Are you feeling ‘unsettled’ with the state of the world?

Think I’m the only tinfoil hat-wearing theorist? Nope. If fact, many others with a track record of being “normal” are predicting trouble around the corner… Here’s what Harvard graduate and Bridgewater Associates $20 Billion dollar hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio had to say (source).

Dalio has built his business and net worth, which Forbes estimates at roughly $20 billion, on figuring out where the world is going and designing investment strategies to profit from it.  Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson describes him as a “big thinker and brilliant academic disguised as an investment manager.”  Moreover, Paulson adds, Dalio’s assessment of macroeconomic risks and strategies is often right.  He famously made money during the 1987 stock market crash and predicted the 2008 financial crisis, which enabled his fund to outperform during that crash, too.

Dalio believes there’s a 30% chance that the U.S. will enter into a major “civil-war-type” conflict within the next five years. While other countries face similar challenges, America looks especially vulnerable. “It’s very important that we deal with this now,” he says. “We can have a type of civil war or international war based on how we are behaving with each other and our financial conditions.” What’s more, the U.S. is not alone in facing this dire scenario.

WHAT CAN WE DO? 

• Stop watching the news, damnit! (The news is dangerous to your health – Source)
• Believe (and do) the opposite of (almost) everything you hear. (You’ll notice, before the “$h1t hits the fan” there will be endless examples of proclamations that “everything is ok” – it isn’t! – think back to 2008) Example Article

  This might be good time to read my other article on why any talk about a positive financial future is complete hogwash. This news is complete and utter propaganda designed to keep the masses (not you, silly) under control.

• Hone your critical thinking skills. (Get off your phone and get back to paying attention to what’s going on around you – be an observer. I’ve found getting out in nature helps re-invigorate my mindfulness and guides me back to becoming an observer. True observation considers all sides, recognizing the trap of confirmation bias. Do your best to evaluate what you SEE, not what you’re told. This isn’t black/white. You’ll need to use your intuition and your experience/knowledge to help with your conclusions. If I can offer any guidance, I’d share that your gut is usually right. Your dumb reptilian brain will convolute what your gut reaction is, trust your gut and lead with that.) 
• Our cash is dying quickly! (Ignore CPI “Consumer Price Index” numbers – a measurement of the current inflation rate. The numbers are completely manipulated to make you believe the inflation rate isn’t a big problem – it is. Our cash is losing it’s buying power faster than ever before in our lifetime. Find ANY asset and invest in it – it should outperform cash earning nothing and bleeding it’s value dry. Ideally, shoot for at least 15% minimum “ROI” Return on Investment. That will at least keep you where you are. Learn more here.
  …and then read my other article.
• Don’t feel you need to problem solve alone. (Shameless plug: NSYDRS are privy to learn practical strategies to get ahead of this. Consider applying to become a mentee – seats are extremely limited.  
• Most jobs will be disrupted by a.i./robotics. (If your job can be “learned” by a computer, your clock is ticking away. Now is the best time to figure out a plan B 😉 ) Article validation
• Things will not get back to normal – what was, is gone forever.  (Change is tough for everyone… I wish this wasn’t true, but it is. Almost everything is changing and that change is happening at an accelerated rate. Some of the changes are really exciting/good, some are really, really depressing/dangerous/bad. I’ll let you decide which category each falls into.)