and all these geopolitical risks going on, hedging your [music] wealth has never been more important. I recommend that everybody own some gold and silver physical in your hot little hands. But what if you want to hold it elsewhere? Gold core is an excellent choice and will rapidly and securely deliver physical gold and silver to your doorstep. But Gold Core also lets you buy and store your gold and silver in highsecurity vaults in places like Switzerland or Singapore or the US at your choice. And for all of my followers, Gold Core will provide your first 6 months of storage for free. With Gold Core, you get the convenience of buying and selling precious metals as easily as stocks, but with the security of your metals being fully allocated and segregated, meaning they sit in a secure location on a shelf in a box with your name and your name only on it. Now, unlike your stocks where you are actually a subordinated security entitlement claimant, [music] something we learned during our great taking series, you are the one and only named owner of your metals. But just like stocks, you can still sell your metals instantly at market prices without any unnecessary delays. Need liquidity? Gold Core gives you immediate access to cash. But if you prefer physical delivery, getting them shipped to you is a mouse click away. GoldCore offers a range of investment options from gold and silver coins and bars to self-directed IRA. [music] Again, all with fully segregated and secure storage. Take control of your financial future today with Gold Core, [music] where investing in precious metals has never been easier, more secure, or more transparent. Remember, Peak Prosperity followers get 6 months of free storage. So, sign up now at peak.fan/goldcore fan/goldcore to secure your six [music] months of free storage. Again, that's peak.fan/goldcore. I I had a really I this ties in. Give me a second to build this idea. Um make gold great announc said that Alistister Mloud of Mloud Finance um and Alistair is a great guy. Um he said that China he Mclad thinks is has around 75,000 tons of gold which should be about 40% of all the gold ever mined ever in the world. Wow. That includes um what what the citizens hold, but that would be 9x what the US government has. So if we get into a new future where gold is monetary backing, China's already won the race. Like we Oh yeah. And I I and it bothered me for out of over 10 years. I've been talking about the west to east flow of gold. it leaves London, gets re-refined in Switzerland, and about 150,000 kilos a month has been flying uh to the east. And so, we've just been like giving it up as if it didn't matter because I think we didn't have wise people saying, "Hey, we should hold on to this if we can." They were just like, "Keep the price down because that served their short-term needs." So, here here's so here here's what I'm going to build with this. Um, I had an experience this weekend. I'm thinking, you know, because I hear these things where people are like, "Oh, you know, someday we may have to fight China." I'm like, "No, no, we've already lost that war because they have this manufacturing prowess that you can't even begin to understand." I was watching uh this morning a they had a video of a car plant where they are assembling a car car chassis and it was dark because it was just robots in there. There were no humans. They didn't need lights. And these car chassis, Paul, would move forward every two seconds. they would advance. Robot arms would come spot weld and they would advance. So every two seconds they're kicking out a car chassis, right? We can't we can't do that. But here here was here was my weekend experience. So So I go to this Teimu, which is a Chinese selling site, right? And they sell almost anything here like um so you know batteries, sofas, you know, whatever you want, right? But but just look at you can buy a mini excavator on here for 4,700 bucks. I don't know how much it can do, >> but you know, there's that. Um, you know, you could get I don't know, >> just just anything you want and it's all just ridiculously cheap, right? Unbelievably cheap. And it's just every possible thing you could imagine. So maybe it is cheap, but let me show you something. So I'm building I have a little building project going on. So I have these 8 by8 post bases. I need if I go to Home Depot, would you believe it? A single 8x8 galvanized post base is $81. >> Goodness gracious. >> For a single post base cuz that's probably what it costs them to manufacture that in the US. >> So I go over to Teeu and I say, "What can I get an 8 by8 post base for?" Well, first off, I can get it for 23 bucks. But second of all, this is made out of stainless steel. >> Stainless steel versus Wow. And it comes with all the mounting hardware. And I just got them and I was so shocked. These are actually stainless steel expansion bolts in case you have to drill into concrete and tie it down. These are stainless steel screws that come with it. They have stainless steel throughbolts in case you want to throughbolt the whole thing. Like it's all stainless steel. Just the the the fittings alone, Paul, I couldn't have bought for 20 bucks. >> Guaranteed. So point is we're we're up against a potentially a nation where we can't even begin to think about how we could possibly open a factory that could make stainless steel post bases profitably for 23 bucks. >> Get them halfway around the world. We could not do