Wealth Formula by Buck Joffrey

Bitcoin and Blockchain are not dead. In fact, if you look at the history of bitcoin itself you see that it seems to have a feline propensity for multiple lives. After being battered and beaten up so many times, why is bitcoin not dead? I am reminded of a movie that I recently watched with my nine year old daughter from the late eighties called The Princess Bride. If you happened to miss this one, you really ought to see it. It’s a very funny love story based in the the middle ages with pirates, kings, and lots of sword fighting. The love story is between a farm boy called Wesley and Buttercup. The two are separated as Wesley goes off to sea and Buttercup presumes he is dead.  Years later, she is chosen by the local King to marry and she agrees although she knows that she can never love again. Now this king is a bad guy and he knows that Wesley is not only alive but coming back to claim his beloved. Eventually, Wesley is caught and tortured to death by the King’s minions. However, Wesley’s allies need him back alive to defeat the king so, after finding him apparently dead, they bring him to a magician who was recently fired by the King. This former disgruntled employee of the King, played by Billy Crystal, says that Wesley is actually “mostly dead” but refuses to help unless there is a true meaningful reason to bring him back to life. So, he pushes air into Wesley’s mouth and squeezes on his chest. What comes out of Wesley’s mouth is “true love”. The magician admits that this is, indeed, the most noble cause to bring him back alive but tries to get out of it anyway. But when he finds out that bringing him back will help him get revenge on his former employer, the King, he agrees and brings him back to life. OK, so perhaps my metaphor is a little overboard, but just like “true love” was worth bringing back to life in The Princess Bride, bitcoin has been brought back from the brinks of “mostly dead” several times over because of what it represents. What bitcoin represents is the ultimate storage of value. It has all the traits of gold but it’s better because it is portable and can easily be transferred from peer to peer thousands of miles away from one another without the need for a central authority like a bank. Bitcoin is not hackable because it is decentralized and there is a finite amount making it “unprintable”. Like many people, up until 2016, I didn’t get it and maybe I don’t entirely understand even now. However, this concept of eliminating the middle man is so powerful that I now believe that it CAN NOT be stomped out by anyone or any entity.  That powerful message, unfortunately, has been bastardized by many like Tai Lopez and other charlatans who took advantage of people with the idea of getting rich fast because of the explosive growth of cryptocurrency. The bubble created in the frenzy of greed and subsequent popping of that bubble has led to the current round of bitcoin obituaries. That said, the concept of bitcoin and distributed ledgers in general, is anything but dead. It is actually in its early years and it is simply experiencing the growing pains of any new technology or concept that is new to the world. There is value in what is being created and people will continue to make a lot of money in the future from it. They may do so through owning cryptocurrency or through creating the infrastructure surrounding this new economy. For example, collateralized bitcoin lending services have nothing to do with investing in bitcoin, but they make a lot of money through a fairly traditional lending business model. There is so much going on out there. It’s just important to make sure you are listening to the right people. One of the legitimately smartest individuals in crypto today is Nic Carter. He is not a social media figure and he does not have a newsletter. However, for those at the highest levels of cryptocurrency investing and technology, Nic has a voice to which everyone listens. So, despite the polar vortex sweeping across the cryptocurrency world, this week I urge you to listen to my conversation with Nic on Wealth Formula Podcast. Shownotes: Nic Carter’s background What’s is Coinmetrics How is Coinmetrics different than bits activity and other competitors Castle Island Blockchain, blockchain, blockchain… When will the impact of institutional interest reflect the market? Learn more about Nic Carter https://medium.com/@nic__carter

It’s so strange to think of the way our politics have evolved even in my lifetime. The first president I remember (barely) is Jimmy Carter. Most of grade school for me were the Reagan years. After a bumpy start, the 1980s became the roaring 80s. It was a decade remembered for wealth and excess. Remember Wall Street with Michael Douglas and Michael J. Fox as the Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties?  The Republican party, at the time, was clearly the party of the rich and made little effort to concern itself with poverty and equality. Ideologically, it was a different mind sent. The appealing nature of the 80s was that it was aspirational. It was indeed Morning in America. After the hopelessness of the Carter economy, everyone seemed optimistic. That’s why even the middle class, the traditionally democratic bastion of unions and the democratic party, defected. They became Reagan democrats. The good times continued through the 90s into the Clinton years. In fact, Clinton represented a new kind of democrat who embraced Wall Street and free trade. The old democratic party seemed dead and the difference between Democrats and Republicans was minimal. Rising tides raise all ships—even if some ships are rising more than others. A recent Brookings Institute analysis found that out of the last five presidents the largest annual income gains in the middle class occurred during the Reagan and Clinton years. In general, these were good times in America. People were generally pretty happy and optimistic. Now to be clear, there is a ton of data showing that it makes virtually no statistical difference to the economic performance of the country whether there is a Republican or Democrat in the White House. In fact, I hate to say it, but there is a very slight advantage to the democrats. What I’m getting at here is that when times were good economically for the middle class, there was less divisiveness in the country.  