Dysfunction Reigns Supreme

By Rich Checkan

More and more, I am convinced the time is now to take the necessary steps to Keep What’s Yours!

Investors love predictability. They want to, with reasonable certainty, know where the economy and the markets are going. With such knowledge, they can make informed decisions regarding their investments and their overall portfolio allocations.

Thus far in 2019… certainty and predictability are nowhere to be found.

Every day, I read the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. Every day, I listen to the news on my 45-minute commute to and from work. Every day, I am amazed by the heightened rhetoric and complete stagnation that is U.S. politics.

Dysfunction leads to uncertainty. Uncertainty leads to volatility. Volatility is typically bad for investors.

Here is a sample of some of the discord ongoing in the puzzle palace known as Washington, D.C…

• Democrats and Republicans are entrenched, with no negotiation room in sight, on the issue of the border wall and an end to this record length government shutdown.

• President Trump won’t let Nancy Pelosi visit troops or allies while the government is shut down since he believes she has no business doing so until they can sort out differences and reopen the federal government.

• Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi wants President Trump to postpone the State of the Union address citing lack of security due to the government shutdown.

• Based on more leaked information from unnamed Department of Justice officials, most news agencies are reporting that it is no longer a matter of “if” but rather a matter of “when” impeachment proceedings will be started for President Trump.

All this, on just one day, from the greatest nation on earth. So sad.

Couple all that dysfunction with a stock market wrought with falling earnings propped up mostly by fund repatriation and tax cuts, growing concerns of an imminent recession, a combination of interest rate increases and federal government balance sheet reductions (in effect, additional rate increases) where the Federal Reserve has potentially gone too far too fast, and the ongoing trade war with China, and the future is anything but clear, certain, or predictable.

I cannot promise what will transpire in the future. Who could?

In times like these, I know no better asset to own than gold. Uncertainty and volatility are bad for investors, but make the case for owning gold.

And, I firmly believe, if you act now to secure your portfolio’s gold allocation, you will sleep better at night. By the end of this crazy, dysfunctional year in American history, you might even feel the urge to give us a call and say “Thank you,” for prodding you to buy gold now.

Start your ASI Precious Metals Direct account today! We’re ready to help you Keep What’s Yours!

—Rich Checkan, ASI President & COO