It's up to the concerned and critical-thinking among us to look at the math, the hard data underlying the headlines, and construct what we can best calculate to be true about our current personal financial level of (un)readiness for the future and the truth is that there are 3 adult generations in the U.S. are experiencing a squeeze that is making it harder to create value, save capital, and pursue happiness than at any point since WWII. Let's walk through the numbers.

Stock markets around the world have been on an extended bull run for a long time now and 2 new charts, from Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, show that shares are in too-good-to-be-true territory and that, if history is anything to go by, they're due for a sharp correction.

Extremes eventually reverse, and generally in rough symmetry with their explosive rise and we are reaching such extremes in valuation, complacency and margin debt. When the speculative frenzy dissipates, central banks will be the only buyers left and unless the Fed increases its balance sheet from $4.5 trillion to $14.5 trillion in a matter of months, even central bank manipulation will be swamped by sellers exiting bursting-bubble markets.

If you really want to be sure you’re keeping pace with inflation and own assets that can survive a crisis then forget gold. [A look at the evidence] tells us that over long periods of time, investors are better off holding stocks than gold. Words: 665; Table:1

The notion that gold is the premium SAFE HAVEN during times of financial crisis doesn’t hold true if we go by the actual data. When the world stood at the brink of a total economic and financial meltdown in 2008, investors overwhelmingly choose silver over gold, which means, when the next much more dire financial crisis appears, physical silver demand will more than likely totally overrun supply. Got Silver?

No one can predict exactly what will rise up after the collapse of the current monetary system, but here is my take on how you can do your best to prepare yourself no matter what happens.

The current credit-bubble boom in stocks and bonds is getting long in tooth after 34 years of relentless expansion, and the rise of securities to 400% of GDP is reaching extremes that are increasingly difficult to support, much less push higher. As such, a reversion to generational lows is inevitable, and a valuation level around 50% of GDP for stocks is a fair target. This implies a 75% decline in both stocks and bonds within the next decade, if not sooner.

Where does the Dow go from here? Maybe up a little higher but, more likely, it's all downhill from here though perhaps that statement is misleading. More like, down a cliff.

A lot of people think that because they have a lot of money they’re wealthy but, in the short run while that may be true, in the longer run the money can go away. Wealth, however, is something that prevails and these 2 investors know exactly how to maximize theirs.

According to Tobin’s Q, equities in the U.S. are valued about 10% above the cost of replacing their underlying assets -- higher than any time other than the Internet bubble and the 1929 peak. Here's why.