It is no coincidence that over the last 2 decades, median household incomes have barely budged, wages are declining and that this corresponds to the rise of political and demographic divisiveness and demagoguery. Almost 80 percent of Americans believe that today’s children will grow up worse-off than their parents. Think about that. That isn’t Morning in America. That’s downright depressing. Now what happens when people are not doing well and are worried about the future? Well, it starts with blaming everyone else for our problems. Maybe that’s why anti-semitism and white nationalism is on the rise? People become more tribal and insular. They stick with their own and look for scapegoats. The worst example of this in recent history was, of course Nazi Germany which followed a horrific economic period of hyperinflation following the first world war as it was paying reparations. That was extreme but we now see a lot more divisiveness in our politics and both parties are pandering to our worst instincts. I really hate that my kids are growing up in this kind of polarized country.  Now most of us are doing pretty well and we’ve made a lot of economic gains over the past several years after the great recession so it’s easy to not recognize what is underlying all this strife. But that’s a mistake. Why? Because eventually when enough people are hurting, they will come for us with pitchforks. Whether that’s with literal civil unrest or 70 percent tax brackets suggested by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—it’s time to take this seriously. There are a lot of smart people who you might not expect to care that recognize what is going on and who have spoken about it extensively. Robert Kiyosaki, Billionaire Charles Koch, CEO of Koch industries, and even libertarians who most people consider insensitive to the poor recognize this. Now, how to deal with the problem is another issue entirely. This week, we speak with a libertarian from the Cato Institute, Mike Tanner, who shares some common sense strategies that are more nuanced than simply raising taxes. In fact, these strategies are probably the ones that make the most sense but get the least actual political attention. Cato Institute senior fellow, Michael Tanner heads research into a variety of domestic policies with a particular emphasis on poverty and social welfare policy, health care reform, and Social Security. Tanner is the author of numerous other books on public policy, including Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis, Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution, Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society, and A New Deal for Social Security. Under Tanner’s direction, Cato launched the Project on Social Security Choice, which is widely considered the leading impetus for transforming the soon-to-be-bankrupt system into a private savings program. Time magazine calls Tanner, “one of the architects of the private accounts movement,” and Congressional Quarterly named him one of the nation’s five most influential experts on Social Security. The New York Times refers to him as “a lucid writer and skilled polemicist.” More recently Tanner has undertaken a major project to develop innovative solutions to poverty and inequality. Tanner’s writings have appeared in nearly every major American newspaper, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He writes a weekly column for National Review Online, and is a contributing columnist with the New York Post. A prolific writer and frequent guest lecturer, Tanner appears regularly on network and cable news programs. Shownotes: Mike Tanner’s background Inequality and poverty from a practical perspective What’s wrong with the criminal justice reform system now? The effect of zoning laws Occupational licensing Unemployment insurance Cato.org The Inclusive Economy

Changing your personal financial belief system is like changing religions. Think about it. Maybe you grew up Christian or Jewish. Whether you practice or not, you have some pretty established beliefs. That’s why it’s not that common for people to convert from one religion to another. Maybe that’s an extreme example but there is a parallel when it comes to changing your personal investment strategy. We grow up being told that the “responsible” thing to do is to find a nice financial advisor and invest in a broad portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. You see the commercials all the time, right? Well, this heretic can’t stand those commercials! It drives me crazy because it reinforces the notion that there is a conventional financial pathway that is right and that it involves Wall Street. I broke away from that “religion” long ago and have followed the heretical path of real asset investing in “alternative” assets like real estate and precious metals. You gotta love the label “alternative”, right? It makes you think of blue hair mohawks and nose