The Multi Currency Sandwich answers a question readers often ask… “Why hold assets abroad?”

Why put your savings and investments in a country where investment managers are fixated on a currency that has fallen for almost 40 years?

Instead bank where you can do multi currency investing like the multi currency sandwich.

One Easter about 20 years ago, our newsletter coined the phrase Multi Currency Sandwich.

(click on photo to enlarge)

The Japanese yen versus the US dollar ranging from 145 yen to 79 yen per dollar.

I remember the day well because on the Easter Sunday we had invited one of our Austrian bankers and his family for an Easter breakfast.  This was also the day that daylight savings changed.  Merri and I awoke and remembered “Fall Back – Spring Forward”.  However  for some reason we fell back… when forward we should have sprang!

Thinking we had an extra hour instead of one less we were still in our pajamas when the banker and his family… all dressed in their Sunday best, knocked on our front door.

One does not forget days like that.

I also recall a comment I made that day to the banker.  I told him that we were gong to advise our readers to borrow Japanese yen… and invest the loan in Mexican pesos.  The yen had risen in value versus the US dollar from the 140 yen to the dollar range to 111 yen per US dollar.   The yen interest rate was somewhere around 4% and Mexican peso bonds were paying at 12%.

I told him… this will be the most powerful investment advice I have given… ever.

How true that was!

The yen immediately strengthened more and rose all the way to 79 yen per dollar.  That scared the heck out of many. Those who bailed lost… in some cases a lot!

My belief was that the yen was over valued even at 111.  My studies suggested that 120 was the correct parity.  This was a yen bubble. Every day that the yen was higher than 120 per dollar was an investing opportunity.

When the bubble burst, the yen fell clear back to 145 yen per dollar.   Readers  who had held on… as I did… made a huge profit.

Yen leverage has remained a wonderful overall long term strategy for 20 years.  Yen interest rates have normally been near or under 3% for 20 years!  Any  loan that was invested for more than 3% enjoyed pure extra profit!

Now the yen is too strong again (in my humble opinion).   Plus as you see below yen interest rates now are as low as 2%.

If I am correct, this is a good time to short the Japanese yen.

There are two easy ways to make this short yen speculation… one is through ETFs.

The way to short the yen is to borrow yen and use the loan to make investments that earn more than 3% in currencies that are likely to rise against the yen.

Let’s look at this borrowing yen approach first using the Borrow Low and Invest High strategy with yen loans.   Then we’ll look at the yen short ETF. 

The recent post at this site on Leveraged Asset Allocation shows how Jyske Bank’s JGAM is leveraging asset allocation portfolios with US dollar and euro loans.  This type of leverage is called hedged leverage because it has no forex risk.   Dollars and euro are borrowed at low interest rates and invested in higher yielding dollar and euro investments.  The added profit comes only from the difference between the loan costs and the yield or capital increase of the investment.

Let’s review a simple Multi Currency sandwich example.

Here are the current invest loan interest rates from Jyske.

(Click on photo to enlarge).

In this example we invest $350,000 (we’ll see how to invest smaller amounts in a moment).   We borrow $520,000 in US dollars at 2.62% and $130,000 in euro at 2.5%.  This is the loan ratio used by JGAM at this time and gives us $1 million to invest.

We invest in two bonds. $200,000 is in a bond issued by Santos denominated in euro with a coupon of 8.25%.   The bond comes due 22-09-2070. This is a medium risk bond and yields of about 6.9%.

The second investment is $800,000 in the US dollar denominated bond offered by Danske Bank with a 7.125% coupon due 21-09-2037. This is a medium risk bond yielding about 5.9%.

The return on the Santos bond is appx: $13,800

The return on the Danske bond is appx: $47,200

The total return is  $61,000.

The loan cost in euro is $3,250 (2.5% on $130,000).

The loan cost  in dollars is $13,780 (2.6% on $520,000).

The total loan cost of $17,030 leaves a positive carry (extra profit).  The total return after the loan cost $43,970 or about 12.5% return on the $350,000 invested.   That return is diminished by one time, upfront loan costs on the first year of $1,300.  Then there are no added loan costs for the five year term of the loan.

The figures above are used for illustration purposes only. These are not recommendations as a portfolio would be far more diversified.

The risk in in the bonds… not currency parities.  Euros and dollars were borrowed. Equal amounts of Euros and dollars were invested.

Now let’s look at the same example but with borrowed yen.  The yen loan creates potential forex profit… or loss.

Currently one dollar equals about 82 yen.

Assume the same multi currency sandwich was created… but with $650,000 worth of borrowed yen instead of loans in dollars and euro.

The interest rate for yen is lower… only 2.5% versus 3.125% for the US dollar.   This bumps the return up to almost 12.8%.

However the forex potential is what becomes interesting. At 82 yen per dollar this requires a 53.3 million yen.

Assume that the yen returns to the purchasing power trend of 117 as shown in the chart below.

Chart from Bloomberg.com shows the yen at 117

(Click on chart to enlarge)

A shift from 82 yen per dollar to 117 yen per dollar is a 35% drop.   If those dollars and euros bought back yen at the 117 parity it requires only $455,555 to repay that had been worth $650,000.  The forex profit is $194,445 or an extra 29% beyond the positive carry.  If that drop took three years to happen and one held the bonds (and their value did not change)…. the total return over three years would be 67.4%.

That is the upside.  For a loss of the same magnitude the yen would have to rise from 82 yen per dollar to 53 yen per dollar… a highly unlikely event.

If this could be of value to you… be sure to review this with an investment adviser to look at a broader diversification of bonds plus the forex risks… the bond risks as well as the forex and bond purchase and management costs to make sure that such a speculation would work for you.

American investors can get more details and answers from Thomas Fischer at fischer@jgam.com

Non US investors can get details from René Mathys at mathys@jbpb.dk

For Smaller Amounts

JGAM has two types of clients… managed and advisory.  Normally the minimum for US clients managed clients is $200,000 and advisory one million dollars.

With leverage the managed minimum drops to $100,000 with one time leverage and $70,000 with two times leverage.

Canadian and other non US investors have a slightly higher minimum but much greater flexibility and freedom.

JGAM makes all decisions including composition of the loan with managed accounts.  Right now managed accounts have dollars and euro loans as shown in the Leveraged Asset Allocation posting of two days ago.

Advisory clients can choose the funding currency together with their Relationship Manager. The minimum for an Advisory is  1 million unleveraged or $500,000 with one time leverage (medium risk profile) and $350,000 with two times leverage (high risk profile).

Betting Against the Yen for Even Smaller Amounts.

Lou Shinamin at Ruggie Wealth outlined how to sell the Japanese yen short using ETFs.

Lou wrote:  I am watching a very nice cup and handle pattern forming on the Japanese Yen.  Aside from Forex, the easiest way to take advantage of the dollar strengthening against the Yen would be to look at  the ETF :  YCS .  Ultra short Japanese yen.

Get more details on this ETF from Lou Shinaman at lshinaman@ruggiewealth.com

One way for those who cannot open a  JGAM account to get the high bond income and forex potential, but not the positive carry is to buy the bonds from a US broker and buy the short yen ETF.

You can get details for buying the Danske and Santos bonds from Mike McDonald at Aegeon.  Michael McDonald at mmcdonald@aegiscap.com

Multi currency investing offers five enhanced benefits… asset protection…. greater privacy… broader diversification… forex potential and positive carry potential.    Since modern technology makes it as easy to bank in Europe and Asia as next door… these benefits are available to most investors if they learn how to Borrow Low and Invest High.

