Juggling Dynamite

Pensions have been underfunded and managed to compound their capital shortfalls for more than 2 decades. Today in the midst of the biggest and third global asset bubble in 20 years, investment yields and expected returns have never been lower with withdrawal expectations never larger.

Contrary to the self-serving recommendations of the financial sales sector, when investment conditions are hostile the answer is not to increase risk exposure and hope for lucky ‘wins’, the answer is to seek defense against the coming mean reversion period and wait for capital-worthy opportunities to return.

Unfortunately most pension managers, financial advisors and savers are doing the opposite, and this will only serve to make deficits worse.  The below audio discussion about the retirement savings crisis still widely unacknowledged, is worth sharing.

Financial solutions lie in math, pragmatic planning and self-discipline, not in sales pitches and willful blindness.  Here is a direct audio link to the segment starting at 11:26 and ending at 41:00.

The financial system will soon witness a collision between an unstoppable force and an immovable object. Pensions around the world are being crushed under the weight of trillions in unfunded liabilities while hundreds of millions of Baby Boomers are advancing to retirement in ever greater numbers, creating a perfect storm for the next crisis that is all but mathematically certain to happen.

In St Martin the French half of the island struggled greatly in recent years as its currency, the Euro, surged against the US dollar, widely used on the Dutch half. Now both sides are devastated.

It’s one thing for the fraction of people with enough resources to escape to another location, but for the majority of inhabitants there are few options here. The question that no one wants to face in all of this is how countries can afford to keep rebuilding communities in the many coastal and flood prone areas now in line to suffer repeated climate calamity. As private insurers rightly reject the underwriting of untenable risks, the financial burden shifting on to government programs is unsustainable. No one wants to face this math, and yet it is there none the less.

As centuries of refugees in crisis have shown us, when civilization can no longer stay in one place it migrates to others. Coastal populations are moving towards higher ground and inland, and we would be wise to admit these facts and focus our finite energy and resources on all the mitigation and accommodations needed for this transition.  For the wealthy who wish to keep building in high risk areas, it must be at their own financial risk and privately funded insurance, not on government-backed underwriting.  There’s just not enough taxpayer funds to go around.

Best intentions and willful blindness notwithstanding, it’s only when individuals bear the financial responsibility for our choices that pragmatic plans and solutions can evolve.  Climate adversity will continue to dictate our choices, whether we are ready or not.

Two residents from St. Martin island’s two nations, the French St. Martin and the Dutch St. Maarten, describe Hurricane Irma’s destruction. Here is a direct video link.

Processed food is engineered to make us crave it.  And in many cases, it’s successful.

Most of us have, at one time or another, struggled to say ‘no thanks’ when it comes to food. It’s difficult to close the bag of chips or refuse the extra cookie. It’s no wonder that more than 14 million Canadians are considered overweight or obese.

But is it possible that some of us are actually addicted to food, in the same way that a drug addict is addicted to cocaine? And if we are, would going to food rehab help?

Annie Rosenberg of Vancouver thinks so. She is a self-confessed addict. Her drug of choice is refined and processed food. But today, she’s says she’s in recovery. Here is a direct audio link.