rings—not the nice responsible looking people you see on those brokerage commercials. Now some of you know that I have been thinking controversial thoughts even within the “alternative” investing space lately. It’s funny because I’m even a little uneasy about saying this but…I will come out of the closet. I no longer own gold. I know, I know. Some of you are disowning me as we speak. My own hero Robert Kiyosaki loves gold and, if he heard me say that I don’t believe in it any more, he would never come on my show again. Fortunately, I’m quite confident he doesn’t listen to my show so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just wait a little while before I ask him to come back on again. For those of you who have not heard me explain my stance on gold—well, I just don’t understand why I wouldn’t just own more real estate instead. After all, the reason to buy gold is as an anti-dollar. Gold goes us as the dollar goes down. In other words, it’s an inflationary hedge. But so is real estate. In fact, real estate also throws off cash flow and can be leveraged. It is no more volatile than gold and it has tax advantages up the wazoo. Taxes on the sale of gold, on the other hand, are worse than capital gains. Ok, so all that said, I’m still trying to keep an open mind. I’m talking to people and letting them try to convince me why I should own gold. And my guest this week makes some pretty compelling points. So, if you are trying to figure out whether or not you should own gold, listen to this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast. It may help you make the decision once and for all. Strategic, results oriented professional with more than 20 years of leadership experience across a broad range of retail and technology organizations, many of which are in the Fortune 500. He has a proven track record in driving strategic and operational change that results in growing both the top and bottom lines of an organization. Ken recognizes the importance of taking care of customers while showing a deep commitment to the development of employees.  Detailed experience with managing highly talented teams; setting the overall strategic direction for an organization; managing complex, multi-site distribution networks; implementing cross functional, multi-million dollar initiatives; significant P&L responsibilities both in revenue ($1B+) and cost ($350M+); strong technical knowledge in how systems enable the business. Specialties: eCommerce Technologies, Entrepreneur Organization Management with Founder Engagement, CRM, Business and Supply Chain Strategy, Information Technology, Merchandising, Large Project Implementations, Distribution Center Management, International and Domestic Transportation Management, Network Modeling, Site Selection and Building Start-ups, Labor Relations, System Implementations, P&L Management, Associate Growth and Development, Inventory Planning and Allocation, Lean, Six Sigma, S&OP Processes Shownotes: Ken Lewis’s background Out of all things, why gold? Gold’s volatility What’s gives gold its value? Owning physical gold How does Ken tie gold to blockchain? Passive income on the gold you own Real Estate vs Gold Onegold.com Apmex.com

Not everyone is that excited about blockchain. Especially these days as the market is about 90 percent down from its January highs. But remember, while the bubble was real, so is the technology. There is something here that will start to permeate our world—even if we have no desire to invest in cryptocurrencies. You see, blockchain and other distributed ledgers create a tremendous amount of efficiency. So-called security tokens essentially allow ownership of real things (just like a regular security) but allow for greater liquidity through secondary market platforms. Not surprisingly, we are starting to see blockchain projects creep their way into real estate. It’s just a matter of time that title searches and escrow companies become as useful as syphilis doctors. The challenge, in my opinion, is identifying what projects are actually useful. What projects actually need a blockchain or create some additional value that is not already there. After all, it is well documented that a number of companies simply added blockchain to their name to seem more desirable in 2017. In fact, some publicly traded companies saw appreciable differences in their stock price after changing their names to include “blockchain”. So, as much as I am a student of distributed ledger technology, I am also skeptical of many of the applications that I am seeing out there. In order for a project to be worth investing in, it has to create value that is not currently available. My guest today makes the case for the tokenization of real estate—specifically extracting equity from your personal residence through security tokenization instead of a home equity line of credit. He also speaks to the many other possible applications of blockchain to real estate investing. I thoroughly enjoyed this discussion with Matthew Sullivan from QuantmRE and, even if you don’t care about cryptocurrency, you will find this interview interesting and useful. This brave new world of blockchain is here before us. You won’t be able to ignore it. Shownotes: Michael Sullivan’s background Michael’s definition of Tokenization How does Michael do thing more efficiently in Real Estate through blockchain technology? How does it work within the framework of the law? The GP side: cost and advantage The profit and the process Quantmre.com