Gary

Join me with Thomas Fischer, Mike McDonald and Lou Shinaman at our February 1,2,3  Super Thinking + Investing & Business seminar in Mt. Dora, Florida.   See details here.

Save $79. Enroll in the seminar before Christmas and I’ll send our report Borrow Low-Deposit High Free. See details below.

Anti success…history suggests…. becomes the norm.   This appears to be the state of current economic policy as well.

Is this a formula for success… a 10% loss over almost 30 years?

Japanese Nikkei from www.finance.yahoo.com

(Click on photos to enlarge)

In the late 1980s the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Japanese real estate market were hot.  Japan was THE place to be.  Michael Creighton wrote the novel “Rising Sun” about how Japan was going to buy up all… well at least a lot of the US.   The Nikkei Stock Index skyrocketed and hit an all-time high in December 1989  of 38,957.44.   Downtown Tokyo commercial property was selling for $20,000 a square foot. Real estate in Tokyo alone was reckoned to be worth more than all the land in California.

Japanese banks granted increasingly risky loans.

Sound familiar… bubbles in the stock and real estate markets sucking the bank into bad deals?

Then as the chart above shows the market inevitably crashed.  Tokyo commercial prices dropped 99%.  Japanese home prices fell 90%. The Japanese government jumped in, flooded the market with cash… dropped interest rates to almost zero to get things stimulated.

By March 10, 2009, 20 years later the Nikkei Stock Index reached a 27-year low of 7054.98.   Today almost 30 years later the Nikkei is at 9925 still 10% below its 1984 level.

Some stimulation.  That plan worked well.

This is one reason why our International Investing Seminars offer unusual ideas in out of the way places.

Our Oct 5-6-7, 2012  Super Thinking + International Investing and Business Seminar will be in this remote conference center, surrounded by….

a forest… at the New River community room.

We meet in out of the way places to get away from every day thinking, because despite Japan’s policy failure, Europe and the US have adopted similar policies to stimulate their economies after the 2007 – 2008 US economic crash.

Thank God for China and its economic expansion to at least keep the global financial train chugging along.

Yet Jyske Global Asset Management’s (JGAM) recent market assessment does not bode well for that continued salvation.

JGAM wrote in its latest market update:   On fundamental economic data, the past week didn’t offer news that could change the overall picture of a global economy in poor condition. Most significant were disappointing purchasing managers’ data (PMI) from China and the eurozone. PMI from China was preliminary, but indicates a slowing economy. Especially, the PMI readings suggest that the eurozone is in recession and will continue to be so for the rest of the year. Also, FedEx offered a note of caution as it cut its full-year earnings forecast. FedEx is as a global logistics company seen as many as a proxy for global economic activity.

The Japanese have not gained either because they are still holding onto their same dismal formula.

JGAM says: Therefore, it came as no surprise that Bank of Japan this week decided to join the central banks in the US and the eurozone by easing monetary policy. Tokyo said that it will boost its asset-buying and loan program. Initially, this announcement caused a drop in the value of the yen (JPY), but the effect was short-lived.

The Europeans have also followed the same failed policy as JGAM notes:  On the currency markets the euro (EUR) could not sustain the strength gained after ECB’s recent announcement of a bond-buying program and hence, EUR has fallen back below 130 US dollar (USD).

The fundamental problem remains that governments do whatever they will do poorly compared to private enterprise.  So when the government tries to stimulate the economy they do in a way that is aimed at attracting the most votes… not in a way that actually works.  Political thought is short term and this does not bode well when long term resolutions are sought.

A September 25, 2012 New York Times article “Test for Obama as Deficit Stays Over $1 Trillion”  by Jackie Calmes shows that this problem of bad government spending and interference is not over.

Here are excerpts: Four years ago, Barack Obama campaigned for president on a promise to cut annual federal budget deficits in half by the end of his term. Then came financial calamity, $1.4 trillion in stimulus measures and a maddeningly slow economic recovery.

Now, despite small annual improvements, the deficit for the fiscal year that ends on Sunday will surpass $1 trillion for the fourth straight time.

Mr. Romney is proposing to reduce the deficit and encourage economic growth by substantially shrinking the government — unrealistically so, in the judgment of many budget experts — while further cutting taxes and increasing spending on the military.

Mr. Obama wants to combine spending cuts and tax increases on upper-income households to close the fiscal hole without fundamentally reducing the role of government or altering the government guarantees at the heart of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

But long-term projections are notoriously unreliable. And in any case, budget analysts say that if the nation’s goal — at a moment when the economy is still shaky — is to start moving seriously toward fiscal balance, neither approach is likely to prove equal to the problem.

The plans of both, analysts say, would leave the public debt continuing to rise over the next decade as a percentage of gross domestic product, the measure that economists favor.

In other words… neither Romney nor Obama can keep their pre election promises and even if they did… the efforts would not work because the entire concept is flawed.

By thinking differently, we can see ways to profit in these stagnant economies.

For example during the Japanese crash our portfolio and many at Jyske Bank made 40, 50 even 100% gains in a year because they were leveraged with Japanese yen loans. Investors borrowed low…yen at 3% and less and made extra profits  and deposited high… bonds in Brazil and Mexico paying 10%… 12%, even 14% and more.

The positive carry (difference between loan cost and interest return) was pure profit plus forex profits were made as well.

This is still possible but with other type loans… though leverage does increase the risk of volatility and loss as well as higher profits.

JGAM’s model portfolios offer opportunity from low cost loan leverage now also.

Here were the portfolios before recent additions.

Here are the portfolios. Click on the photos to enlarge.

JGAM Low Risk Portfolio

JGAM Medium Risk Portfolio

JGAM Medium Risk Portfolio With Leverage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyascott/7999873414/in/photostream

JGAM High Risk Portfolio

EUR exposure and added yield
 
During the period 6-12 September, 2012 the Investment Committee decided on a number of new investments that have now been carried out. We decided to expand our equity universe with two European equities and to re-allocate our fixed income portfolio in order to obtain a higher yield while maintaining a moderate duration.
 
Equities
SAP AG (Germany)
Prysmian SpA (Italy)
 
Bonds
6.221% Telefonica Emisiones 03.07.2017 (USD)
6.25% Vale Overseas Limited 23.01.2017 (USD)
5.55% Alcoa Inc. 01.02.2017 (USD)

You can direct questions to me or contact Thomas Fisher of JGAM at fischer@jgam.com

Non US investors should contact René Mathys of Jyske Private Bank  at mathys@jbpb.dk

Or you can join Thomas Fischer and me… our Ecuador export expert, plus a tax and pension specialist at our October 5-6-7 seminar to learn unusual ideas on how to protect your savings… gain extra profit and make sure you have a never ending income.

We’ll analyze the Prysmian Group, a leading player in the industry of high-technology cables and systems for energy and telecommunications. This company has with sales of nearly 10 billion dollars in 2011.

We’ll see how the Italian connection in this global company, (subsidiaries in 50 countries, 97 plants, 17 R&D Centers and about 22,000 employees) creates special value.  In addition you’ll see how this technology creates opportunity here in Small Town USA.

The seminar will be near Scottville, North Carolina (founded by an ancestor perhaps!)

on the New River.

