Senior Managing Editor of The Freeport Society
It seems like the Yellow Brick Road has led us to a place where “home” comes with a hefty price tag.
You know the scene in The Wizard of Oz. The one where Dorothy clicks her heels, longing for the simplicity of her old life? Well, in this economy, that simplicity is becoming more impractical by the day.
We have nosebleed home prices, dizzying mortgage rates, and brutal rent prices.
Baby Boomers paid around $15,000 for a home in the 1960s and ’70s. They paid about $35,000 for their home in the 1980s. Today, the median home price sits at $420,800.
Younger generations are losing faith in a once-American staple: Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. The housing market is shutting them out, and the obstacles look insurmountable.
Making it worse, unemployment continues its insidious rise, reaching 3.9% at the end of April. This trend has persisted for almost a year now as job opportunities are slow moving.
And Thursday’s numbers show unemployment claims hitting an eight-month peak… coming in at 231,000.
Even a household with two working parents can’t guarantee a decent living anymore. It’s enough to make anyone lose hope.
And of course, there’s the reality of inflation, which has proven stickier than Federal Reserve Chair Jerome “Transitory Inflation” Powell believed.
What Dorothy would say to Toto today would be: “I’m glad we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Look, Wall Street is rejoicing about the higher unemployment numbers (following their usual good-news-is-bad-news philosophy). It means there is an increased chance that the Fed will lower interest rates sooner rather than later because of a weakening job market.
Charles isn’t buying it.
In fact, he’s preparing for an outcome even worse than high interest rates and sticky inflation. He will be discussing this with our Freeport Investor members in their upcoming May edition. You should probably be on the list to get that when it’s published. You can find out how to do that in this video. (Current Investor members can log in here.)
Ultimately, the key to successfully growing your wealth during this Age of Chaos is to be a creative, agile investor. That means being willing to play short-term opportunities. In other words: Trade.
That’s why we spent so much time this week sharing insights from master trader Jonathan Rose.
Throughout his nearly three decades of trading, which included being a market maker and training professional traders, Jonathan has made millions trading through bull markets and bear markets.
He’s enjoyed this success in part because of the strategy he uses to identify the opportunities to trade. Now he’s hosting a Masters in Trading Summit to teach folks how to use the strategy for themselves. Here’s that event.
Now’s let’s look at what we covered this week in The Freeport Navigator…
Trading Your Way Through the Age of Chaos
We’re accustomed to chaos. From the 1929 Wall Street Crash to the financial crisis of 2008, the stock market seems to rise. In Monday’s piece, Charles explores the brief history of the market and why short-term trading may be the most sensible move right now.
Don’t Make This Fatal Oversight During Earnings Season
In Tuesday’s special issue, we’re joined by Freeport Society friend Jonathan Rose, who shares the importance of taking advantage of stocks during earnings season. In his 20-year career, he’s found that a strategic use of options and disciplined risk goes a long way, even in volatile markets.
Take This Simple Step to Steer Clear of a Wealth-Building Kamikaze
Is the risk of trading worth it? With the right tools, yes. They add infinite new dimensions to your trading. Better, volatility is a major component of their pricing. Jonathan Rose has the details. Read them here.
A Serious Probability Error
From Freeport Society friend Justice Litle, Friday’s guest piece covers the Fed – and how they’ve made little room for themselves to do anything right. From current geopolitical impacts to the housing market, we’re in shambles left with little solution.
Looking Ahead
We’re expecting more inflation insights next week with reports on the producer price index on Tuesday, followed by the consumer price index the next day. If the size and ferocity of this beast changes at all, I’m banking on its growth.
Additionally, we’ll get a more vivid picture of consumer spending and labor market health, something Charles is watching closely.
As we inch closer to the middle of the year, the numbers haven’t been pleasant so far. And of course the Fed isn’t safely steering this ship either. We’ll get a better sense from their upcoming speeches, but at this point stay true to the plan.
To life, liberty, and the pursuit of wealth.