that. >> It's just out of our capability at this point in time. >> Oh, government regulations would add $30 to the price just instantly. >> Yep. And but but by the time you get there, of course, you have to have a supply chain. So, you need all the pieces. Um you would need a skilled manufacturing workforce. You would need the capitalization for whatever uh automatic machinery you're going to have. You there's taxes, all everything. There's not a chance in the world we can compete. Like, we can't even make a galvanized post base with no fixtures for four times the price, right? >> No. No. And I'm I'm so upset at myself right now that I haven't emailed Luke Groman and asked permission to be able to share his full level research report. And I looked on Twitter uh before we got on here just to see if I could find it out there. So, it's not posted. Until I get permission, I'm not going to do it. But he showed a chart of China's manufacturing capability and what they put into robotics and just how you know and he talked about how many sectors are completely uninvestable from venture capital right now because China is so far ahead in their manufacturing capability. we just cannot compete and you know so when you look at the basis they've laid from energy that you've talked about other other areas I mean it's terrifying if we get into a war with them because of their ability to to produce and manufacture we're going to deplete our stock piles while they're you know producing more than we even have the capability of doing in years. Look at that. That's amazing. And that's deflationary, too. >> Wow. >> To to compete with that, not only do you have to have a source for the robotics, but you have to have the knowledge of how you would do that from a logistics standpoint, from a supply chain standpoint, from a manufacturing standpoint, management of the whole thing. There's a lot that goes into that. We don't just someday wake up and go, you know, we should have robotics car chassis plants, too. But >> the point is that China has this and they have this as well for creating military goods and and and all wars are won or lost on the basis of logistics for the most part. Um so >> they they they clearly are there and and so you would hope we'd have people with the wisdom to say >> well how are we going to compete with China? It's not like, oh, you know, they copy our stuff and we can't those old things don't hold water anymore, you know, because they didn't copy the world's highest suspension bridge from anybody, you know, they didn't they didn't copy their um ultrasonic hypersonic missiles from us because we don't have them yet, right? Etc. So, those days are gone. So, the question is, how are we going to compete? And Trump has said, well, we're going to compete with tariffs and by taking percentage equity stakes in an increasing number of companies, which I'm still a little concerned about. I am too. I am too. But to an extent, isn't that the way that that that certain individuals go take a protection fee off of restaurants and stores on certain streets? >> There was a name for that. Yes. >> Yeah. That's sticking your butt boot on somebody's neck instead of doing it otherwise. And you you mentioned that bridge. I have been in awe of that bridge. Can you find it real quick for those that haven't seen it? >> Yeah. >> That's unbelievable. And when I saw that, I'm like, that is real wealth right there when your government and your institutions to be able to build something >> that beautiful and that impressive. And you know, it saved the average drive time. What was it? Two hours to >> Yeah, cuz people had to drive all the way down. It's 2,000 ft off the deck. 2,100 ft from here to here. That's how high it is. 2,100 ft. >> Wow. >> I don't even know how you do that, but they did it. I mean, that's that's just amazing to me. You know, break it down to a family. How nice would it be for a father to be able to to make convenience that easy without spoiling their kids? I mean, that's real wealth when you've got a country doing that. >> The problem is is our politicians seem to be really good at at taking bribes, kickbacks, and insider stock trades at the expense of the people instead of bringing us something like that. Look at the waterfall. Wow. >> And they put water they have water sheeting off of it to create rainbows and stuff just, you know, just cuz it's beautiful. restaurant in the top. What is it? There's a restaurant in the top of the towers. >> Unbelievable. >> It really is. I mean, it's it's really impressive. And and uh if we were putting our trillions into that rather than bailing out, you know, decrepit banks or the next war that does nothing for our interests, you know, I I would have a different tune about all this. But that same level of effort you see that in this bridge, Paul, they're putting this into their electricity production. They're building another dam that's going to be three times larger than the three gorgeous dam which is already twice as large as any other dam in history, right? Um they're putting in solar and wind of course, but is an add-on to the coal plants, the nuclear plants, and everything else that they're doing. So that's what happens when you have a country that clearly says we know where prosperity comes from. It comes from good infrastructure and energy and having access to resources and also don't discount this, good relationships with the people we're trading with because