New River at the General Store

General Store.

House in Scottville

We’ll see why due to new technology and old regulations there is special opportunity in this part of Smalltown USA.

Those interested can view real estate in the area.

There are four places left for the seminar below so enroll asap.

New York Times article “Test for Obama as Deficit Stays Over $1 Trillion”

Times article “Ritzy Retail”

The Great Pension Robbery III

Stephen Shoemaker’s “Virginia Creeper in Lansing”

One of the great joys in Ashe County are the murals on many buildings… especially those of the old time trains painted by Stephen Shoemaker.  Ashe County’s economic rise was due to the “Virgina Creeper” a train which crept up the mountains to pick up natural resources from the mines and forest.

Stephen is a famous artist in this area (his web site is linked below) and this rendering depicts the Virginia Creeper standing in Lansing…  the town (of two or three hundred people) nearest our farm.

Every time I see those paintings I am reminded of the Great Train Robbery the name given to a 1963 robbery at Bridego Railway Bridge in Buckinghamshire, England.  Almost $6 million dollars was stolen.

How odd that such a paltry sum made the theft famous.  Trillions are being stolen in the Great Pension Robbery and not enough is said.

This three part series has looked at the three ways that pensions are being robbed.

The first chapter in this series The Great Pension Robbery reviewed the first way pensions can be robbed through underfunding from insufficient contributions.

The Great Pension Robbery II looked at pension theft from lowered return on assets.

This message shows how the purchasing power of pension can be robbed by devaluing the currency.

The great train robbery netted about 6 million dollars in 1963.  To get the same purchasing power today would require a theft of $90 million or more.

Pity the poor train thief who spends 50 years in jail and finds that his hidden money buys less than a 15th of what he expected.

Yet should pensioners be treated in the same way?  Should we toil for 5o years and then find that the promised rewards of our pensions are almost worthless?

This is a sad fact… the likeliest pension loss will come via global currency devaluation.

Rising unsustainable government deficits and ultra low interest rates create pent up, hidden inflation. 

One way to protect again this loss is to have a multi currency portfolio.

We can watch for contrasts and distortions to spot currency trends that can equalize purchasing power.

Take for example the distortions in the parity between the interest rates and parity of the Brazilian real and the US dollar.  The chart below shows how the US dollar has risen and fallen versus the Brazilian real over the past five years.

US dollar versus Brazilian real chart from finance.yahoo.com.

The real has gone up and fallen down but over five years it began at about two real per dollar and today five years later it is worth about two real per dollar.

Now the real has fallen dramatically yet pays almost six times more interest.

Thomas Fischer attended our most recent Writer’s Camp and talked about Brazilian real bonds.

On June 27, 2012 Thomas wrote: The Brazilian bonds are yielding as mentioned. The KRW bond maturing in March of 2015 (AAA rated) yields 5.75%.  Jyske Bank has a buy recommendation and a 12 months currency target of 1.90 (+8%) so if that pans out you are getting around 12%.

Morgan Stanley our other research partner is not convinced that the currency will appreciate that much so if you buy the bond it will be more of a currency speculation as the carry is 5.75%

Jyske estimated a 7% forex profit over a year.   They were wrong!  The profit boost came in six days!

On July 3, 2012 Thomas wrote again:  Hi Gary, The Brazilian real has appreciated almost 7% since we discussed the potential at your seminar.

Short term US dollar versus Brazilian real chart.

Gain Balance From Distortions

This profit had seemed obvious to me.   The factors that cause currencies to be weak or strong include government debt and budget deficit.  The US has a budget deficit of about 8% of GDP.  Brazil’s is 2.5%.

A look at the Economist World Debt Clock shows US debt equals 61.2% of GDP and is growing at a rate of 20.6%.  Brazil’s debt is 59.3% of GDP and growing 9.9%.

The Economist Debt Clock. See link below.

When you hold a multi currency portfolio over a sustained period, you gain a never ending series of forex profit opportunities.

Over the past five years Brazilian bonds returned as much as 14% and the currency rose and fell versus the dollar but in the end is almost where it began. Today Brazilian bonds pay 5.75% and are loaded with upwards potential.  There is a great chance that at some stage in the next several years the Brazilian real will jump versus the greenback.  In the mean time you can earn the much higher interest rate.

Currencies rise and fall versus one another in the short term based on fear and greed.  Currencies move long term based on their fundamentals.

Here is our portfolio at JYSKE this time so you can see how we have spread out.

US Dollar  10%
AUD  8%
CAD  7%
NZD  7%
Dollar Bloc  32%

LatAe Mix 5%
MXN  5%
BRL 9%
LatAm Bloc 19%

Euro   13%
GBP  2%
DKK 6%
NOK  6%
PLN  8%
TRY 3%
Euro Bloc  38%
GSD   8%  -  Asia Bloc  8%

A multi currency portfolio is protection against pension robbery from devaluing currencies.

There is a a great chance that interest rates will remain low for some time.

JGAM  (Jyske Global Asset Management) sent me this note.

Central banks take action, again

The events of the week were central bank actions and U.S. job data.

Entering the week markets had already largely priced in further policy easing by the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB). Eurozone data showed that factory output remained weak, purchasing managers index remained in contraction area and unemployment had hit a record. Also, recent data had confirmed that the UK economy was sliding back into recession. Therefore, Thursday it came as no surprise that both the ECB and the BoE took action.
BoE expanded its asset purchase facility by British pound (GBP) 50bn to GBP 375bn, exactly as expected.

ECB cut its refinancing rate by 25 basis point to 0.75% and lowered its deposit rate to zero. As a consequence the euro (EUR) sank below 124 US dollar (USD).
The Danish National Bank (DNB) followed suit and lowered both the lending and the deposit rate by 25 basis points. The latter now stands at minus 0.20%. It’s the first time in the history of the DNB that the deposit rate is negative and it mirrors a healthy Danish economy.

Surprisingly, the Spanish and Italian bonds reacted negatively on the rate cuts. The reason could be that the market now think it’s less likely that a third long-term refinancing operation is forthcoming.

What the market had not anticipated was an action from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). Unexpectedly, PBoC cut its interest rate for the second time in the space of a month. Possibly, an indication that Chinese policymakers are concerned that the economy has not yet found a bottom.

In the U.S. there is also speculation that a central bank action could be coming in the form of a third round of quantitative easing (QE3). Lately, we have seen a weak report from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), indicating the first contraction in manufacturing activity for nearly three years. Also, the non-farm payroll data released today showed 60,000 new jobs created in June compared to an estimate of 100,000. The initial market reaction was a weakening of the EUR vs. the USD which might indicate reduced expectations of a QE3.

For more information on how to develop a multi currency portfolio contact Thomas Fischer at fischer@jgam.com

Non American investors should contact Rene Mathys at mathys@jbpb.dk

These central bank actions suggest a slowing global economy.  This risk is further confirmed by a June 2012 article entitled “Everywhere you look, economies slowing” by Paul Wiseman of the Associated Press.

Here are some excerpts (bolds are mine): “The global economy’s foundations are weakening, one by one.  Already hobbled by Europe’s debt crisis, the world now risks being hurt by slowdowns in its economic powerhouses.

“The U.S. economy, the world’s largest, had a third straight month of feeble job growth in May. High-flying economies in China, India and Brazil are slowing, too.

