Ted Hunter

March 23, 2020

For what it’s worth I thought I’d share my thoughts.

As background, you should know that, as a hired gun stock investor from 1990 to 2000, I was able to both invest people’s money very successfully and also to call every major move of the stock and real estate markets from 1990 to 2008. Since then, however, I have been completely unable to do so and the reason as I see it is that we have had a rigged market since 2008.

Over 75% of all stock purchases since 2008 have been companies buying back their own stock, often using debt.. printed money.. to do so.

Lately, I believe I’m beginning to be able to call things again, as since Jan 1st I’m up 9% while the S&P is down 29%.. a 38% difference.

I believe we are facing a greater than 50% probability that we are entering no less than a depression.. a very bad thing for the stock market, the real estate market and, most importantly, for people’s jobs and lives.

Given this, I am and will be shorting. I’ve stuck to a huge position in gold, silver, and gold and silver miners stocks. The miner stocks, in particular, have been decimated.. down about 40%, YTD. I believe, however, that the reason is massive market rigging by the big banks and the government to suppress the prices of those metals as they would otherwise undermine their interests. I do believe, however, that time is running out for them and when it does that gold and silver will skyrocket.

So there are my thoughts at this time. I hope it helps.

by Ted Hunter

May 3, 2018

Thanks to all for supporting the launch of my Money Smart on-line personal finance courses. Although we’ve been able to help quite a few people, I’ve decided to go all out and from now on have all of the courses be 100% free.

If you haven’t already done so, please go to the website, http://moneysmartonline.com/ and check them out when you have time. Also, please tell everyone about them. You’ll be doing them a big favor if you do.

You almost never have anyone advising you about personal money management without a vested interest and I don’t have any. Wouldn’t manage your money if you begged me to. Been there and done that.

Provided below is a brief explanation as to why these courses are so critically important for most people.

It’s time for a Real Education in Personal Money Management.. time to make your money work for You!

I’m gonna start with a question. What did you ever learn in school about personal money management that you were able to use in your life? Spending, saving investing and such.. Nothing, right? If that’s your answer, you’re far from alone. I’ve asked that question of hundreds of people and always the same answer. Nothing.

It was the same for me. Graduated from a top 20 university, major in economics, minor in business, and yet everything I learned I learned the hard way, from trial and error in the real world.. 78 years of it. I’ve got the scars to show for it and, thankfully, the success.

For most people, however, not having a real life understanding of personal money management has been nothing short of disastrous. Look at the results..

2 people in 3 over 50 today cannot, will not, be able to retire.. 667,000 out of every 1 million people! What are they gonna do? Work at Walmart till they drop? Live in their kid’s basement?
Most Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck! 7 in 10 don’t even have $1000 in the bank! Think of the stress whenever something happens, and it always does… a car repair, a medical bill, God forbid a job loss!
Money is now the #1 cause of unhappiness in our society today.. the #1 cause of divorce!

And how about the stress. How often does money create a lot of stress in our lives?

If some of this applies to you, if you’re like most people, concerned about your future, not getting what you’ve worked for, what you deserve, you’re far from alone.

So why has this happened? The answer’s simple. It’s what I said at the start, that nobody ever gave you a real world education regarding money. Nobody ever told you what to do and how to do it.

But what about the internet? It can be such an amazing source of information on things. But when I went there I was stunned. It’s just so incredibly difficult to find out.. to piece together.. what to do. And who can you trust?

The truth is that we’re constantly being hit with waves and waves of self-serving, damaging advice, and non-stop, sophisticated marketing trying to get you to spend and invest your hard-earned money in a way that’s best for them.. not what’s best for you.

The good news is that solving this huge and extremely damaging problem is actually a fairly easy thing to do. As I said, the biggest problem is that nobody ever told you what to do.

I’ve been watching this happen for over 30 years now, watching it getting worse and worse. Finally, I couldn’t just watch anymore. I’ve had and have a great life.. a great marriage, great health and all the money I need, I so I decided to help.. to give back in thanks for all that I’ve been given.

For four years, from 2008 to 2012, I spent half of my time, and a lot of money to build a public service project to try to help everyone. I wrote a book, Money$mart, that was voted best personal finance book of the year in 2011.. been a guest on radio shows and such.

I was able to help thousands of people. But it was thousands, when it should’ve been millions. What I came to realize was that people needed to be able to sit down, face to face, and get a clear, thorough explanation of what to do.

