Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Why President Trump Has NO Real Power - Deep State Military Industrial Complex - 8th Nov 24
Social Grant Increases and Serge Belamant Amid South Africa's New Political Landscape - 8th Nov 24
Is Forex Worth It? - 8th Nov 24
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24
US House Prices Trend Forecast 2024 to 2026 - 11th Oct 24
US Housing Market Analysis - Immigration Drives House Prices Higher - 30th Sep 24
Stock Market October Correction - 30th Sep 24
The Folly of Tariffs and Trade Wars - 30th Sep 24
Gold: 5 principles to help you stay ahead of price turns - 30th Sep 24
The Everything Rally will Spark multi year Bull Market - 30th Sep 24
US FIXED MORTGAGES LIMITING SUPPLY - 23rd Sep 24
US Housing Market Free Equity - 23rd Sep 24
US Rate Cut FOMO In Stock Market Correction Window - 22nd Sep 24
US State Demographics - 22nd Sep 24
Gold and Silver Shine as the Fed Cuts Rates: What’s Next? - 22nd Sep 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks:Nothing Can Topple This Market - 22nd Sep 24
US Population Growth Rate - 17th Sep 24
Are Stocks Overheating? - 17th Sep 24
Sentiment Speaks: Silver Is At A Major Turning Point - 17th Sep 24
If The Stock Market Turn Quickly, How Bad Can Things Get? - 17th Sep 24
IMMIGRATION DRIVES HOUSE PRICES HIGHER - 12th Sep 24
Global Debt Bubble - 12th Sep 24
Gold’s Outlook CPI Data - 12th Sep 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Investors Learn to Think Nonlinearly

InvestorEducation / Learning to Invest Jul 10, 2012 - 03:15 PM GMT

By: Frank_Holmes

InvestorEducation

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleIs your portfolio limited by linear thinking? We believe so.

Many linear thinkers believe that to solve a problem, you need to follow a simple, logical path, a step-by-step sequence involving two variables. One and one is always two. Here's a diagram depicting the progression.


Unmasking the Asian Giant

When it comes to solving today's social, political and economic ills, linear thinkers believe the solution is more regulation and government intervention. To wit: the thousands of pages piling up from the solutions of Sarbanes-Oxley, the Volcker Rule and Dodd-Frank.

There's a danger with this line of thinking because life is much more complex. Government policies are necessary for a level playing field for businesses, but they require a nonlinear way of thinking. Consider how scientists, mathematicians, psychologists and meteorologists have had tremendous success when they step outside the stiff boundaries required by linear thinking. Nonlinear math equations and systems have been used to explain weight loss, the spread of happiness, strength of metals and hurricanes. Millions of Americans' lives have been improved by a deeper level of understanding of these issues.

This nonlinear line of thinking needs to be adopted by policymakers. As we enter a critical period in the U.S. election cycle, Americans deserve thoughtful regulations that maintain the spirit found within the Declaration of Independence. These are lofty, but attainable goals, as long as we have leaders who are brave enough to fully consider how their actions affect job creation, social stability, economic prosperity, trust, and free markets.

Prohibition is an obvious example of extreme regulation in American history. With all the good intentions of improving the lives of Americans by eliminating the perceived source of corruption, crime and poverty, politicians outlawed the making, transporting and selling of alcohol. Politicians did not anticipate the extent of unintended consequences, as the illegal commodity only encouraged bootlegging, speakeasies and the mafia.

If you're older than 21, raise your glass to the repeal in 1933 and the more practical and balanced approach that followed, as states chose their own drinking ages until the 1980s, when the need to reduce drunk driving fatalities led to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984.

Investors today are the unintended victims of the linear thinking that has permeated through today's government policies. A friend of mine shared his parents' experience with me that many retired workers can relate to. After years of working hard and prudently saving for retirement, my friend's parents felt that their nest egg was large enough to retire and live off the interest. At the time, their accumulated savings of $500,000 was invested in long-term Treasury bonds yielding roughly 6 percent. The annual interest of $30,000 satisfied their needs.

Fast forward to this year, when 30-year and 10-year government yields have been so manipulated by the Federal Reserve that the rates have been reduced to near-record lows. This knocks the interest income on the retirees' half a million dollar nest egg to only $5,000 per year.

Low Yields Curtail Retirement Income

By regulating yields, the Fed had the good intention of allowing people to borrow money at low cost to stimulate the economy, but the unintended consequence was a huge tax on retired people, forcing many to go back to work to supplement today's meager earnings.

Think Nonlinearly: A Time to be Resourceful

Don't be limited by linear thinking in your portfolio. As an alternative to low yielding Treasury bonds, consider resources stocks that pay dividends. We've found that most materials, utilities and energy stocks in the S&P 500 Index pay a dividend higher than the 10-year Treasury: Materials and utilities companies yield an average of 2.3 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, while energy stocks pay an average yield of 2.2 percent.

Nonlinear thinkers have historically benefitted from the inclusion of natural resources as part of a balanced portfolio. Financial Planning found that, when included in a diversified portfolio and rebalanced annually, of natural resources funds with 10 year returns, the Global Resources Fund added the most return.

For more updates on global investing from Frank and the rest of the U.S. Global Investors team, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/USFunds or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USFunds. You can also watch exclusive videos on what our research overseas has turned up on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/USFunds.

By Frank Holmes
CEO and Chief Investment Officer

U.S. Global Investors

U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is an investment management firm specializing in gold, natural resources, emerging markets and global infrastructure opportunities around the world. The company, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, manages 13 no-load mutual funds in the U.S. Global Investors fund family, as well as funds for international clients.

All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor.

Standard deviation is a measure of the dispersion of a set of data from its mean. The more spread apart the data, the higher the deviation. Standard deviation is also known as historical volatility. All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. The S&P 500 Stock Index is a widely recognized capitalization-weighted index of 500 common stock prices in U.S. companies. The NYSE Arca Gold BUGS (Basket of Unhedged Gold Stocks) Index (HUI) is a modified equal dollar weighted index of companies involved in gold mining. The HUI Index was designed to provide significant exposure to near term movements in gold prices by including companies that do not hedge their gold production beyond 1.5 years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets. The U.S. Trade Weighted Dollar Index provides a general indication of the international value of the U.S. dollar.

Frank Holmes Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in