“Since the global recession ended in 2009, the world economy has been fueled by rising powers in the developing world led by China, India and Brazil. Now, all three are running into trouble.

“China’s manufacturing weakened in May, according to surveys out Friday. Factory output was the weakest in three months.

“Australia and other Asian countries have come to rely on Chinese markets for their exports.

“India is suffering an even sharper slowdown. Its economic growth slowed to a 5.3% annual rate in the January-March quarter, the lowest in nine years. Output from India’s factories has declined. ”Its consumers have seen inflation — which has averaged 9.2% a year since the start of 2010 — devour their wages.

“In Brazil, the economy practically stalled in the first quarter of 2012. It grew at just a 0.2% annual rate from the final three months of 2011, the government said Friday. That was below expectations of 0.5% growth. Flooding punished farmers.

“But Brazilian officials, like analysts in China, also pointed to another culprit, one that shows how problems in one part of the world cause problems in another: The ongoing trouble in Europe is taking a toll on exports.

“Fears of a global economic downturn have sent investors rushing toward the safest possible investments: U.S. and German government bonds. As a result, the interest rate on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has hit a record-low 1.46% Friday. The rate on the German 10-year bond is even lower: 1.17%.

“Treasuries are at 1.46 because people are freaking out,” says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Economics.

These reports suggest a slowing global economy.  The strategy for this is for governments to lower interest rates around the world.  The slow economies can hurt business so more pensions will go unfunded.   The lowered interest rates can further rob pension purchasing powers as returns fall well below estimated asset growth.

Finally the efforts to stimulate the global economy can greatly increase national debt worldwide.  This debt is pent up inflation.

Whenever investors freak out forex profit, opportunities grow.  One way to tap into these currency opportunities is with a mulit currency portfolio.

Gary

Stephen Shoemaker website

Yahoo Brazilian real US dollar chart

Economist Global Debt Clock

Everywhere you look, economies slowing

Equity markets appear to be growing more toxic.  What a great opportunity this creates!  See a Singapore investing idea below.

This chart from a Wikipedia entry (linked below) shows that there are few AAA rated borrowers left.

There are several reasons why equity markets have been falling … beyond global economic shifts… the European debacle… excessive government debt just about everywhere and the recent slowdown in US employment.

These factors are bad enough to cause a crash, but beginning in May we naturally expected a slowdown because May is the time of year when markets traditionally drop.

Ruggie, like JGAM is a small firm (which manages hundreds of millions not billions) but has repeatedly been listed as a top wealth manager in numerous magazines including Registered Rep Magazine Wealth Manager Web,  Financial Advisor Magazine,  Worth Magazine and Barron’s.

I also pay attention to the data Ruggie sends me like this data Ruggie wrote (bolds are mine):

Judging by what’s happening in the bond market, it appears that some investors are more concerned about the return of their money than the return on their money.

When investors get nervous about the stock market, you often see money flow into the government securities of perceived safe haven countries such as Germany, Japan, U.K., and the U.S. This increased demand helps drive down the yield on their bonds. In fact, take a look at the following chart to see some amazingly low government securities yields:

By contrast, yields on government securities in perceived “risky” countries such as Italy (10-year yield of 5.76 percent) and Spain (10-year yield of 6.10 percent) are much higher, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Unfortunately, even the government securities of the “safe” countries may experience a loss in “purchasing power.” For example, with inflation running at 2.3 percent in the U.S. for the 12 months ending in April, investors in 10-year U.S. government securities may lose purchasing power since the yield is less than the inflation rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On top of that, if interest rates rise over time, the bonds could experience a capital loss as the price of the bond adjusts to reflect current interest rates.

IF THE WORLD WAS A LAUNDROMAT, the U.S. might be the “cleanest dirty shirt”. As new signs point to a global slowdown, we’re on the lookout for countries that might hold up better in the rinse cycle and the U.S. could be that country, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The “cleanest dirty shirt” analogy comes from Mohamed El-Arian of PIMCO who says, “When you’re on a business trip that gets extended and you don’t have any more clean shirts, you wear the one that’s least dirty.”   In our case, you invest in the country that’s ‘least bad’.

‘Least bad’ may not sound like a great way to invest, but consider this. With the U.S. fiscal situation in horrible shape, you might expect investors to shun the U.S. dollar on fear the government will print dollars and reduce its value. Well, recently, investors have been clamoring to buy dollars. For example, last week, “The ICE dollar index, which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of major currencies, rose to 82.416 – its highest level since 2010,” according to MarketWatch.

In the dollar’s case, nobody is suggesting that, in isolation, it looks great. Rather, when you compare it to another currency such as the euro – which represents 17 countries in Europe – it looks relatively better because Europe’s problems seem more pressing than ours.

Just like taking a dirty shirt to the Laundromat to get it cleaned, investments over time may turn from “dirty” to “clean” as problems get worked out and situations improve. There’s money to be made during this cleansing cycle and we’re doing our best to “clean up.”

Learn more about Ruggie Wealth from Morgan Hatfield at mhatfield@ruggiewealth.com

Ruggie’s message supports a note I sent to a Multi Currency subscriber  last week when he wrote:   Hi Gary,  Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday downgraded nine Danish financial institutions, pointing to sluggish economic growth, risks from the euro zone debt crisis and structural changes to the covered bond market, a reliable source of cash.

Other banks hit by downgrades include Jyske Bank, Spar Nord Bank, Ringkjobing Landbobank and Sydbank.  Thomas and the crew at JGAM are great.  The rating downgrades are troubling. What are your thoughts?  Warm regards,

My reply confirms the importance of risk aversion and looking for value.  I replied:  The downgrade does not affect safety much if one is holding deposits less than 100,000 euros,  the amount guaranteed by the Danish government.

The Danish government’s credit is good according to this Wikipedia entry (linked below) its the 4th best in the world.

The high ranking along with Ecuador’s S&P B ranking (and a 5% tax on all money taken out of Ecuador) are why I invest in Ecuador real estate but do not keep much in Ecuador banks, stocks or bonds.

Investments shares, bonds and such held at Jyske are held on behalf of the investor and are not part of the bank’s balance sheet so the downgrading does not affect them.

Shares (I hold quite a few Jyske shares) and/or bonds issued by Jyske or large cash balances could be at greater risk.

Thomas Fischer at JGAM can tell you a more exact amount of the Danish guarantee at any given time.  Also Thomas has a nine page Moodys Credit Report on Jyske and a presentation on the strength of Jyske Bank that is very interesting.

His email is Fischer@jgam.com

Non US investors should contact René Mathys  at mathys@jbpb.dk

I have always liked the people in Jyske’s management, their modest budgets (no limos for the CEO here)…  their no bonus pay plan for staff and equal responsibility philosophy to look after employee – shareholder and customer.   This I believe reduces the risk of a gigantic JP Morgan type debacle and is one reason I remain a long term shareholder.

I tend to be a thematic investor taking long term positions that I do not alter unless the theme changes.  This is why I also hold shares in Unicredit.

The themes I am investing in are based on my belief that investors typically oversell bad news and that Europe will recover.

This idea is hedged with some shares (Jyske being one along with Axel Spring and Sky Deutsch) that earn mainly in North Europe.  The theme here is based on the chance that the EU will create two euros… the Euro Hard and Euro Soft.  Jyske, Axel Spring and Sky Deutsch are all companies where a big share of their earnings are in areas that would be in the hard euro (Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland are likely targets).