they have what we need. We need what they have >> mutually beneficial. That reminds me of the Optimus Creed. I I used to memorize the whole thing or no, it's Rotary. One line is, "Is it fair to all concerned?" That's the best when it's mutually beneficial and it's fair to all concerned. That's a good long-term relationship to be in. That's not what we're doing. That's not what we've been doing. And that's the reason why we're driving other countries into their relationship in the bricks and and going back, you know, in in the unit that the bricks are talking about continuing to take steps toward, they have yet to back off the fact that they want it to be 40% backed by gold. Mhm. >> And you know, imagine if they did make that move, how blessed their citizenry is when they're promoting and encouraging their citizenry to buy gold at this point and their their government has been accumulating it with the wealth that they have. And our politicians are more worried about bailing out banks and financial engineering and and big shiny objects that are that are short-term. They're great for short-term profits for a corporate America, but terrible for the citizenry read from a long-term standpoint in their finances. >> Well, kids are struggling today obviously because they were actively thrown under the bus by Federal Reserve policy and also feckless leadership in in DC who just didn't seem to care, I guess. Um, can we talk um real quick? I I see some signs of distress out there still. I don't just want to be Mr. Bad News, but but there's stuff out there that people should be aware of. This fits, some of this fits under the recession watch stuff you and I have been doing. Um, Charlie Bleo just reporting today, yesterday? Yeah, yesterday 56,000 US home purchases were cancelled in August. That equates to 15% of all homes under contract. That is the highest cancellation percentage on record for the month of August going back many years. Um, wow. So that's almost one in sevenish. So that's a pretty big cancellation rate. You know, pick a reason why. um people didn't feel like they could follow through with that for some reason. Um and relatedly, the Cobes letter here reporting I think this was from today that there are cracks in the luxury housing market. Now, US luxury home sales fell.7% year-over-year in August. So, that's the first time it's gone, let's go backwards. Lowest August level in Redfins data going back to 2013. And over the last four years, luxury home sales have dropped by 37,359 or about 40%. So, so we're seeing weakness on both both ends of the market at this point in time. Um, usually this is your big canary in the coal mine. When when luxury homes start to tank, that's kind of when you're you're kind that's late story activity in >> home price adjustments. >> No, I agree. You got commercial uh loan mortgage back security delinquencies. You got all kinds of signs that are out there. But we're just at a point right now where where the average investor doesn't even care about that stuff, right? Because that stuff had been a warning sign for years and they're just exhausted looking at it. They just want to party like it's 1999. And the problem is this has been a hell of a party, but it's 3:00 a.m. and everybody wants it to continue going and everybody thinks that the, you know, they're going to wake up and go straight to work and the hangover is going to be horrible, but but the hangover is going to be horrible when this thing ends. And I don't know how much longer it'll last. The momentum is absolutely mind-boggling. >> I know it it really is. I think it could go on a bit longer. I got a chart that sort of suggests that. Um but this is this here is showing uh the value of um auto sector debt. I mean really cratered in September here. So US auto loans just had their biggest monthly losses since March of 2020 which was a pretty bad month. Um >> so auto loans people can't pay their loans. They're not buying houses. Um but this is that chart I was talking about. So this uh I who repost Oh yeah, Dave Colum reposted this on Twitter. But this is a chart from somewhere else uh Alpine Macro. This is just showing in the red dotted line is January 2023 to present and the blue line is June of 1996 to January of 2001. And and it's just an eerie correlation. >> Mhm. >> So based on this model, it'll carry on for a little longer before it rolls. >> Yeah. Well, and I would anticipate that too. I mean, e even if we get a nasty pullback here in the short run, there's still so much fear of missing out. And I like that chart because the chart deals with the psychology that took place at the end of the bubble. >> I mean, that that's the reason why they correlate is it's the psychology that causes investors to ignore fundamentals and get caught up in this narrative and the fear of missing out and the euphoria that's there. Right? The best investments you're going to make over the long term are the ones that make you sick to your stomach to purchase if you're really if you're really taking the time to analyze them. And you hope that it works. Hope's not investment strategy, but you've done all the work, right, to to lay the thesis, the fundamentals, the basis behind it. You make the allocation from a long-term standpoint. You wait for the market to come to you. This right here, I tell you, I thought that I had seen the level of bullishness from the average individual in 1998, 1999. I thought that I saw a lot of