Busy Times

This is a busy time for me with moving, taxes and a bunch of other things.  It may be another week or week and a half before I can blog again which would be around April 21. 

These are interesting and historical times we live in, knowledge and preparation will have us prosper :).

See you next week

Hi, thanks for coming to this site :),

It is my birthday week and have chosen to take the week to do birthday week stuff!

The next blog will be next Monday Aprill 11.

See you soon,

Hugh

Big Brother

Lower on the island the soil remains saturated with water so the risks of mudslides and other dangers remain high.  It has been requested that we do not indulge our curiosity and investigate the carnage.

Confined to a finite space reminds me of being back on the ship, limited in our range of movement while having a view of infinity.  Our dreams are pulled to into the expanse to travel far while our bodies cannot join, instead destined to sail patiently toward the horizon. 

It is our imagination that allows us to ask “what if”, as our heart ponders whether true happiness can be found in that imaginary and untraveled land.   Is this where the seeds of “So What” lie?

Why do we need to know what really money is, why is it so important?  It hasn’t seemed important up till now, and no one else seems to care.  The question almost seems obscure. 

It has already been an important question and it has already had a major impact on our financial well-being.  That is what no one is talking about.

First, lets be clear, gold and silver are real money.  They are durable, divisible, have relative value, are transportable, can not be easily duplicated and are recognized and accepted in exchange around the world.  Consequently they are a means of exchange, a unit of account and are a store of value.  They have withstood the test of time and empire to be used as money for thousands of years.

Second, we care because its integrity is the foundation on which our financial system is built.

The Founding Fathers knew this and so the Constitution of the United States specifically states that money can not be created (printed) that is not backed by a specific unit of gold or silver.  As per the Constitution, dollar bills cannot be created that are not backed by something of real value. 

This law protects the people from fraud, forgery and corruption of government and the power of the banks.  The Founding Fathers knew that without this protection, the system and the people would be vulnerable to its inevitable corruption and destruction. 

It is very much in the interest of government and the banks for us not to see this and to know why, and it is our captain’s humble view that our financial future depends on us knowing WHY!!!!

So What?

A vibration of shock can be felt through all souls present and accounted for. We can see the devastation created from the wall of water that has torn over the once beautifully treed landscape far below our height created sanctuary.

Whatever universal forces have conspired to bring us to this place and out of the reach of such an awe inspiring and destructive force, we give thanks.

Haphazardly seated in an open area heated by the warmth of the sun, all eyes are now on the Captain who carries a look of both draining concern and sheepish pride.

He begins talking about how far we have come and how different we are from the group that got on the boat some 50 days ago. How the knowledge and skills we have acquired were beautifully displayed over the last few days in ensuring our safe arrive in this place.

Financially, where is this place? Where have we come to and how are we to apply the knowledge and skills we have spent all this time learning? Does a Tsunami lie in our future? Like on our island, nature is not a certainty, but a matter of probability.

This place includes the pieces necessary for the foundation of our financial house and now is a good time to start asking how they fit together. What kind of house do we need to build to protect us from what ever future storms may be coming our way?

It is time to start to answer the age old strategic question;

“So What?!”

Into the Light

On the other side of our tent flap is a changed world, different from one we knew before. 

What spirituality lies within the pulling back of the flap, the act of boldly striding into an unknown future, of stepping into the light and asking for the truth of what is? 

Is it an act of self love, a place where there is only our intension and the question of whether our actions are consistent?  A place of no right or wrong, only one of what can I learn, how can I grow and how can I making a contribution?

Stepping into community eager to do our part, we seek the answer to our first question, are all souls present and accounted for?  Our eyes squint from the light. 

Stepping into the financial light of our future we ask;

What is Money?

What an obscure question.  In this age, that question has no place. 

In these days of wired and wireless communication, electronic bits moving through out the world at tremendous speeds, our bank account balance an electronic display on a screen or piece of paper, that question becomes barbaric. 

We are in the modern world, the 1^st world; we don’t have time to ponder such ridiculous and unnecessary questions.   Even if we did, the answer would be complicated and obscure and of little value. 

It is interesting however, that our currency today does not meet the test of money.  Is this a passing oddity to be filed away in our “worthless facts folder”?

The list of items that meet all the “tests of money”, {a means of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value}, is tiny.

Our Captain is telling us;

Not only is this not a barbaric question, our financial futures depends on our understanding the answer, literally!!!
-----

Griffiths says that...“Most western economies can’t get what Lord Keynes said about gold out of their head, he said it was a barbarous relic. And in our western culture it still is a barbarous relic, but we’re moving into a world where the cultures of China and India are going to be more dominant...and they are the engine of the world’s growth. In their culture, gold is real money, has been for thousands of years...and will be in the future

Robin Griffiths is at Cazenove which as a group now manages nearly £15 billion on behalf of their client base and is one of the oldest and most respected names in the financial community, Robin has over 44 years experience. .

The Light of a New Day

At the crack of this dawn we lie in the sanctity of our sleeping bag knowing only one thing for sure, we are alive.  Like a soldier cocooned in a fox hole the shelling, for now, seems to have stopped.  

To contemplate courage in the warm light of day is one thing, to search for it alone in the dark night is another; with only our soul’s voice to guide us to what we truly cherish.

These times bring us present to the value of steps taken to protect that which we hold most dear; and the potential cost of those not chosen.     

If we take steps to protect my financial future and are wrong, what is the downside?  If the steps are easy and carry little cost, am I truly present to the value of peace of mind they will bring? 

With any storm, the value is in the preparation as it can be too late to start getting ready after the storm hits.

As our Captain has said many times: “Never underestimate the power of denial”

Are we in denial, maybe or maybe not?  If someone is willing to make a case, are we open to listen?  Are we willing to take steps even though we may not yet believe?

These thoughts run through our head as we feel the hesitation reaching for the fly on our tent, knowing that in the next few seconds, the destruction we are about to see and experience may change our life forever.

We Await the Dawn

It has been a long night and hats off to those who could sleep. The Tsunami was due to hit our small little isle in the early hours of the morning.

It was dark last night as an electrical storm blow in just as the sun was setting. Flashes of light were the only interruption to the impenetrable darkness. What ever the sound of a tidal wave forcing its way in to our island home, could not be heard with strained ear. Truly Lucifer had opened up the gates of hell himself last night if only to gloat over the spectacle of its awe-inspiring supremacy.

Like the many soldiers over many battlefields, we await the dawn.

Money is like our own army, battling it out to determine the value of exchange.

For most people, the battles are done with Fiat Money.

Fiat Money;  is money that has value only because of government regulation or law. The term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning "let it be done", as such money is established by government decree. Where fiat money is used as currency, the term fiat currency is used.

That is where the phrase Legal Tender comes from; you are required by law to accept it in the tendering of an exchange.

Today, all national currencies are fiat currencies, including the US dollar, the euro, and all other reserve currencies. As we know, this trend began with the Nixon Shock of 1971, which ended the backing by precious metal of the U.S. dollar.

That is the grand experiment. For the first time in history, we have a world reserve fiat currency.

The $US, the world reserve currency, is not backed by anything, well actually it is backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States”.

And unfortunately, there in lies the problem……

It is sad to say but how much faith do we have in the US financial system and how much credit to they have?

For example, in his first 3 years in office, Obama has increase the US debt more than the last 43 presidents combined.