So that’s what I decided to build. It’s a program of 7 on-line video courses. 7 subjects. The videos run about 35 to 45 minutes each, include all of the supporting tools and notes you’ll ever need, and are 100% free.. no catches whatsoever. Nothing more is needed except for you to go out and do it.

When you do, I’m confident it will turn out to be one of the best things you’ve ever done in your life.

by Ted Hunter

February 26, 2018

Pretty dumb question, huh? Well here’s another one. Would you let someone greatly influence your financial success, your financial future, your retirement, without any proof they were any good at it?

No? Well here’s your 3^rd and final question.

You ever see the complete 10 to 15 year track record of your financial advisor.. the only kind of track record that really matters? The complete 10 to 15 track record of their firm?

No you haven’t. Because it’s almost certainly bad. But if they’ve shown you an overall track record of beating the market for at least 10 years and especially since say 2000, great. You’ve got that 1 in a hundred. Me, I don’t even try to find such a person. The odds are just too bad.

Here’s why I say this..

98% of all professionally managed stock funds underperform the market in 10 years
Over 80% of all managed funds fail to beat the market each year, and the ones that do, change from year to year.
From 1982-2002 the stock market rose an amazing 793%.. one of the greatest explosions of stock market wealth in history. So what was the return of those that trusted the “professionals” to invest their money? Are you sitting down? The average stock investor that trusted the professionals made less than 3% a year, adjusted for inflation!

Last of all try this..

The greatest stock market investment study in history was sponsored by the Financial Services Industry, using trillions of dollars of data provided by the industry and multiple research teams headed by a team from the Harvard Business School. They believed it would be a good marketing tool for them to use.

You ever hear of that study? No, you haven’t. And why? Because the conclusion of the study was that people who invested their money themselves averaged twice the return of the people who use professionals!

When the industry got the results they panicked, and buried that study so you’d never see it.

What you’re seeing here is that the financial services industry is little more than a casino, skimming away your money in commissions, expenses, trading costs and, most of all, utter incompetence.

The answer to all this is very clear. That you, and only you must invest your money yourself. And don’t go thinking it’s too complicated for you to learn how to do it, because it’s not. Money management is not complicated. They complicate it to get their hands on your money.

I can show you, in like 3 minutes, how to invest in the stock market yourself and do so far better than any “professional” is likely to ever to do for you. And you don’t need to trust me on this, because no less than Warren Buffet has been telling everyone the same exact thing, over and over, for the last 30 years or so.

The same thing applies when it comes to spending smart.. to getting what you deserve from the money you’ve worked hard for. Over and over, we’re told wrong things to do when it comes spending our money. Things that are great for business.. terrible for us.

Unfortunately, these campaigns for both spending and investing have proven to be highly effective and the results have been just awful..

2 people in 3 over 50 today cannot, will not, be able to retire.. 667,000 out of every 1 million people! What are they gonna do? Work at Walmart till they drop? Live in their kid’s basement?
Most Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck! 7 in 10 don’t even have $1000 in the bank! Think of the stress whenever something happens, and it always does… a car repair, a medical bill, God forbid a job loss!
Money is now the #1 cause of unhappiness in our society today.. the #1 cause of divorce!

No way you want any of this to happen to you and it doesn’t have to, because solving this problem is actually not that hard. All you need is to learn what does work. And that’s what my Money Smart Project is all about.

To learn more, please take a look at my Project Overview video. I promise you.. it’ll probably end up as among the best 9 minutes you ever spent in your life.

by Ted Hunter

February 19, 2018

Say you make $50,000 a year and you can change that.. make say $75,000. Look at what that alone can mean. At about $17,000 after taxes, and at a 6% return, that’s an amazing $230,000 in 10 years, $400,000 in 20! Think of what that alone can do for your life, your future.

And how about working at something you like a heck of a lot more. What’s that worth?

For most people, I’m hard pressed to think of a better investment than investing in themselves. Surprisingly, however, most people never stop and take the time to learn how to do it.

To invest in yourself and win you need to do a couple of things right.

The first is do your homework. Extremely thorough homework is critical here. And that includes learning all you can about which companies and maybe which industries reward their people a lot better than others. Sometimes the company you work for, alone, can be such a key to your financial success.