it in late 2021. >> I have never seen anywhere anything in the anywhere in the ballpark. I butchered my thought process there. Trying to come up with a term to explain it. I just can't come up with a term of the sheer euphoria, the absolute lack of care for fundamentals. If I've not had I've had I bet I've had 20 people that I've run into in the past two weeks. It's like, you know, I was too cautious for too long, but business revenues are great. I'm going to be fine. You know, I've handled a little bit of volatility this spring. It didn't freak me out. The reason it didn't freak you out is because it was over in 30 days, right? >> Tops. >> Um, >> but but now I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. I want to be aggressive and swing for the fence because I'm I'm I'm bulletproof. It's a different way of saying that it's different this time. And and maybe they're right. Maybe we just go straight into hyperinflation and and the markets continue to go up, but they're not going to go up as fast as gold and silver and natural resources and energy and utilities. emerging markets in relation to US equities. Um, you know, they might be rewarded, but it's not going to protect their wealth as some of the other things if we're actually at that point yet. But I think we're just in the peak euphoria. Investors aren't realizing that that future growth of all these investments is nowhere near the levels to justify the current price earnings ratios and multiples. and and we're we're we're priced to perfection to the point that anything anything that comes out of the blue, major earthquake, major geopolitical expansion, can unravel the whole thing faster than they can adjust their emotions. >> Well, and again, to be clear, we're talking really this is a tale of two worlds in the United States right now. We're not one country with a broad middle class. 92% of all equities are owned by the top 10% of families, right? that leaves 8% for everybody else, right? So, so they try and pretend like, you know, rising equity prices are are obviously good for everybody. You know, we're all getting wealthier when that happens. And it's not it's not true. Um, and we know that because the people who've been dispossessed, left out of this game, right? uh and increasingly so that creates an unstable environment and you know hop skipping a jump next thing you know you get a socialist mayor like Mamami in New York or people people start reacting because they've been left out of the game for so long this is something I feel like the Democrats just missed entirely in their hatred of the red hats was Trump was speaking to people saying hey I f I see you and I'm going to include you in this next part of the story and they're like wow that's a breath of fresh air because nobody's been saying that or if they have they haven't meant it right right? You know, >> right? They certainly haven't meant that. You're right. I mean, that's they're looking for some other alternative because they have no faith in in the status quo and the way that it's been because their real lived experience is different. And one of the things I've always told my kids, somebody told me this is pay attention to what people do, not what they say. >> There it is. >> And sometimes what people what people don't say is just as important as what they say. >> Exactly. And you know, so so I tell kids, trust somebody. That's one of the reason why I trust you so much, Chris. You do what you say, right? I mean, you do. >> It's easier that way. [laughter] >> Yeah. And you've established that that trust. But but you know, they keep telling us one thing, but they're doing another. And PE and And if you've been looking for that, you've been concerned for quite some time. But now the average person is experiencing the opposite impact of what they say they're going to do and they're disillusioned and they're, you know, and they don't know what to do. They're looking for another exit. And that's unfortunately what leads to somebody like Mandami because if they really understood where he's going, they wouldn't be voting for him. >> No. No. Because because the plan never works out. Um, you know, redistributing wealth never creates more wealth. Just doesn't work out that way. Uh but at the same time, we do have these really bizarre gaps that are happening and there's been this absolute failure of political leadership. So I think this was brought home for me. Uh sometimes I really like what Marjorie Taylor Green says and this is one of those times where she said this tweet just came out yesterday and she said, quote, "I was not in Congress when all this Obamacare affordable care act BS started. I got here in 2021. As a matter of fact, the ACA made health insurance unaffordable for my family after it was passed with skyrocketing premiums higher than our house payment. I had that situation. Let's just say as nicely as possible, I am not a fan. But I'm going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year, my own adult children's insurance premiums for 2026 are going to double along with all the wonderful families and hardworking people in my district. There's the link down below. She carries on. It's it's worth reading its entirety, but she posted this summary. The [clears throat] summary is that the potential cost increase if enhanced subsidies expire, the average annual premium for subsidized subsidized enroles could rise by 114% from 888 bucks to $1,94. Impact