This theme is based on the belief that the troubles have made most European shares an extra good value  and European banks an even better value with the added boost of a potential potential Euro split.

I also invest in the themes of water… electricity… silver and commodities plus Singapore real estate.

Note that equities make up only 29% of my liquid portfolio and the other 71% are in bonds and this represents less than half of my total portfolio… the balance being in real estate.  In other words I am very diversified.

Other messages have noted that I am shifting towards agriculture and other basics as well… ie. water, food and shelter.

I rarely watch the price of the shares I hold. This in a way is laziness, but I like to think that my time is better spent on my own business where I have more control over events.

Instead I watch the themes.

On the theme of water, one of the shares I especially like (and have written about numerous times at this site) is Hyflux Ltd.  This is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol (HYFL.SI).

Hyflux purifies water with proprietary membranes.   They began with Chinese municipalities then switched their expansion to the Middle East.

As the Hyflux share chart shows the shares were hammered during the Middle East political awakening.

Did the need for water go away?  Did Hyflux’s management skills and decade of experience and contacts disappear?

Based on belief in the theme (water) and the company combined with the principle that investors oversell during times of panic, I invested in more Hyflux shares last June.  They rose 31.8% up to May 2012… plus paid a dividend.

Then a bit of bad news came along.  An excerpt from this May 3, 2012 Reuters article entitled Brokers cut Hyflux target, estimates explains:   OCBC Investment Research and Maybank Kim Eng Research lowered their price targets on Hyflux Ltd after the water treatment company reported weaker-than-expected results.  OCBC cut its price target to S$1.35 from S$1.55 and maintained its hold rating, while Kim Eng reduced its target to S$1.15 from S$1.21 and maintained its sell rating.

Hyflux shares were up 0.4 percent at S$1.44, having risen around 20 percent so far this year.

OCBC cut its earnings forecast for Hyflux’s 2012 fiscal year by 14 percent and by 11 percent for 2013 on lower margin assumptions.

Due to the geographical switch in Hyflux’s order book profile to Asia from Middle East and North Africa, its gross margin fell to 38 percent in its first quarter from 51 percent a year ago, OCBC said.

Kim Eng downgraded its 2012-2014 earnings estimate by 10-15 percent on reduced margin assumptions.

This has pushed the shares down a bit again because Hyflux is doing the correct thing… diversifying back into China.

This is a formula I seek:

#1: Theme unchanged (there is still a growing water shortage).

#2: Business fundamentals unchanged or improved.

#3: Shares pushed down by short term news.

I continue to like the water theme and Hyflux technology.   Bad short term news creates added value.

Diversification is an important part of protection when markets are toxic. .

On the subject of toxicity numerous news stories that have reported  that Bluefin tuna carrying radioactive contamination from Japan have arrived at US shores 6,000 miles away. This  is the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

Photo from Washington Post article on Japanese radiation and Bluefin Tuna.

The article said “We were frankly kind of startled,” said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Merri and I know a lot about the insidious effects of radiation as we suffered radiation poisoning from Chernobyl.   In this time of radiation awareness, we are being more careful.

Then Merri and I were exposed to excessive doses of radiation from Chernobyl.  Added to this and/or regular, frequent air travel for decades our health suffered.

This is a pivotal week for international investments…here is an update on the values of major stock markets by Keppler Asset Management.

Michael Keppler

The global economy is in tension.  US and Western European economies are both being forced to face up to debt, aging populations and huge unfunded future obligations in pensions, medical care and who knows what, amid a disintegrating, global social cohesion evidenced by terrorism… revolution and internal strife such as the bombing and killing in Norway.   

Huge losses will occur as the dollar and euro lose purchasing power.

The best way to protect against these losses is by always seeking value.

Understanding value is the tricky part.

This is why once a quarter we look at a major equity market valuation analysis by Michael Keppler.

If you are a new multi currency subscriber learn about Keppler Asset Management here.

Here are Keppler’s Comments on Major Market Value for this quarter to July 2011.

Recent Developments & Outlook

After a strong first quarter, global equity markets were little changed on balance in the last three months. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World Total Return Index (with net dividends reinvested, December 1969 = 100) finished the second quarter 2011 at LC 2,255 (-0.6 %), $ 3,290 (+0.5 %) and € 1,204 (-1.7 %), respectively.

Year-to-date, the MSCI World Index was up 2.9 % in local currencies and 5.3 % in US dollars. However, due to the strong recovery of the Euro versus the US dollar, it declined 2.6 % year-to-date in Euros. The Euro gained 2.2 % versus the US dollar in the second quarter and finished the first half of the year at 1.4499 USD/EUR — 8.1 % above its year-end 2010 level of 1.3416.

Seven markets advanced in the second quarter 2011, sixteen markets declined and one market was unchanged. Ireland had the highest return (+5.3 %), followed by Germany (+4 %) and New Zealand (+2.8 %). Greece (-18.3 %), Finland    (-9.8 %) and Denmark (-8.5 %) performed worst last quarter.

The best performing markets during the last six months were New Zealand (+9.6 %), Ireland (+8.4 %), France and Spain (both up 6.9 %). Finland (-13.1 %), Israel (-11.3 %) and Greece (-11 %) were the worst performing markets in the first half of 2011. Performance is in local currencies, unless mentioned otherwise.

The Top Value Model Portfolio, based on the Top Value Strategy (December 1969 = 100) using national MSCI country indices as hypothetical investment vehicles, finished the second quarter at LC 32,361 (unchanged), $ 31,711 (+2 %) and € 11,605 (-0.2 %). Year-to-date, the Top Value Model Portfolio gained 2.1 % in local currencies, 8.2 % in US dollars and 0.1 % in Euros, underperforming the benchmark by 0.8 percentage points in local currencies but outperforming in US dollars and Euros by 2.9 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively.

There were no changes in our performance ratings last quarter. The Top Value Model Portfolio holds the six “Buy”-rated markets Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom at equal weights. According to our analyses, a combination of these markets offers the highest expectation of long-term risk-adjusted performance.

Our implicit three-to-five-year projection for the compound annual total return of the Equally-Weighted World Index now stands at 13.1 %, up from 11.9 % three months ago.

JGAM warns about the turmoil in its weekly update and says:

Week 18 July – 22 July

European Monetary Fund

After days of speculations, the financial markets could finally take a sigh of relief when the European leaders last night announced the much anticipated bail-out agreement.

Earlier this week, risky assets carefully started to rebound anxiously awaiting the result, however optimism really took off Thursday as a draft proposal circulated the media.

The positive sentiment continued into Friday as the summit announcement didn’t disappoint expectations.

The European leaders last night agreed on a new EUR 109bn bail-out of Greece, with an additional commitment of EUR 37bn expected from private bondholders.

On top of that the leaders have also agreed to lower the loan costs of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by 100-200 basis points, and to prolong maturing debt and to give the temporary bail-out fund, the European financial facility stability (EFSF) additional powers as well. The bail-out fund will in the future be able to act preemptively by quickly helping countries such as Spain and Italy if needed, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) style ability. The agreement is intended to stop the European debt turmoil and to protect Spain and Italy from any contagion effects.

Since Monday, the European common currency has appreciated with as much as 3% versus the US dollar, and is currently trading in the 1.4325 to 1.4425 range. During the same period, the interest (cost of borrowing) on the Italian 10 year government bond has fallen with 85 basis points from 6% to 5.15%, and by 400 basis points from 17.8% to 13.8% on the similar Greek issuance.

