Exclusive Interview with Ken Fisher about the Stock Market Under Trump versus Biden

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 by Fred Fuld III

The following informative interview was provided by Kenneth L. Fisher, founder and chairman of the money management firm Fisher Investments, who had the longest continuous running column in Forbes Magazine. He is a billionaire on the Forbes 400 list and author of numerous investment related books.

According to Investment Advisor magazine, he is one of the 30 most influential people in the investment advisory business over the last 30 years. Fisher is considered to be the largest wealth manager in the United States.

We cover a lot in this interview, including:

• The stock market under President Donald Trump versus former Vice President Joe Biden
• The influence of corporate tax rate on the stocks 
• The potential of the reversal of Trump’s tax bill on Day One if Joe Biden & Kamila Harris win the election
• The market under Republicans versus Democrats
• Whether inflation is on the horizon
• The petroleum industry
• Gross Output, GDP, and the economy versus the stock market
• Are stock ratios dead? (PE, PS, PEG)
• And much, much more

Two Timeless Books Mentioned by Ken Fisher in the Interview

The Only Three Questions That Still Count: Investing By Knowing What Others Don’t (A great companion to the  Beat the Crowd: How You Can Out-Invest the Herd by Thinking Differently book, which I enjoyed reading.)

Wall Street Waltz 

(My favorite of all his books is The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) Second Edition,  because it is so different from all the other financial publications. It basically tells you ten ways, with all the steps, to get really rich, including “marrying a billionaire.” Lot’s of insight and lots of humor. You can find more info about this book on a previous podcast: Interview with Billionaire Ken Fisher about the 10 Roads to Riches.)

The Interview

Enjoy listening to the great insights and  information that Ken Fisher provides.

To access a link to the interview, click:

HERE

Enjoy the interview and Happy Investing!

All opinions are those of Ken Fisher, and do not represent the opinions of this site or the interviewer. Neither this site, nor the interviewer, nor the interviewee are rendering tax, legal, or investment advice in this interview. As an Amazon Associate, earnings may be generated from qualifying purchases of books from affiliate links.

Zimbabwe 100 Trillion Dollar Bills are Worth More than the Paper They are Printed On

Zimbabwe $100 Trillion Dollar Bill

Does anyone remember when Zimbabwe had what many economists believe was the highest inflation rate of any country in history? In 2008, Zimbabwe came out with a $100 billion bill. Then in 2009; inflation in Zimbabwe was so bad, that the country finally issued a  $100 trillion dollar bill - that's 100,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwe dollars.

Zimbabwe banknotes worth
about US$1 at the time

This happened because the government reported in July 2008 that they were experiencing inflation of 231 million percent (231,000,000%). However, the Libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, believed that the real inflation rate was 89.7 sextillion percent , which numerically would look like  89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000%. It is incredible to think that in April of 2008, the country had inflation of 'only' 100,000%.

Inflation was so bad that the best way to explain it, since a picture is worth a hundred trillion words, is through pictures of people in Zimbabwe trying to use this extremely high inflation currency.

Zimbabwe bundle of bills
worth about $100 at that time 

The first picture shows a boy on his way to the market with hundreds of bills worth about one US dollar. The second shows a man with bundles of Zimbabwe bills worth about $100 US.

100 billion Zimbabwe dollars for 3 eggs

The third picture shows the purchase of three eggs. Price: 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars.

The fourth picture shows the payment for a meal at a Zimbabwe restaurant.
Fortunately, Zimbabwe now has their inflation under control, now that the country is allowing the use of foreign currencies, including the US dollar, for commerce.

So are these 100 trillion dollar bills worthless? No! The country's former high denomination bills have now become collector's items, mementos of runaway inflation. Currently, they are selling for almost $100 each, and for quantities of these Zimbabwe notes, you can still pick them up for around $50 each.

Bricks of Zimbabwe bills to pay
for a meal at a restaurant

People are now buying these hundred trillion dollar bills as birthday and Christmas gifts, turning their friends and relatives into "trillionaires" (in old Zimbabwe currency).

Pictures courtesy of www.emailforwards.net

Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy - and What We Can Do About It

A couple weeks ago, Steve Forbes, the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. I had the opportunity to hear him speak and talked to him awhile beforehand. (By the way, he told me that he will not be running for U.S. President again.)

Forbes has also come out with a new book called Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy – and What We Can Do About It. Forbes has pinpointed the primary cause of the problems with the current economy. The book covers how we got into this mess, how we can get out of it, and what could happen if we don't do anything about it.