The other thing is to be disciplined. Work at becoming as good as you can be at what you do and reliable and thorough at your work. Most people aren’t, you know, and who do you think it is that gets the best raises, the best promotions? The people who do these things, that’s’ who.

Also, if you can learn new skills or improve existing ones by getting some additional education, do it.

Last of all, when it comes to getting a better raise, a promotion, or a better job, once again knowledge is power. So here is what you need to do.

Invest at least 7-8 hours of your time to read up on the advice that’s out there on this subject just waiting for you.

I’m not sure I could ever come up with a more profitable use of your time. A bigger raise.. a better job? We’re talking a lot of money here, and quite possibly a better quality of life, so I think it’s fair to say that 7-8 hours of your time is definitely one heck of a good investment.

To get you started, listed below are several good articles for you to read. But after you do, go Google “how to get a raise or promotion” and start reading and taking notes on what you find.

Once you’ve done this you’ve seen to it that the power of knowledge will be working for you, not against you, on this extremely valuable task. Thorough preparation is worth its weight in gold when it comes to something like this.

There is also something else to consider. For most people, the fastest way to raise your pay the most is to job hop. Raises run say 5% a year while a couple of job changes will net you a lot more than that.

But should you do that? Maybe,,. And maybe not. Maybe staying where you are will get you a promotion sooner. Do you like the people you work for and with, the company you work for, the kind of work they have you doing? These things can mean a lot so you need to factor them in. Job satisfaction is a very valuable thing, so if you have it don’t take it lightly.

Last, and by no means least, if you haven’t already seen the 3 minute Project Introduction and Overview Video for my MoneySmart Project, please do so.

At the end of the video you’ll get a coupon to see Course #1 – How to Get a Better Price or Deal on Almost Anything for free. That course is priceless in its own right and it will also give you more good input yet on how to go get that better raise or promotion.

www.themuse.com/advice/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-that-raise-you-deserve

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Promotion

www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2016/06/27/8-managers-share-the-best-way-to-ask-for-a-raise-and-get-it/#2222b2c274ff

by Ted Hunter

February 12, 2018

You think I’m kidding you, but I’m not. And no gimmicks

So one of the crewmembers that shot my MoneySmart course video #1- How to Get a Better Price or Deal on Almost Anything decided to try what I said to try, do what I said to do, and to do it exactly like I said in the video.

So he makes a call to the company that has his car loan. The call lasts like 15 minutes and you know what? They cut his payment by over $220 a month. And there’s 39 months left on the loan! $220 times 30 months, that’s $8,580 saved! In 15 minutes!

Now I will admit that was a biggie, but who says you might not have something as big? For sure, I believe there’s no way you can’t save at least $500-$1,000 a year, and do it in like an hour or two, at most .

You want that money? Here’s what you do.

Watch the 3 minute Project Introduction and Overview Video for my MoneySmart Project. At the end of the video you’ll get a coupon to see Course #1 -How to Get a Better Price or Deal on Almost Anything for free. Once you do, you’ll know exactly how to get that money.. that best price or best deal on almost anything.

The bottom line is that when people asked for a better price, they received it more than two-thirds of the time, that 58% of those that ask for a lower medical bill get one, but that over 70 percent of the time people just don’t ask. Either they don’t know the money’s there, don’t know how to ask for it, or are just uncomfortable doing so.

The money is there, but how you ask has a very big impact on whether you’re successful and especially on how much you save.

What you need to do is actually very easy and anyone can do it. Most of the time all you need to know is 3 simple things to do.. really simple.. and two simple sentences.

Do these things and most of the time the money is yours.. a lower price on whatever it is you’re buying and, in most cases a lower price for services.. all kinds of services.. cable, phone service, professional services of all kinds.

But after you’re done watching course #1 you really need to think about those other 6 subjects, because they’re worth a heck of a lot more than $500-1,000 a year. For most people they have the potential to be no less than life changing.

I ask you. What did you ever learn in school about personal money management that you were able to use in your life? Spending, saving investing and such. Nothing, right?

If that’s your answer, you’re far from alone. I’ve asked that question of hundreds of people and always the same answer. Nothing. For most people, however, not having a real life understanding of personal money management has been nothing short of disastrous.

Look at the results..

2 people in 3 over 50 today cannot, will not, be able to retire.. 667,000 out of every 1 million people! What are they gonna do?
Most Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck! 7 in 10 don’t even have $1000 in the bank!
Money is now the #1 cause of unhappiness in our society today.. the #1 cause of divorce!

