Juggling Dynamite

Some lucid observations in this segment…

Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, joined Yahoo Finance Live to give his take on Bitcoin and his outlook for a de-globalizing economy and gridlocked US government.  Here is a direct video link.

Widening wealth gaps continue to increase social unrest:

“…suppose that you are permanently unemployed or you’re underemployed or you’re at risk of losing job, you’re also among the people that has almost no financial wealth. Just to give a number, 85% of all equity wealth in the United States is held by the top 10% of households. 51% of it is held by the top 1% of households. The bottom 50% of households has almost zero equity wealth, 0.5%. And the top 60 billionaires in United States have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population that is 160 million people.”

As priced-for-perfection public markets rally on COVID vaccine optimism, virus experts are calling for realism and renewed containment efforts.  See Canada clamps down on businesses again in new virus wave and Developing a Coronavirus vaccine is just the first step–distribution presents a whole new challenge.

I posted an interview with infectious disease expert, Dr. Michael Osterholm, here in March.  This week, he was appointed as a coronavirus advisor to President-elect Biden and offered a sober update on the outlook in the interview below.  Worth a listen.

The coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will face its darkest period so far over the next three to four months as cases continue to surge above 100,000 per day, a newly appointed coronavirus advisor to President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday.

“What America has to understand is that we are about to enter Covid hell,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.” “It is happening.”  Here is a direct video link.

We cannot discern a person’s financial health based on their age or physical trappings.  Nor does a high income ensure financial security.  Many people figure this out with experience; some never do.

As with our physical health, it is the avoidance of accidents, along with constructive personal discipline, that plays the largest role in defining our financial health over time.  This is why it is critical to live below our means–spend less than we make, avoid debt, save, and not lose principal once we have it.  Not losing principal requires minimal exposure to gambling bets and asset bubbles because, eventually, they all implode capital.

A recent financial survey found that, on average, people come to some awakening about the significance of money management in their early 30s. See How old are you financially?:

A recent OnePoll survey, commissioned by BKO Financial, found the average “financial awakening” moment tends to be experienced at age 33. However, that is the average and you might not be average.

Here are a few tips to ensure you don’t fall into the “average trap.”

1. Live below your means
2. Establish an emergency fund
3. Pay yourself first

Three simple little steps in your financial life equal a big step toward financial maturity and will help you get through a financial awakening moment regardless of your age.

It’s never too late to adopt constructive habits, but the earlier the better.  Financial mistakes are harder and harder to recover from the older we become.