I remember being in medical school thinking that I wanted to be a surgeon. The idea of it appealed to me very much. I certainly had the personality of a surgeon. But there was something about which I felt very insecure. You see, growing up, my dad was about as white collar as they get. I didn’t learn anything about cars and never put up any shelves. The only reason to think I was any good with my hands at all was the fact that I excelled in hand-eye-coordination sports like ice hockey and table tennis (aka ping-pong). So as much as I loved the idea of being a surgeon, I had this big fear that I would be horrible at it. And, in the beginning, I kind of was! In medical school, all of the guys I liked were orthopedic surgeons. They were all into sports like me. The problem was that they were all carpenters at heart and I was NOT. I remember an orthopedic surgery resident handing me a saw to amputate a guy’s leg at the VA. Having that tool in my hands wasn’t pretty. Fortunately, the leg was supposed to come off anyway. Eventually, I realized that I was better at soft tissue surgery (no bones). I felt that I was better with fine movements than using power tools. That’s one of the reasons I decided to operate on brains. In fact, the first time I ever used a drill, it was in medical school drilling through someone’s skull on my neurosurgery rotation. I got pretty good with that drill after a while. It was the only power tool I liked. I remember getting confident enough practicing on people’s skulls that I bought a drill at the hardware store to put up some shelves in my apartment for the first time. Okay…so all of this sounds a little messed up I know. But it’s true. The good news for me was that there was a little bit of a learning curve getting my hands wet but pretty soon, I became a pretty darn good surgeon. In hindsight, the fear and anxiety of not being good at surgery were silly. As it turned out, becoming a good surgeon was really no different than becoming good at anything else in life—it took practice. In the case of most surgical procedures, you sort of do the same maneuvers in every case. After my neurosurgery stint (which I left because of the hours), I spent some time doing cosmetic surgery. I watched the masters do hundreds of operations. There was one guy I watched that was particularly interesting to me because his results were so good and so consistent. What I noticed when I watched him carefully was that he did everything the same every single time. In fact, I counted about 6 discreet maneuvers that he did for every patient and wrote them down. When I started doing my own cases, I did those six steps and, from the very first case, my results were outstanding. During my career, I did several hundred facelifts and did them exactly the same way every time. I got faster, more precise, and there were fewer and fewer wasted movements. My patients thought I was an artist. But the truth was that I was more of a robot than an artist. I am the least artistic person I know. This experience of mastery was profound for me. I felt like I had discovered a larger secret in the process of being a good facelift surgeon. The secret was that you could master just about anything if you cracked the code and did it over and over again the same way every time. That’s all that mastery really is. My guest on this week’s Wealth Formula Podcast is special. At a relatively young age, she has become a master at her craft and has shown the same kind of consistency with her financial outcomes as I did at my peak with surgical outcomes. Her name is Janet LePage and she is a computer scientist who has cracked the code to successful multifamily real estate investing. In this episode, we will learn how she did it. Buck P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for our upcoming Wealth Formula Investor Meetup in Scottsdale, AZ. Click here to learn more! For the past decade, Janet has been focused on creating wealth through well-selected real estate investment. She has grown her precise business strategy from more than 50 residential transactions in Arizona to the purchase of multi-family buildings. Under Janet’s leadership, WWC has placed more than $279 million US in private equity and acquired 44 multi-family properties, comprising more than 8,500 rental units, with a purchase value of more than $750 million. In 2017, Janet was named entrepreneur of the Year (Real Estate/Construction/Pacific region) by Ernst & Young. In 2016, Janet was named one of Business in Vancouver’s Forty Under 40 and was awarded the Veuve Cliquot Canadian New Generation Award, which recognizes young female entrepreneurs. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science and Business Administration (Simon Fraser University) and a Project Management Professional designation.  Shownotes: Janet Lepage’s background Cracking the code then sticking to it Velocity and leverage Have a lot of lemons to squeeze Affordability index Caring = profitability The We Got You Back program

