Finance

James Naismith of Almonte, Ontario invented basketball in 1891...to keep athletes active during the cold winter months while teaching physical education at the International Young Men’s Christian Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. To celebrate that occasion, the Royal Canadian Mint is now selling a colourized coin with a convex reverse side to depict the likeness of a basketball.

As the narrative goes, either we buy into the unlimited and more or less guaranteed creation of wealth for all who follow the agreed-upon wisdom, or we reject it, and prepare for the inevitable collapse of the financial system and the value of money. The problem, however, is that both the present and the recent past are completely different from either approach BUT there is a third potential future to consider which I believe to be the most compelling. Let me explain.

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We've now entered a pivotal phase in which, with each passing day, more and more of the country's 50 million Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age. Over the last 35 years, we’ve seen what the largest and wealthiest generation can to do the markets when most of them are simultaneously buying – but we have no history for what happens to prices when so many people try to cash out so much for so long.

I'm bulled up on gold. [I think it] could rally by 50%. Here's why.

Below is an analysis of the past and present retirement scenarios and specific ways to offset the income gap of today.

It does not matter if stocks are insanely overvalued as long as there's a foolish participant who is willing to pay a higher price. That's the essence of the "greater fool theory" and, right now, there are more foolish buyers who want "in the game" than risk-reducing sellers who want to scale back.

According to a new Gallup poll, of all the major institutions that Americans come into contact with throughout their daily lives, the percent of people who say they have a "great deal" of confidence in banks has plunged more than any other institution since June 2006.

The only reason that I can come up with that would have the Fed raise rates is that it wants to crash the markets. Why? Because Main Street is not doing well as the Price to Sales ratio chart below clearly shows. The Fed, and the markets, are stuck and those who are fully invested now will probably get creamed if a negative catalyst like Donald Trump becoming President happens, as he would surly cause instability and rock the government institutions.

It should be evident that one need not be a so-called Wall Street expert to make a self-determination about what to do in the markets and when. The information is always available in real-time, and in our mind the logic is inescapable when one begins to apply a little (or a lot of) common sense to what the market is revealing.