Global Debt Explosion - should you be concerned?

Jim Rogers may wait a long time for "something to go wrong"

We all know that something will go wrong, sooner or later. But while caution is always required it is pointless to build one's investment strategy around predictions of doom and gloom.

This hedge-fund icon has been investing for 60 years. Here’s his take on stocks now

How you can protect yourself from Banking Crisis

Do not rely on Regulation!

Regulators are beholden to to politicians who in turn are beholden to the industries they are supposed to regulate. Banking regulations were loosened substantially in the United States towards the end of the last decade. The current crisis of confidence is to a large extent due to wrong policies pursued by regulators and the Federal Reserve Bank. The situation in the Eurozone and the UK is not much better. 

Lesson for all Investors: diversify your banking relationship and if possible invest in assets that are not dependent on a healthy bank.

Private Banking Advisory is happy to analyse risks contained in your investment holdings.

How Silicon Valley Bank skirted Washington's toughest banking rules

Is there a difference between a Painting and a Crypto Token?

Don't misunderstand me. I went to any number of Art Museums and Exhibitions. Love to see great paintings of all ages. But looking at the latest Mondrian painting that just got auctioned for $US 51 Million I start to wonder.

What is really the difference between a painting like this one and a crypto token like Bitcoin? Why is the world so obsessed with originals when any decent art school graduate could replicate the Mondrian quite easily?

I don't have the answer, only the question. Maybe you readers make some comment that helps me understand this better.

Beware of Financial Engineering!

When Times are good it is easy to forget Warren Buffett's famous dictum: "Derivatives are weapons of mass destruction". Recent turmoil in the UK Gilts market demonstrated that Financial Engineering (better called alchemy) has its limitations. And how much did the Pension trustees really understand when LDI was proposed as the magic solution? It just shows that the Quality of your Advisers is crucial for Investment success.

Don't get suckered by 'Celebrities' pushing NFTs

 17 Celebrities Just Got Warning Letters About Shilling NFTs

No reason to panic yet!

No reason to panic yet. While the short-term charts may appear to be horrible the long-term trend is still intact. This is a logarithmic chart of the S&P 500 and it shows that is still well within the uptrend. On the other hand, you can also see that there were quite long multi-year periods in the 1970s and between 2000 and 2012 where the Index moved sideways and the only return investors made derived from dividends.

The Importance of keeping Fees low in Low-Return Investment Era

 

Crypto "Currencies" - read this before you invest

Make sure you understand these terms if you really think you must not miss out on the crypto craze/mania: do you know what they mean? Hard Fork, chain activity, gas fees, burning mechanism, EIP-1559 upgrade,  deposit contract address, ledger device, staking contract, (crypto) wallet, proof-of-work vs proof-of-stake technology.
London burning! 100,000 ETH up in smoke after Ethereum upgrade