You know it’s been a hell of a year in terms of market volatility right? Now, in cryptocurrency, we expect that. It is a speculative asset class with binary outcomes. That’s why we only invest money in money that we can lose. In 2018, we definitely lost it (who knows about 2019). But the equity markets are supposed to be where you put your retirement money! Whats up with the volatility? December has been the worst month in the stock market since 2008 and could very well be the worst December since 1932 during the Great Depression. Why? Because the fed raised rates by one quarter of one percent? Because there is a government shut down over a border wall? Why do these seemingly unrelated circumstances affect your publicly traded equities? The answer…your wealth in the stock market is not real. When people get nervous and there is a sell off in the market, your wealth vanishes. Investing in the stock market is not conservative as conventional financial wisdom has led you to believe. It gives you exposure to systemic risk that you cannot control. Now I know some of you skeptics out there will say yeah Buck the real estate market is not an uncorrelated asset either. That’s absolutely true but here is the difference. You see, the money I have tied up in real estate is real. How do I know that? Well, I can see, touch, and feel an apartment building. And people have to live somewhere so they keep paying if they need a roof over their head. People sell stocks so they can pay their rent. As for the value of the building. Maybe it will go down in value for a period of time but if I’m making money from the asset now, why do I even care? I’ll just cash flow for a few years and when the value goes back up, maybe I’ll sell (or maybe not). These are not new concepts for this show but worth repeating because I am sensing panic out there with stock market investors and I am getting a lot of questions about where to invest or where to hold cash. Rather than be foolish and give you financial advice, let me point out that my own strategy continues to be to buy moderately leveraged real estate with value add opportunities in high growth markets (Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta). If you are an accredited investor and you want to know exactly what I’m up to, join investor club ASAP and you can decide if you want to do the same. As for where to keep cash, I’ll say it again. There is only one vehicle that I know that continued to provide solid positive compounding growth and liquidity through the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Great Recession. It’s called Wealth Formula Banking and, in my opinion, this is the best risk adjusted long term investment ever. If you are tired of feeling queasy not knowing which way the market is turning, it may be time to really take a look at this option.  I think we are in for some serious volatility in the next year. That said, I do not believe that we are headed for another 2008 right now. The biggest problem we have right now is that rates are normalizing (although mortgage rates remain low) and there is a tremendous amount of political uncertainty. The markets hate uncertainty. Sitting on cash in an almost certain inflationary environment may not be in your best interests either. That guarantees you lose money as inflation exceeds the nominal interest you are earning at the bank. Markets go up and down even though in good times we never seem to remember that. It doesn’t mean we freeze. It means we make decisions based on what is in front of us. In this week’s episode of Ask Buck, we touch on these topics and more. Start out the year with some Wealth Formula Wisdom. Don’t miss this episode.

I’d like to give each and every one of my listeners a gift this year so I’m going to do that the only way I know how—to give you some unsolicited advice (not to be confused with financial advice). Take it or leave it but these concepts have served me well. So…let us begin! Invest in people, not deals. This is just as true whether you are investing on your own as owner-operator or as a passive investor. It is easy to understand from the perspective of a passive investor. Once word gets around that you might invest in a private placement, you will get a lot of garbage thrown your way. My advice…if you don’t know who it’s coming from, delete it.Proformas and glossy offering memorandums can be made to look whatever way you want them to look. You can make swamp land in Florida look good on paper. It’s like putting lipstick on a pig. Work with people that you know, like and trust. What if you are contemplating a new venture on your own or are thinking about buying your own apartment building? Same principal here…invest in people, not deals. In this case, you have to invest in your self. You have to take the time to learn and get the help you need from mentors and masterminds. If you are going into a dark cave for the first time, bring someone who’s been there before. Be careful on this one—lots of gurus out there who aren’t going to help you that much. They are too busy selling their programs to be true mentors. It’s better if you find a real person willing to take you under their wing who’s got some scar tissue. To master anything new, you have to learn from mistakes…but they don’t have to be your mistakes. Finally, remember to keep an open mind and try to learn from multiple sources. A mentor is great but should serve as a foundation for your on-going learning. Get perspectives from others. I have found that perfectly intelligent people can disagree on how things should be done and both or neither can be right at the same time. I have missed out on some big opportunities in the past few years because I kept listening to the same people crying wolf about the economy over and over.I have found that when everyone thinks the same thing, it is usually time to second guess the assumptions that are being made. So…please keep listening to my podcast and become an active member of the Wealth Formula Community. But also listen to others who have a different perspective. Tell me when you think I am wrong. But if you do, back it up rather than quoting another podcaster or blogger. On my end, I will continue and try not to let myself get boxed into one kind of thinking and to continue to provide you with truly unique and useful content that isn’t just a replay of someone else’s podcast. I think we have just scratched the surface. Merry Christmas!