The good news is that solving this huge and extremely damaging problem is actually a fairly easy thing to do.

For four years, from 2008 to 2012, I spent a lot of time and money to build a public service project to try to help everyone. I wrote a book, MoneySmart, that was voted best personal finance book of the year in 2011.. been a guest on radio shows and such.

So that’s what I decided to build. It’s a program of 7 on-line video courses.

The videos run about 30 to 45 minutes, cost only $23.95 each, and include all of the supporting tools and notes you’ll ever need.

And keep in mind that you almost never have someone advising you about money without a vested interest and I don’t have any, and if this project goes as well as I think it will I’ll just end up donating the majority of the profit to help others.

If you’re like most people, this program is highly likely to save you a great deal of money in the years to come but, far more importantly, to see to it that money adds to your happiness, as it should, not take away from it.. to help you to see to it that you get to live the life you’ve worked for, and do so a heck of a lot sooner than waiting till you’re 65.

So that’s it. That’s what this critically needed project is all about. To learn more, click here Project Introducation and Overview and watch this 9 minute video. It’ll lay the whole thing out for you. After you’re done, pick a quiet time to use your free coupon for course #1. Once you do, I believe you’ll truly be off to the races.

by Ted Hunter

February 5, 2018

We’re constantly being pounded with the idea that financial success depends on how much money we make, working or investing, when the real path to financial success, for 90% of all adults, is spending smart.

At no time in your formal education, however, were you told this. At no time were you told how to spend smart, and the world of business is sure not going to tell you. It’s just not in their best interests. They want you to spend your money where and how they, the businesses, want you to, not what’s best for you. So no way are they about to tell you any of this stuff.

All they keep tell you is that you have to make more money.. that making more is the only real path. But if you take a good look at those that are in really good shape, financially, most of them, by far, got there by spending smart, not because they made a lot of money.

It turns out that when it comes to spending smart there are some really cool, really powerful things you can do. And I’m not talking about doing without here, but what I am talking about is putting a lot more money in your pocket and a lot more years of being free financially. But to get that money.. your money.. there are 6 spending rules you need to follow.

These rules are simple, but boy can they make a huge difference, especially over time, on the money you get to save. We’ve reached the point where 70% of American’s today have serious problems with money. No way you want to be in that group and no way do you have to be.

Rule #1 is that you really must have a written, well thought-out plan for how you plan to, prefer to, spend your money.

Now I’m not saying how much you’re being manipulated, because I don’t know. But what I do know is that you need to darn sure you’re not, and the only reliable way to do that is to decide, on your own, all by yourself, where you’ll spend your money and in what sequence, what priority sequence, and how much you’ll save.

If you really want to be happy with what you get back from your money, it’s something you really have to do.

Rule #2 is to always look at the annual cost. To understand the real impact of your spending choices, always understand the annual cost involved.

Say you spend $4.50 at Starbuck’s, or $10 a day eating lunch out five days a week. Those seem like small expenses, but the annual costs on those 2 are $1,100 and $2,500. To cover that you need to make an additional $1600 and $3,500 a year, respectively.

Better yet, that’s from $42,000 to about $100,000 in 20 years at a 6% investment return. A hundred thousand dollars!.. $148,000 if you put it in an IRA, pre-tax! This is what you are actually trading away with just a single small purchase.

Pretty amazing, isn’t it? And for most of us there are usually a number of such purchases, so to see the size of this opportunity, start multiplying.

Now look, I’m not telling you not to have your cappuccino. Your priorities are yours. All I’m saying is know your trades. Every time you spend, you’re trading something for something else. So just be sure you know the real cost of your trades and what you’re trading it for.

So there are the first 2 rules you need to follow.

Want to learn more, including exactly how to go about setting up that winning spending plan?

Want to learn more? Watch this course now.

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Older Posts

Where we are, what we’re up against, and what we can expect.

For what it’s worth I thought I’d share my thoughts.

So there are my thoughts at this time. I hope it helps.

Special announcement! Effective immediately, all my courses are now free!

Would you let someone pull your teeth without any proof they knew how to do it successfully?

How to Get a Better Raise or Promotion

$8,000 in cash for 15 minutes of your time? Impossible? No it aint!

Financial success? For most people, it’s not how much you make but what you do with it that counts!