Cloud computing has been a hot topic over the past decade or so.

Corporate giants Amazon, Google, and Microsoft each built out massive cloud computing businesses. And today they fight with each other tooth and nail for cloud market share.

The buzz around “the cloud” took a backseat to artificial intelligence (AI) this past year. That’s thanks to generative AI like ChatGPT. Still, chances are that most of us utilize the cloud in some capacity every day.

If we store files using services like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox then we’re using the cloud.

If we have Apple’s iCloud or Google Photos automatically store the pictures we take with our smart phone, we’re using the cloud.

If we use home security services that allow us to view videos and photos taken by our security cameras via a smart phone app, we’re also using the cloud.

I’d wager that most of us are using the cloud in at least one of these ways. And these are just the three areas on my radar today. There are all kinds of other applications.

That being the case, I think there’s an important question we should ask. What is the cloud?

And the answer is that the cloud is not at all like what it sounds…

Continue reading “Digital Sovereignty in the Modern Age”

Last week we talked about the budding localist renaissance in America.

This week let’s talk about rugged independence at the individual level. And given that we’re living fully in the Information Age now, we have to start with digital sovereignty.

It all starts with our smart phone.

If we stop to think about it – the smart phone is possibly the most amazing device ever created. Its functionality is almost endless.

In fact, actual phone calls are probably their least-used feature. I would wager that most of us use other applications on our phone far more often than we use it to make calls.

I love that the smart phone allows us to access the accumulated store of human knowledge on demand. And from most anywhere in the world.

But there is a dark side…

Continue reading “Rugged Independence and Digital Sovereignty”

Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere… One if by land, and two if by sea, and on the opposite shore I will be…

We’re all familiar with that old poem about Paul Revere, aren’t we?

I remember it being part of the grade school social studies curriculum. We learned about how Revere rode around to warn the colonists near Boston of a pending attack from the British military.

That’s all I knew about Paul Revere. Until recently.

I spent some time researching the apprenticeship model in colonial America this month. And it turns out that Revere was one of the most successful businessmen in Boston.

Paul Revere’s father Apollos Rivoire emigrated to America from France in 1715. He was thirteen years old.

We don’t know much about his early life in the colonies. But Rivoire went on to open at silversmith shop in Boston. He produced fine silverware and glassware, metal surgical tools, and ornate decorations made of gold and silver. And of course he would take customized jobs on a commission basis as well.

Rivoire then took in his son Paul as an apprentice in 1748. Paul was just fourteen years old at the time… but he flourished.

Continue reading “What we can learn from Paul Revere today…”

Wait… my amount has doubled! Why did it go up so much??

My hairdresser was very surprised when she opened her Bitcoin wallet to receive my payment yesterday. In dollar terms, her wallet balance had nearly doubled since my last visit.

I’ve been paying for my haircuts with Bitcoin for a few years now. My hairdresser treats her Bitcoin wallet as a savings account – so she only checks it when I come in for another cut.

This is the first time she’s noticed a material jump in dollar value though. That’s largely because she’s built her balance up to the point where a Bitcoin price surge can move the needle.

Naturally, she wanted to know what happened. Why did this internet money thing that only one crazy guy seems to talk about skyrocket in dollar value?

My answer: Because they are printing trillions of dollars every year now… and Bitcoin is money that can’t be printed.

Bitcoin’s value proposition runs much deeper than that, of course. But I’ve found that the simple answer is often the best answer in short conversations. It’s the one that will stick.

We talked on Monday about America’s proud localist tradition. We’ve always maintained a spirit of self-reliance and rugged independence in this country.

That spirit may have dulled over the past 100 years or so… but it’s starting to reawaken. The seeds of a localist renaissance have already been sowed.

Continue reading “The Localist Renaissance”

Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small.

Americans use associations to give entertainment, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes. In this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools.

Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France, or a man of rank in England, in the United States you will be sure to find an association.