on affordability. This would more than double the out-ofpocket premium payments for millions of Americans who receive financial assistance. A KFF analysis found that a 60-year-old couple making $85,000 could see their yearly payments rise by over 22,600. Golly. So I said, insurance, it's a rack. It's so disgusting even the mob would blush. This is horrible. I don't know who these insurance people are, but but they're as bad as the people in hospitals throwing people on ventilators and rem desave. I It's just It's just what anything goes. As long as you can like scrape money out of people, that's that's the it's disgusting. It really It's just awful. >> It's terrible. And I don't know what the statistics are, but if you go back to Obamacare, I'll never forget because healthc care became a target in the top five of one of our strategies. And I'm like, this is a terrible thing. Like, in what world does this make sense? Cuz this is one of the areas that I learned to trust the tools that we utilize. >> Well, I think the 5 years following up to 2015, forgive me, these statistics may not be correct, but if it wasn't the best performing sector in the S&P 500, it was one of the best performing sectors in the S&P 500. So, like FXH, which is the first trust healthcare index, was $15 in 2010. That's 115 today. >> Oh, >> 115. Well, if it's, you know, and I just I'm not a believer that that health insurance companies could be should be publicly traded. I I I don't. You've got too much Wall Street influence in there to maximize profitability at the expense of the individuals they serve. And and Chris, >> my experience and hearing what people face and how hard they have to fight these insurance companies to get them to pay for reasonable procedures that can help their life or treat their situations is just so angering that that words don't words without expletives don't put it into justice. Don't do it justice. >> I agree. Here here's just a chart showing that health insurers here which is this orange line index to one in 2005. Here's where the ACA became law. Here's where it started to be implemented. They went from a value of one to over eight. So an 800% increase. It was just it the ACA was the single largest governmentmandated because I can get fined if I'm not carrying insurance, right? So, it's a governmentmandated giveaway to the health insurance companies 100%. That's what it is. And now it's destroying families and doing all of that, which is just it's just such a a failure of leadership. >> But I it's a moral failing here too on the insurance companies. They didn't have to be quite that rapacious and greedy. >> No, not at all. But weak men give in to being weak men give into their greed. Men and women give into their greed. >> And I'm I'm blown away. So, my daughter's 24. Her first child's going to be be born end of November, somewhere at the end of November. She's worried that it's going to be there earlier. Our first grandchild. And um but I I have to keep my my my I have to bite my tongue when she starts telling me how much it's going to cost to have a child. And she's working with a Fortune 500 company, great insurance. Um I I'm just blown away. I'm blown away by how expensive it is for a for a family to have a child. And you know, that's just another burden that we're stacking on top of the future generations for what is there some global agenda that they're moving forward. You know, they don't want more kids, so hey, let's just make it so expensive they can't have families. That's what it seems like to me. It's evil. >> No, that's where we're at. So, so one of the things that's happened a lot lately, Paul, um is that uh people at my site are showing up and starting to self-report like they feel ominous, like something's about to happen, something's going to break soon. So, people are skittish and nervous. I always get skittish and nervous every October. I think it's a biological thing. I'm I'm supposed to be planting nuts in the ground for winter. I don't know, you know, maybe that's it. But things when things break, you know, stock market breakdowns in October, for example, um things do tend to sort of get spicy in the fall, right? Um so, so who knows? But I just don't see how this resolves anymore, right? Because we've had nobody held to account at any of the higher levels for any of the vast crimes they committed, right? No, >> we we we can't have any accountability for for the elites, you know, and these elites are because they're unaccountable, have no checks and balances. there's nobody sort of holding them up short and saying stop. So they just keep doing what they're doing and that has been to just feather their own nests, take more and more and more for themselves, operate the system for their own private increasingly enormous benefit. And they really don't care at all about what happens to everybody else and that's an unstable system. And >> you know this latest thing we just saw where it turned out that the prior administration was spying even on US senators. If that doesn't result in arrests and convictions, right? The message is clear, Paul. It's like, look, the system is so out of control, it can even do this to US senators. So, what's the message to people like us at our level? It's like, oh, you got no hope. If the system turns its evil sor eye on you, it'll just ruin you. Whether that's right or wrong, legal, illegal, is kind of irrelevant, you know. >> That's right. That's