The risk now is whether the new agreement is big enough and/or whether it will follow the same pattern as the previous and eventually disappoint the market.

Fitch, the rating agency, is today warning the market that they will reduce Greece to “restricted default” should the intended prolonging of the maturing Greek debt go ahead as planned.

We expect a bumpy road ahead.

The managers at JGAM responded.  On 14 July JGAM’s Investment Committee held its ordinary, monthly meeting and reported .

In the weeks leading up to the meeting we had reduced the overall risk in our portfolios by moving gold and Swiss francs (CHF).  This week, the euro crisis has escalated with the downgrading of Portugal and Ireland to junk by Moody`s.

Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, rubbed salt in the open debt wounds, when he called his Finance Minister Mr. Giulio Tremonti an idiot. The open disagreement in the Italian government immediately caused markets to doubt whether Italian austerity measures can be agreed upon.

The growth picture in the US is becoming bleak with rising unemployment and a dreaded double dip, as rare as it is, cannot be ruled out.

China is expected to continue its monetary tightening, which could also dampen growth prospects.

With so much uncertainty, it is no wonder that volatility is increasing, but we believe that our current asset allocation and overall risk reduction through our gold and CHF positions are adequate in a volatile environment.

Due to these risks, we have interviewed Thomas Fischer JGAM Sr. Vice president about multi currency diversification.

Thomas Fischer (right) and  Rich Checkan (left).

We also interviewed Rich Checkan of the precious metals dealers Asset Strategies International.

You can also hear both recent interviews on where to invest globally now.

We have added phone interview updates to our Global Personal Portfolio service.

Here is how the updates work.

You email me your questions.  We will review them with experts and then answer them in telephone call updates.

We’ll send you the recorded calls.

Who is eligible to ask and to listen in to the call?

This service is free for all subscribers to our annual Multi Currency Service.

Not a Multi Currency subscriber?  Learn how to enroll here.

Non Multi Currency subscribers can enroll to have their questions answered for a one time charge of $9.99.

Order here $9.99.

Gary

See this Manabi farm with organic cashew potential.

See new idea on how to earn with Ecuador agriculture and exports .

Join Merri and me as we look at ways to fight international investment turmoil in the year ahead.

Last Day of our July Special. The offer to save up to $499 expires tonight at midnight.

We have started a program to help our readers create their own micro business working with these businesses as referrers, dealers and distributors.

What a match… tens of thousands of readers, many wanting to earn globally… meeting some great… really unique global businesses tied together with our communication system that can bring all this: training…. communicating and networking.

We are starting with these five businesses first.

#1: Jyske Global Asset Management  (JGAM)
#2: Bio Wash
#3: Candace Newman Essential Oils
#4: Roses
#5: Ecuador Imbabura Export Products

After attending our International Business and investing seminar on October 7-8-9, you will be qualified to enroll for referrer, distributor and dealer programs above and any others we develop. 

Enrolling in any of our online business development courses and attending one seminar provides full qualification to apply for all programs we provide for a year.

I’ll explain the first specific way you can tap into greater power for everlasting health and wealth in a moment.

First, may I remind you of  our July special that ends in just over two days?

We provide three e-courses that can help you develop your own micro business that we designed to help you earn anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ ($299)

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher ($499)

Event – Full How to Earn With  Your Own Seminars ($349)

July Special.

Enroll before midnight July 24, 2011 for our October International Business & Investing Seminar (plus Frequency Modulation Workshop),   October 7, 8, 9, 2010 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC and choose any one of the three courses above for FREE.  You Save between $299 and $499.

Early enrollment for our October 7-9 North Carolina Course click here for details.

We have started the beta program, and the good news is that we are not charging a penny more more.  Our International Business Made EZ online course and our International Business Made EZ seminars remain the same price though we’ll now offer subscribers an entrance to doing business with many turnkey businesses.

The overall service can bring you the following benefits:

#1: Connect you via our our online course “International Business Made EZ” to here and now specific business opportunities.

#2: Keep you in touch with other readers in the program, share business tips, ideas contacts and even website support in some instances.

Our first turnkey business program is Jyske global Asset Management because our activities as publishers has a synchronicity with Jyske and JGAM.   We have been able to combine our training, communications and lead generation abilities with their financial organization.

Business is always a little more complicated when it entails financial products so we have created a beta program to develop this system.

A referrer does not have to be a registered as an investment adviser but JGAM does have a due diligence requirement. JGAM will also expect a certain amount of referrals per year though this amount has not been determined… hence this beta offer.

JGAM pays a percentage of their fee to the referrer up to a maximum 25% of their fee. This not only offers an excellent income generating opportunity but creates a potential long term income stream because JGAM keeps paying the fee as long as the client remains a client. Fees are paid on a quarterly basis.

There is also potential for growing long term income because JGAM pays the referrer based on the total assets under management.  If a referred client makes additional payments, the referrer will be paid on the total amount.

For example if an referrer refers a client who invests a minimum $100,000 and the annual fee is 2%, the referrer earns $500 per annum basic fee (as long as the customer remains with JGAM)… plus if the assets grow either through portfolio growth or added deposits… so too does the referrer’s fee.

We have set our first training JGAM training session for October 10, 2012.

This program will allow subscribers to any of our  online courses who have attended an International Business Made EZ seminar to become referrers for JGAM.

We have been working with Jyske Bank for over 20 years and Jyske Global Asset Management, a Jyske Bank wholly owned subsidiary. We started talking to Thomas Fischer Senior VP about an referral program for some time.  Finally,we introduced this opportunity for the first time at our June 2011 seminar.  The response was overwhelming.

Jyske Bank employs a staff of about 4,000 and operates 116 Danish branches, which makes it the second largest independent Danish bank. They offer a full range of financial solutions to retail as well as small and medium-sized corporate clients.

We have always liked Jyske because they are one of Europe’s largest currency traders and offer very simple but sophisticated multi currency investing services.  They are one of Europe’s largest currency traders and dealers.

We have especially enjoyed our business relation with Jyske because being open and honest is one of the core values of the bank group. Traditionally, Jyske formulates and communicates its values – and the way they understand and live by them – to the surrounding world. They work hard offering shareholders, customers and employees balanced opportunity.

We especially like the fact that Jyske employees are not paid bonuses.  No multi million pay outs are in the system that might temp staff to distort earnings or take undue risks.

Here is how you can apply for this program.

To start as a referrer,  there is first the compliance process with Jyske Bank.

Once that process is complete, our IBEZ system helps educate and assist referrer.

First… once a referrer has been approved by JGAM, and the referrer has completed our online course International Business Made EZ course and attended one of our  international investing and business seminars they can attend an exclusive training seminar at our farm.

We have a…

creekside…

seminar hall where…

unless the group grows too large, we’ll meet.   We’ll have lunch  on the deck looking over Little Horse Creek.

JGAM and our company conduct this one day intensive training for agents the day after each International Investing and Business seminar.

The first such seminar will be conducted Monday, October 10, 2011 immediately after our October 7-8-9 International Investing and Business Seminar in West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Part of the JGAM program is designed so we can assist referrers by referring readers in their locale to them.  So for example if a referrer is in Miami, we will send special emails to our readers in that area, help organize mini seminars… etc.