The book is about, what else, money. He talks about the history of money in an interesting and easy to understand way. Probably the most important chapter is Chapter 4, where he discusses how terrible inflation is, even a small rate of inflation.

In his speech, he even gave an example. He said that when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told U.S. Senators that she had an annual target inflation rate of 2%, why did not one senator ask the question, for a middle class family that spends $50,000 a year, how does increasing their expenses by $1,000 a year help that family? Forbes does not believe in inflation at all.

He said that if inflation gets out of control, which it will if something isn't done soon, it will turn into a catastrophe. But he also said that inflation isn't just a financial issue, it is a morality issue.

Fortunately, there is a solution. It is covered in Chapter 6 (I won't give it away.)

If you want to understand the debasement of the U.S. dollar and inflation, then I highly recommend that you read Money.

Survive the Great Inflation

The book that Michael Murphy CFA wrote, Survive The Great Inflation, just came out today. If you haven't heard of Murphy, he is a Harvard graduate with honors, has 40 years experience, and his newsletter was second-best in 2009 out of almost 200 rated by the Hulbert Financial Digest, with a gain of over 148%. He does far more research than the average analyst.

(I can tell you from a personal standpoint that I invested in half a dozen of his picks a few months ago and all are up about an average of 50%, with one stock more than doubling. I would describe his specialty as solid small cap companies as medium term holding period investments.)

If you want to survive the upcoming inevitable inflation, Michael Murphy is the one to turn to. He is the one with the extensive background, the track record, and the road map for survival through his book. I highly recommend Survive The Great Inflation, which would make a great present for yourself and your friends.

Catastrophe Runaway Inflation Portfolio

Bailouts, TARP funds, funding of government programs, money printing! When is the day of reckoning? I don't know when the day of reckoning will take place, but I know what the day of reckoning will be: higher interest rates.

There are a lot of investments you can put in your portfolio to safeguard it from runaway inflation and higher rates. You probably don't want your whole portfolio in catastrophe protection investments, but it's a good idea to have a little to give your overall portfolio some protection. Here are some suggestions.

TIPS

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, also known as TIPS, provide protection against inflation. The principal of a TIPS increases with inflation and decreases with deflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. When a TIPS bond matures, you are paid the adjusted principal or original principal, whichever is greater. TIPS pay interest twice a year, at a fixed rate. The rate is applied to the adjusted principal; so, like the principal, interest payments rise with inflation and fall with deflation. You can buy TIPS from the U. S. Government at TreasuryDirect and Legacy Treasury Direct through non-competitive bidding. TreasuryDirect permits accounts for both individuals and various types of entities including trusts, estates, corporations, and partnerships.

I Bonds

I Bonds are a low-risk, liquid savings product. While you own them they earn a variable interest rate based on inflation, thereby providing some protection from inflation. You may purchase I Bonds via TreasuryDirect, at most local financial institutions or through payroll deduction. As a TreasuryDirect account holder, you can purchase, manage, and redeem I Bonds directly at the government's web site.

Bearish Treasury ETFs

When interests rates go up, bonds drop in value in order to compensate new buyers of bonds for higher rates. The bearish treasury ETFs drop when bonds rise in price and go up when bonds tank. So they are a great way to play higher interest rates. Here are a few worth looking at.

ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury (TBF) seeks daily investment results that correspond to the inverse or opposite of the daily performance of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index by investing in derivatives that should have similar daily performance characteristics as the inverse of the daily return of the Index.

ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT) has a goal of achieving returns that correspond to twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond index by investing in derivatives that should have similar daily return characteristics as twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Index.

ProShares UltraShort 7-10 Year Treasury (PST) attempts to achieve daily investment results which correspond to twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Barclays Capital 7-10 Year U.S. Treasury index from derivatives that should have similar daily return characteristics as twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Index.

Gold and Silver ETFs

There are plenty of Exchange Traded Funds which are plays in gold, silver, and other precious metals. Here are a couple.

ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL) seeks to match the performance of the price of gold bullion by holding physical gold bullion.

ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) has a goal of matching twice the performance of silver bullion as measured by the U.S. Dollar fixing price for delivery in London by investing in financial instruments with characteristics of twice the return of the index, utilizing leveraged investment techniques.

For other gold and silver ideas, you can find a list of gold and silver ETFs at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, that you can download, sort, add to, and change.

Remember, every portfolio can use a little protection.

Author owns TBT.

By Stockerblog.com