right. >> That's not how you build a prosperous society, right? No. >> Yes. >> No. That's that's the that's the sign of the potential decline of a society. The decline of a society. Quite frankly, I hate to say potential because that is an absolute road marker that that there is no rule of law, right? There's if if you're connected enough, there is no rule of law. I mean, we've seen that with the covering up of Epstein. We've seen it with all kinds of information out there. They do not want to bring it in the light. Now, that's you or I >> and we do something wrong, they're going to throw the whole book at us. That's right. You know, but for them, they're above the law. They they've stacked the judges. There's there's there's no fear of God out there whatsoever. And there's certainly no fear of the people in any way whatsoever. >> Today's markets are more volatile than ever. With ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, navigating such environments requires thoughtful, adaptive strategies, not a one-sizefits-all approach. At Peak Financial Investing, our [music] registered investment advisory firm connects clients with experienced wealth managers who focus on active [music] portfolio management. These professionals use evidence-based strategies designed [music] to respond to changing conditions, not outdated formulas. but customized [music] approaches grounded in research, discipline, and risk awareness. We believe in open, informed conversations, [music] including discussing tools like precious metals and diversification as part of a broader financial [music] strategy. Every investor's situation is unique, and our advisers tailor their guidance accordingly. Visit peakfinancialinvesting.com [music] today to schedule your free consultation and explore how proactive management can support your financial goals. I'm Dr. Chris Martinson, [music] proud to work with Peak Financial Investing, and my support reflects my professional views. I encourage you [music] to take control of your financial future by making informed decisions. We need to get better ideas uh quick into power or I think people just need to be ready for whatever happens next. So, so that means that you need a very nimble portfolio. I believe in people having financial freedom as much as possible. If you can build that buffer into your life and make sure that all your eggs aren't in any one basket and all of that because who knows how the future's going to go. But if you can do that, then should the difficulties, the tribulations arise, you know, you you have you have the ability to >> hopefully skate by them a little bit better than you might have if you were unprepared. So I believe in people being prepared. But as an example of what happens when you have bad leadership and bad ideas and people are unprepared, we just keep cataloging this. So this just came out um this morning. Holar shapit said uh good morning from Germany where industrial production get this Paul slumped 4.3% in August month over month. >> Wow. >> Wow. >> 4.3% in one month they lost one out of 20. That's what 4.3% like basically 12th. So so imagine like there were 20 people working now you have 19 because it's just unbelievable. And that was driven by a collapse in the automotive industry where output fell 18.5% month overmonth. >> Wow. >> And this is because they let somebody blow up their Nordstream pipelines and didn't say anything about it. This is because they dismantled their nuclear plants because green ideas. This is because their electricity and energy costs make them wildly uncompetitive. And this is because their response to this is to simply tax people more to try and cover up the shortfalls. So that's what happens when you have, you know, that that's just that's just failed leadership and bad ideas in statistics showing up there. >> That's heartbreaking to me. And what's going to change it? What what that's not going to turn around overnight. They didn't get there quickly. They're not going to get out of it quickly. And my concern is the same thing's coming to the US if we don't change our ways. Well, indeed, you have to have an appropriate vision for where you want your country to go and how you're going to get there and what's important and make sure you stick to those important things. You just have to do the important things. You can't skip the basics, right? Can you imagine a a coach for football saying, "We're only going to practice, you know, this really rare punt coverage and that's it." You know, you know, we're not going to run sprints or go hit the weight room or, you know, practice practice our bread and butter blocking and tackling. you know, >> it it just wouldn't it's not it wouldn't work out. So So what are the basics here? You need people who are well educated and I mean really well educated like they're able to think critically and can think in a sustained fashion, right? You need people who have real skills, not not scrolling, not mean tweeting, but I mean, you know, lots of skills across areas. We need people who are like we're going to need real serious engineers. um you know, people who understand electrical engineering, material science, nuclear engineering, all of it. We're going to need gobs of these people if we're going to have a shot at this, right? Um but I I'm not I'm not clear where we are on that part of the story right now. I'm not sure how taking a 10% stake in intel gets us closer to that >> no >> goal