We can zero in as close as 20 miles to a location so for example we can send a separate email to every reader within 20 miles of the address of a referrer.  And although we won’t release the names in that area, we can send them a note of the opportunity.

We will also provide a referrer communication forum and update training as well as portfolio and investing ideas.  We have general plans at this stage but find the best way to develop systems is to refine through action. We expect our beta program this year to clarify how we can best help our readers become referrers and how we can help them succeed.

Step one is to start the compliance process with JGAM.  Thomas Fischer  can send you the Introducer Questionnaire and Terms of Business.

Thomas Fischer’s email is fischer@jgam.com

This will begin the process of establishing a relationship with JGAM.  Once this relation is approved and verified, then you will be able to enroll in the referrer training.

You must complete one of the online business development courses above and attend an International Business and Investing Seminar to be eligible for the October training.

All of our readers are invited to enroll in our International Business Made EZ Online Course and our International Business and Investing Seminar at any time.

Satisfaction Guaranteed.  Three Guarantees.

There is no guarantee that JGAM will approve your application as a referrer just because you enroll in the seminar or take the online course so we make two special guarantees.

First Guarantee. Regarding the online course International Business Made EZ.  Enroll in this course. Take it and if you are not satisfied for any reason within 30 days… let us know and we’ll give you a full refund.

Second Guarantee. Enroll in our October 7-8-9 International Business & Investing Seminar.  I’ll send you a recording of the June seminar now so you better understand what these seminars are and how they help you.  If you are not happy with what you hear, let us know within 30 days and we’ll give you a full refund. You keep the recorded seminar as our thanks.

Third Guarantee.  Your earnings potential has this guarantee.  First, any time between now and October… before you attend the International Business and Investing seminar if you fail to qualify as a JGAM referrer agent or change your mind before attending the International Business and Investing seminar you can ask for a full refund.

Early enrollment for our October 7-9 North Carolina Course click here for details.

Here is proof of the wisdom of the masses.

We have lived here 15 years and in the thousands of times I have always stated that we live in the Blue Ridge.   No one has ever set me straight until in last Saturday’s message a reader explain that this are is called the Stone Mountains.

When trying to farm, I can see why they call it Stone Mountain!

There are stones everywhere!  This is why our house is surrounded by a stone wall and…

our patio is of stone. We have…

some huge stone formations on the farm. That’s me in the orange.

Here is…

Stone Mountain State Park (NC) near our farm.

Yet this is why we also have to filter the knowledge of the masses.

Wikepedia says: Stone Mountain is the centerpiece of Stone Mountain State Park. It is a dome of exposed granite (specifically a quartz diorite to granodiorite) of Devonian age, which has intruded into the gneiss of the Precambrian Alligator Back Formation.

It rises sharply over 600 feet (183 m) above the surrounding terrain. The mountain, which has an elevation of 2,305 feet (706 m) above sea level, is known for its barren sides and distinctive brown-gray color, and can be seen for miles.

The mountain offers some of the best rock climbing in North Carolina, and the park’s creeks and streams feature excellent brook trout fishing.

Because the mountain is the best example of a monadnock in massive granite in North Carolina it was designated a National Natural Landmark in May 1974.

Then Wikepedia goes on to say that the Stone Mountains ARE in the Blue Ridge Mountains range.

So perhaps we live in the Stone Mountains and Blue Ridge?

From North Carolina to Ecuador.  A reader wrote:

I was finally able to devote a full day to catching up on emails and had a few comments to add re security in Guayaquil. We first visited in 2002, when it was probably the worst of the worst. By 2008, a major transformation: The Malecon was gorgeous, and heavily patrolled by police or private security at all hours.  Also a pretty international crowd cycling, doing Tai Chi, etc. was there.

Fast forwarding to 2010, per my Ecuadorian friends, very chancy especially for unaccompanied people at night and often by day. Thefts of personal electronics are minor, though at knife or gunpoint, and everyone buys the cheapest possible cell phones and don’t carry cameras or Ipods in public. Of greater concern I the “express kidnapping”, a group effort requiring at least one vehicle: The mark is either grabbed on the street or takes what he/she thinks is a legitimate taxi. Once inside the vehicle, the victim’s credit card is taken and he/she forced to disclose their bank password. Then the vehicle drives from bank to bank or ATM to ATM while the thief withdraws as much as the card(s) will allow. Then the victim is released. So far, no casualties or at least none reported.

Tourists are of course the easiest target, but citizens being more plentiful, these get trapped more frequently.

So your advice never to hire a tax or guide on your own is critical to avoiding crimes of opportunity. And this goes double with taxis from any airport, bus, etc.

My Comment: Many have commented to me that when Guayaquil cracked down on crime, many of the thieves moved to other cities in Ecuador.  I suspect when New York cracked down on crime a lot of it moved elsewhere too.  Take care wherever you travel. There is crime everywhere.

Earning in Ecuador. My comment: A recent article at this site on Food Risk looked at the problem of chemicals and pesticides on our fruits and vegetables.   The article reviewed how washing fruit and veggies with Purely Green or Bio Wash (similar products produced from the same bio degradable cleaner), showed how this could remove toxicity and improve the food’s longevity.

A READER DECIDED TO PUT THIS TO THE TEST AND WROTE:   Reader’s comment to Ted Tidwell maker of of Bio Wash:

Ted, I wanted to show you the results of a test I did with tomatoes.

I bought 4 tomatoes nineteen days ago.

I used Biowash Heavy strength to wash the pesticides off two of them.

The pool under the tomatoes was yellow with pesticides.

I then sprayed the same two with the plant wash and left it on.

After nineteen days those tomatoes looked almost the same as when I bought them.  The other two got pretty moldy, as the attached pictures show.

I am going to leave the tomatoes in the fridge for a while longer to see what happens.  Thanks,

Ted’s Reply: “Thanks for the photos and description.  Your report is valuable for growers, retailers and consumers. In appreciation, we are sending a free bottle of of PurelyGreen Oil Clean.

“PurelyGreen Oil Clean is our new blend that was approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and tested best in rescuing the gulf coast environment and economy.”

Ted recently announced that an Ecuadorian  farmer has now imported a large supply of Bio Wash to Ecuador so it is available in Ecuador now.

You can contact Ted Tidwell tedtid7@yahoo.comat

Reader Question about Banking in Ecuador or Not: Dear Gary,  As an avid Canadian reader of your news letter I am curious about your take on the article below.  Is there any merit to it?  As someone who is trying to position himself to escape this cold country permanently and relocate to Ecuador or Costa Rica (undecided at this point) it certainly is important to have an effective and solid financial institution for the safe keeping and reliable banking of my limited and hard earned funds.  I certainly could not afford to lose any of it.

Thank you for the great news letters….keep up the good work.

My comments: We have been recommending living in Ecuador but banking in Denmark for  about 15 years and I have never heard of a complaint like this before.  We personally use Jyske and have hundreds… maybe thousands of  clients who use Jyske and this is news to me.  I have asked Rene Mathys to reply as he would know more details. Regards,

A reply came from Oscar Lindblad of Jyske.  I am answering on behalf of Gary Scott’s forwarded email to René Mathys at Jyske Bank Private Banking.

Under reference to your email informing us that IceNews, among others, has published an article, ‘poor investment advice acknowledgement by Jyske Bank’, we inform you that the article is in our view too sweeping and does not reflect the realities of the case.