People keep asking me the same question these days—Buck, what are you investing in given the relative instability of asset prices and the economy? Now I won’t give you financial advice—that is my disclaimer. But I will tell you what I tell everyone else. In times like these, I stick mostly to multifamily real estate and life insurance related products. Why?  Well, in the case of multifamily real estate, people have got to live somewhere. Paying you rent is required so they don’t go homeless. What good is your apple stock if you’ve got no place to live? What if asset prices go down you ask? Well, as long as you are moderate with leverage and continue to deleverage by creating value, you should be just fine. Again, that’s my opinion and those of you in my investor club know that I am doubling down on this. What about this whole life insurance product thing? Well, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at WealthFormulaBanking.com and get a sense for yourself. You know, it drives me crazy when know-it-all doctors tell me that life insurance is not a good investment. Well, if you look at the way their policies were structured, they are absolutely right. They just aren’t seeing the way the wealthy get these things structured. The wealthiest people in this country, the Romneys, the Rothschilds all use these products to create wealth. Do you think they might know more than an ER doctor with a blog about this stuff? Well, I’ll leave that up to you. The good news is that the structure used by the ultra-wealthy for these policies is not just for the rich. It’s about structure. You don’t have to be a millionaire or a billionaire to make these things work for you. And, in unstable financial times like these, dealing with investments that have consistently paid out since before the Civil War might not be a bad idea. We talk about this stuff a lot and will continue to do so but if you have not checked out WealthFormulaBanking.com do so to get detail. I can honestly say that if you took no other action from Wealth Formula content other than to get familiar with these products, I would feel like I have done a service to you and your financial future. Today, we are going to talk about the not-so-obvious benefits of these kinds of products that guys like me don’t often think about because all we care about is creating wealth. In fact, there are many strategies that we these policies can be used for other than maximizing leverage and velocity. To talk about this, I’ve got the best in the business back on the show this week, Christian Allen and Rod Zabriskie.  Shownotes: 30 seconds summary of Wealth Formula Banking 30 seconds of Velocity Plus Wealth Formula Banking: Don’t I have to pay back interest? Long-term insurance market Why would life insurance make more sense than term insurance Convertible-type policy Insurance as part of a comp package Getting a policy for your kid Common questions and misconceptions Not only to protect but to grow your wealth

How was it that some people were able to predict the 2008 financial meltdown? Were they clairvoyant? To be clear, I’m not talking about those who predict a financial meltdown every year. I’m talking about groups like ITR economics who we had on the show a few weeks ago that also accurately predicted periods of financial prosperity as well. Those who best understand how the global economy works at the macro level are the ones who can see where it is headed. Most of us are down in the weeds seeing things happen in real time wondering when to take cover or when to shoot for the moon. The good macroeconomist, though, is not guessing. He sees the financial world move in concert from a thousand feet above with its complex interactions. He understands that the economy is dynamic and, in the global economy of today, cannot be seen through the same lens that it was 50 years ago when economies were more isolated from one another. I am certainly no economist. However, I am good at surrounding myself with people smarter than myself (which isn’t that hard frankly). That is a skill that has essentially accounted for all of the investing success I have had. In the world of macroeconomics, Richard Duncan is one of the guys that I listen to and he is my guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week. If you want to know what the financial world looks like from a thousand feet up and several thousand miles away, do not miss this episode! Richard Duncan is the author of three books on the global economic crisis. The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures (John Wiley & Sons, 2003, updated 2005), predicted the current global economic disaster with extraordinary accuracy. It was an international bestseller. His second book was The Corruption of Capitalism: A strategy to rebalance the global economy and restore sustainable growth. It was published by CLSA Books in December 2009. His latest book is The New Depression: The Breakdown Of The Paper Money Economy (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). Since beginning his career as an equities analyst in Hong Kong in 1986, Richard has served as global head of investment strategy at ABN AMRO Asset Management in London, worked as a financial sector specialist for the World Bank in Washington D.C., and headed equity research departments for James Capel Securities and Salomon Brothers in Bangkok. He also worked as a consultant for the IMF in Thailand during the Asia Crisis. Richard has appeared frequently on CNBC, CNN, BBC and Bloomberg Television, as well as on BBC World Service Radio. He has published articles in The Financial Times, The Far East Economic Review, FinanceAsia and CFO Asia. He is also a well-known speaker whose audiences have included The World Economic Forum’s East Asia Economic Summit in Singapore, The EuroFinance Conference in Copenhagen, The Chief Financial Officers’ Roundtable in Shanghai, and The World Knowledge Forum in Seoul. Richard studied literature and economics at Vanderbilt University (1983) and international finance at Babson College (1986); and, between the two, spent a year travelling around the world as a backpacker. Shownotes: Richard Duncan’s story A shift in how the economy works after the gold standard Why do trade deficits matter, for both sides? With all the bubbles around, what next? Don’t be stuck in a traditional mindset Trade war policies The MacroWatch Newsletter Richardduncaneconomics.com Subscribe and get 50% off for Wealth Formula listeners, coupon code: formula