line. >> I don't either. And I don't understand that. I I've tried to I've tried to critically think and debate with myself and argue and build pluses and minuses and you know why are you taking those and to give them the benefit of the doubt maybe maybe they're trying to they know they're going to torch the currency in some manner and they're trying to make those moves or maybe it is a fascist move or blending of of corporate and state which look corporations have have taken over both sides of the parties through the regulation process over the years >> but I will add do that. There's a lot of really intelligent uh educated people that are intelligent that are completely void of wisdom and and I think we see that in our major institutions. They're they're completely void of wisdom and they're they're weak when it comes to their human desires. So I think we need you know we need to surround and find people that are that are both intelligent critical thinkers but also desire wisdom. Uh because we've gotten to the point where information is a commodity. You know, information used to be power. Back then, very few people had access to information and you had information. You know, a 100 years ago, you were really ahead of the curve. Today, everybody has access for information, but very few people are pursuing wisdom. So, being able to know what to do with the information and make wise decisions with it, I think, is very important at this point. And the good news is, Paul, every time I go to conferences or or we have our own summits, we find that that the people who show up are people who they just want to have honest conversations about the truth. Yeah. Right. And it's relieving and they're like, "Ah, this feels good." You know, I don't have to dance around a subject or spend 20 minutes getting to the point where I can begin to have the conversation because somebody lacks context, >> you know, or all of that. So, so yep. Uh and and that's what I think, you know, is is the service I provide, you provide is that for people who have ears to hear and eyes to see, have started to figure out that they better start thinking for themselves and carving their own path based on what they believe or know to be true and tune out the rest because the rest is going to have it very badly wrong in the story, I believe, because it just doesn't make sense. Like just what happened to Germany, right? It was very obvious. I've been talking about Germany for years. like you guys you are creating you're shooting yourself in both feet you know. >> Yeah. You've been you've been warning that for quite some time and um >> because it's just completely obvious all >> when you when you double your electricity cost your host is a manufacturing concern. It's not that hard. [laughter] you know, and I got to tell people, so as soon as you put the date out for next year's summit, I hope everybody can put it on the calendar because I've had two different I had conversations at the summit. And it's great because when you're having conversations with people and Chris, I I love our conversations with you and Nick and and the people that I'm meeting through Peak Prosperity because we're trying to find the truth, right? So, we get in these conversations and we're debating each other, picking, you know, I'll say, "What do you think?" And, you know, you'll say something that's completely different from from what I was thinking. And I'm like, "That's a pretty good point." Nobody gets their feelings hurt because everybody loves the truth and they're trying to find it and iron sharpening iron. Then there's other conversations I've had and I and I challenge them on their thought process and they get mad and they get offended and they get upset and I'm like, "Okay, I've learned." I'm like, "Okay, well, I've rattled your tree. I'm just going to drop this for a while and let you process, you know, because the truth hurts a lot of times." >> And um but but that's one thing that I thoroughly enjoy about the summit is the conversations around her. People just want to know the truth and they're debating and they're trying to they're trying to learn the truth and they they're not wearing their feelings on their sleeves to where if you challenge their thought process that they're offended and see you as an enemy. No, they actually appreciate that and they see you as a a friend. And it's like, hey, let's get in our tribe because we're a body, right? We're much better together than we are alone. And everybody has their specialties and their perspectives, but if we're all pursuing the truth, together we can build something greater. And together, we can find a path that's much easier to walk through than a feedback loop where, you know, you you can't challenge somebody because they're going to get so offended over the fact that the conversation's over and all of a sudden you're an enemy. And you're not an enemy. You're you're just trying to find the truth together. >> Well said. Because for me, truth isn't a destination. It's a process. Yes. >> Right. And so you just commit to the process and and so it's an ever evolving unfolding. Every year I I feel like I I become more wise. I learn more. The more I learn, the less I know for sure. Right. Um [laughter] >> with much wisdom, >> I used to know it all. Now I know almost nothing. So [laughter] with much wisdom comes much sorrow. And that that is true because the more you understand how fragile our system is and