That’s French ambassador Alexis de Tocqueville writing in the 1830s.

The French government commissioned de Tocqueville to travel to the United States. His job was to study American society and politics. And what he found amazed him…

Continue reading “America’s localist tradition…”

What we’re experiencing is the deindustrialization of the European economy and we’re concerned…

That’s what one of oil and gas giant Exxon’s top executives told the Financial Times in an interview published this week. It followed Exxon’s announcement that it will pull billions of dollars of investment out of Europe if the regulations around “climate change” don’t improve.

We’re talking energy this week. And when we left off yesterday we asked the question – why doesn’t the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement embrace clean energy technology like nuclear fission?

After all, nuclear is the most dense form of energy available to us today. Yet it produces little to no pollution. The emissions we see coming out of nuclear reactors are mostly steam.

Well, Exxon’s executive said the quiet part out loud.

The religion of ESG is not really about protecting the environment. It’s about deindustrialization.

Continue reading “The ESG Endgame”

Yesterday we talked about the inevitable end of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement. It’s now upon us.

And there’s a tremendous opportunity here. 

As we discussed, nearly $2.2 trillion poured into the development of renewable energy over the last eight years. Solar and wind power were the major beneficiaries.

The problem is, these energy sources will never be able to power our electric grid. Because they are intermittent. They only produce power when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. 

So we are going to see an avalanche of investment shift back into traditional energy production in the years to come. And it’s already happening…

Continue reading “The Energy Renaissance”

Energy is the master economic resource.

We take it for granted… but nothing happens without energy. Everything we see in our modern world today – and everything we use on a daily basis – is only possible because of energy.

It’s a simple thing. But if we truly ponder this, it changes our perspective.

Last week we talked about building a robust asset portfolio for financial security. The concept is called asset allocation. The idea is to spread our savings across a range of asset classes in a strategic way.

As we discussed, a tactical stock portfolio is a key piece of the puzzle here. And this is where we can leverage energy as the master economic resource…

My philosophy when it comes to portfolio construction is this: I want a portion of my portfolio to have exposure to energy. And I want to own that energy in the most advantageous way I can. If we start there, all we need to do is figure out what form that energy should take.

Continue reading “The End of ESG”

Yesterday we examined the three weaknesses in the traditional retirement planning model.

In short, that approach pits us against the tax code… is vulnerable to inflation… and it forces us to choose between having assets or having income.

Today let’s talk about a more comprehensive approach – one that mitigates each of these weaknesses.

My philosophy is simple: Financial security first. Then financial independence.

I define financial security as the ability to weather any sudden change or emergency for an extended period of time in relative comfort.

It’s a simple concept. In mainstream circles, they would say it’s about “having money”.

That way if we were to lose our primary source of income or incur an unexpected large expense – we’re good. We have the resources we need to handle the issue without it disrupting our life.

But here’s the thing – we don’t want to have money. They are printing money by the trillions. It’s guaranteed to lose purchasing power year after year. Instead, we want to have assets.

Continue reading “Beyond Retirement”

The rules of money changed in 2022.

To illustrate this from a different angle, let’s assess how the “traditional” retirement planning model came to be…

Modern retirement planning has its roots in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974. That legislation created the Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Then supplemental legislation created the 401(k) and the SEP IRA for self-employed individuals in 1978.

ERISA marked a monumental change in the US.

Prior to this legislation, it was common for employers to provide employees with a lifetime pension plan. Companies would invest in this plan on behalf of their employees. Then they would make lifetime payments to each employee after they retired.

As such, the burden of retirement planning fell to corporations.

This gave rise to the “three-legged stool” principle. It said that a sound retirement consisted of three things:

• Social Security benefits
• Corporate pension payments
• Personal savings

ERISA changed everything. It shifted the responsibility for retirement planning from employers to employees.

Continue reading “The Three Weaknesses in Retirement Planning”