After a long period of very low interest rates following the global financial crisis the central banks of the U.S. and U.K. are planning to gradually tighten their easy monetary policies as their economies improve. When their benchmark interest rates go up, interest rates elsewhere will go up to so should we worry if and when global financial conditions tighten?

We look at this market and we see "too much." Too much divergence, too much complacency, too much embedded downside risk…the list goes on and covers many things. Let's make the rounds and see what we find [and what it means for the immediate well-being of the various stock markets.]

We're doomed! Even if the economy were growing at a faster pace, it wouldn't come close to offsetting the interest payments on our ever-expanding debt. As such, any sort of credit shock - either rising rates or a decline in the rate of debt expansion - will cause the system to implode. Let me explain why that is the case.

So much analysis we see and hear lately is concerned with whether the stock market is in a bubble or not. The truth of the matter, however, is that bear markets do not begin due to bubble-level valuations being reached and then bursting, but in anticipation of half a dozen mitigating factors as outlined in this article.

The next time someone says, "The US is the richest country on Earth" correct them and state that "The U.S. is the most bankrupt and indebted country in the history of the world" because that's reality. Let me explain.

Dozens of financial, economic and investment articles are posted on munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!) every month to keep readers abreast of the latest information. Below are introductory paragraphs and links to a selection of articles on how to be a more successful investor that you may have missed. Choose what interests you, consider applying some of the suggestions presented, and hopefully reap the financial gains that result in doing so.

The S&P 500 continues to hit new all time highs, but is your portfolio built on a house of cards? The politics to kick the proverbial can down the road may unleash dynamics that could be hazardous to your wealth. Here's why and how to protect your portfolio.

There is too much debt. Debt works the same way for a country as it works for an individual or a family, which is to say if you borrow too much, then your life basically craters. Everything gets harder to do, and you end up doing things in order to deal with your past mistakes that you would never do normally. You start trying absolutely crazy things, and that’s where the world’s governments are right now. We are doing all these things that are essentially con games and getting away with it so far, because a printing press is a great tool for fooling people. I don’t see how we can get away with it too much longer.

Back in the 1940s Donald Bradley developed a means to forecast the stock market using the movement of the planets which, according to the noted technical analyst William Eng in his book Technical Analysis of Stocks, Options, and Futures, is the only ‘excellent’ Timing Indicator. Below are current Bradley timing model charts indicating a major turning point in the stock markets is imminent.

Over the past 20 years, the S&P 500 has produced a 9.2% annualized total return. Over the same period, gold has returned an annualized 6.6%. And bonds? The Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index has returned 5.7%. Based on these figures, what type of return do you think the average investor has achieved over this time period? The answer will shock you. Read on!