the path that we're headed down, the more sorrow you have when you see how things are going to unfold. You don't know when that they're going to unfold, but at least it gives you time to prepare and choose a prudent path. >> And and hey, look, one thing I want to encourage people, just because there's a risk that we could be entering the hyperinflationary mode, doesn't mean that you should give up on your 12 months worth of emergency fund. That's critically important right now because if unemployment goes up, you've got to be in a position to where you don't have to borrow money or you don't get forced to sell a good asset. So let's let's use an example. Let's say somebody decides they want to go all in gold in you know right now or all in gold in 2000. Gold had this massive move from 600 to a,000 real quick right before the 2008 crisis. So let's say they were so worried that the currency was going to collapse because there were few people back there that were worried about it. Our currency was kind of collapsing up into two 2008 and you go all in gold. Well, once the liquidation started, everybody was selling anything that they could sell to cover their debts and gold went from a,000 to 600. And then let's say that that you had something come up and you were forced to liquidate that position at that time. you sell it at $620 because you didn't prepare enough and then by 2012 it's 18,900 an ounce. So you still have to have some resiliency. There are parts of your portfolio, parts of your assets that you have to be willing to sacrifice in the short term so that you have that flexibility. Now there may come a day in the future to where you don't want to have 12 months but with the information that we have and where we are right now you know I I encourage people to be out towards 24 months maybe 12 months where you've got you know 6 months worth of Treasury only money market 6 months worth of treasuries and another 12 months worth of inflation protected treasuries but I believe that's ridiculously important to give you the ability to ride through who knows what type of volatility we'll have in the short run and it allows you to be a little bit more aggressive or prudent with the rest of your assets if if it's appropriate for your circumstance. >> Very well said. And for anybody who would like to talk to Paul andor his amazing team at Kiker Wealthmanagement, just please go to peak financial.com. Very simple form to fill out there. And once you submit, somebody from Paul's team will be in touch with you within 48 business hours to set up uh an appointment and you can have your whole wisdom plan reviewed and um see where that takes you. But it's you you will absolutely not ever regret going through the process whether or not you end up becoming a client of Paul's firm. It's a fantastic process. Everybody says so. >> Thank you. I've had a lot of good feedback. And if we have time, Chris, I'll give one little snippet which is which we've been talking about how you know potential inflation and all that. So if I talk social security, people are going to be like, "Oh my gosh." >> Okay. >> Like when I asked somebody for the planning meeting, I asked for their social security estimates. One couple was uh 60 and 55 that wanted to retire around 65. So we looked at the different strategies. If they both took their social security at the age of 62 and they lived normal life expectancy, they were going to get like 1.2 million. If they used one of the other scenarios to maximize it, they could get around 1.8 million out of their social security. That's $600,000 extra that would come through there. So yes, it's not going to keep up with inflation from a longer term standpoint. there's problems, but but just because you're scared of social security uh uh you know, absolutely eliminating well, it's it's possibility, but but it can also be fixed pretty easy. Don't still analyze and consider the path of your situation. So, that's just one of the little things that we do that's a benefit to those people. And and and seriously, when when Chris states it well, I you know, not everybody's appropriate for us to serve and and that's not the case. But my goal is no matter who we meet that we give, you know, they know their situation, they understand their situation better, and they've gotten a little bit of wisdom to help Walt the days ahead by going through that planning meeting. So, um, that's our goal is to to make a difference, let you understand where you are, and better understand the position you're in so that you can find out where you can speculate, where you can't, and and different alternatives to to to have a successful retirement or successful prudent management of your money. >> Excellent. So, with that, thank you very much for listening everybody. We will be back next week with another episode of Finance You. Remember, gold and [music] silver are telling us something. Let us know what you think about that in the comments down below. Love to talk about this idea that maybe what we're witnessing [music] is the end of money, meaning the fiat currency regime ran its course. Got decoupled from gold in 1971. Oops, here we are. [music] Can got kicked down the road over and over again. Are we at the end of the road? That's the question we're trying to resolve here. So, with [music] that, thank you very much for being with us today. I hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll be back with you next week.