In the autumn of 2007, Hedgeforeningen Jyske Invest launched a bond hedge fund, Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer, which implemented a market-neutral investment strategy using a combination of Danish mortgage bonds and German government bonds. Many Jyske Bank customers bought units in the hedge fund, which was, we regret to say, hit hard by the global financial crisis in the autumn of 2008.

Jyske Bank has received complaints from customers, and the investment product has been mentioned in a few Danish media. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority issued a reprimand to Jyske Invest on the grounds that the brochure about Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer did not offer a balanced description of the product characteristics and the risks involved. Also Jyske Bank was reprimanded – for not in a general way having taken steps to improve the sales brochure. Neither Jyske Invest nor Jyske Bank concurs with the criticism. The sales brochure for the product expressly mentioned the risk of the hedge fund going bankrupt, which must be termed the worst-possible scenario.

The Chairman of Jyske Bank stated at the Bank’s annual general meeting in March 2010 that Jyske Bank does not dispute that errors may actually in certain cases have occurred in connection with the advisory service provided with regard to Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer, but Jyske Bank does dispute that errors should have been committed in general in its advisory service.

In June 2010, an independent complaints board, the Financial Services Complaints Board, found against Jyske Bank in five cases. In its decisions, the Complaints Board deviated from the usual practice and held that the burden lay with Jyske Bank of proving that it had provided adequate advisory service to the customers in question. Until the autumn of 2009 it was up to the com¬plainant to prove that the advisory service received had been inadequate.

Jyske Bank has maintained throughout that only case-by-case scrutiny will reveal whether the Bank’s advisers have committed actionable errors in their advisory service. The cases with relation to Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer reflect discrete occurrences, and the customers in question acted on the basis of widely different circumstances.

Moreover, we have repeatedly declared that if we have demon-strably committed actionable errors in our advisory service in individual cases, we shall acknowledge liability.

Against that background we decided, after consideration of each of the five individual cases mentioned above, to comply with the decision of the Danish Financial Services Complaints Board. With some other decisions of the Complaints Board we do not intend to comply.

Correspondingly, we have complied on earlier occasions with decisions made by the Complaints Board after factual individual consideration, and we have also closed cases with customers who complained to the Bank direct. Best Regards,

A reader wrote: Here’s some input for your thoughts. Recently the owner of a very successful family business in my neighborhood died. Guess, who bought it? A big Chinese company. I am sure this is happening a lot these days.  Regards,

My Comment: Expect increased Chinese buying of US companies and real estate.

Another reader wrote: Hi Gary, I just wanted to comment that your articles are just perfect for those “with” as it seems apparent that “they ” are the ones to benefit. Those of us that retire on a company pension and government pensions who thought we would get by just fine on an income of around 6-7 grand a month now have to wonder if there will be anything left for us to do to stay afloat barring some streak of fortune? where everybody or many will sell property for nothing down and then the question remains. Will there be renters to occupy such investments. Warily its seems that I have to succeed that things are as they always were that the rich and famous are the only ones that benefit.

My reply You are so correct. I review the fact in my report “Running Risk – How to Profit in Risky Times”  that the two biggest losers in these risky times will be pensioners and lenders to the US.

We cover in our five part series some of the things we can do to protect our pensions even though we are not rich or famous.  You can order the

Gary

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Really enjoy your, ”take,” on so many topics.

With respect to one, re:  Florida real estate investment opportunities – - the Coasts.

The word on the street is that one more devastating hurricane, and home owners, especially on the coasts will become, “self-insurers,” as traditional property insurance will likely not be available for any amount even near affordable.  You will still be able to get insurance, but only the rich will have the discretionary income to be able to, “pony up,” same.  The ordinary person, both in the States, and World Wide, will not be able to afford the expense.  I am hearing, conservatively, cost estimates of $1500 – 2000 dollars per month, or even more.  That would be for taxes, insurance, and maintenance fees (which are going through the roof as well).  In addition, property owners in aging buildings are facing special assessments for major repairs because financial reserves have dwindled
as foreclosed units have lessened the flow of HOA fees.  In addition, law suits by existing owners in big complexes are taking a toll on reserves as well.

Investors do not need to flee the market in Florida, just be super careful and do their homework.  There are some very good buys, but given the current environment, one has to be very careful.

For what it’s worth, I live in Florida and know the economic and demographic environment reasonably well – - for what it’s worth.  LOL! with that!  Do have a crusty old Ph.D hidden away somewhere that had a little value back during my working years.

My comments: I agree. I already self insure in florida. The rates on our property were so high it made no sense and we are mid state not on the coast.

However we have a pool without a fence and huge oak tree growing in the middle of the house that really puts insurers off.

Having said that our farm here in North Carolina with six cabins and a seminar hall throws the insurers in a tizzy as well so we also self insure here.

The key is if you vary from the cookie cutter standard anywhere… insuring may be tough.

Insurance and taxes are tow reason why in the Trading Down scenario Ecuador will do well.

Sustainable investments are not small stuff  but… small stuff may create the best sustainable investments in this new era.

Jyske seminars are really informative.  I especially enjoy them… getting to speak, getting to hear the other speakers and then getting to spend extra time with many of these speakers.

This year’s Jyske seminar in Copenhagen had an added benefit (for me) because two speakers had quite differing views on America and the importance of innovation.

Gary Scott speaking with David Darst.

The first speaker was David Darst. David Darst is managing director and chief investment strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney with responsibility for asset allocation and investment strategy.   He was the founding president of the Morgan Stanley Investment Group after he joined Morgan Stanley 14 years ago from Goldman Sachs where he held senior management posts within the Equities Division and earlier, for six years as resident manager of their private bank in Zurich.  He  earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and was awarded a BA degree in Economics from Yale University.  He has lectured extensively at Wharton, Columbia, INSEAD and New York University business schools.  For nine years he served as a visiting faculty member at Yale College, Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School.

Wow… what a resume.

David is an incredibly powerful speaker and a key point in his speech was that the power of American innovation could create a huge positive economic recovery and offered excellent investing opportunity.

The other speaker, Jeff Rubin, had a differing view.   Jeff stated that the US was in a secular decline (the definition is Declining consumer prices – Declining real estate prices – Declining stock market values) and that American innovation will not create a recovery.

Jeff Rubin and speakers at Jyske Copenhagen Global Wealth seminar.

Jeff Rubin has credentials as well.  He has been has been one of North America’s top-ranked Canadian economists in oil markets for more than a decade. He is best known for his work on global energy markets and is recognized for good calls on oil prices and their economic impacts.  He was chief economist at the large Canadian CIBC World Markets and authored the book “Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller.”

See other Jyske speakers,  Gary Scott… Steve Forbes and Ken Rogoff on… Jyske TV.

The Small Stuff can be huge!

I wore a light colored suit and removed my tie when I spoke at Jyske’s seminar because I wanted to be the guy with the white hat!  If we abolished neckties we could probably turn air conditioning up a degree or two everywhere, the energy savings would be huge!

Everyone else… as a banker or economic analyst had to be dressed in dark or black.  We writers get certain liberties and my message was as upbeat as can be…  “There are few times as ripe with opportunity now”.

A double dip will only increase opportunity!

This site has continually reviewed the 15 to 17 year economic cycle as outline by Austrian economist Joseph Shumpeter.   The global economy (and US stock market) enjoys a 15 year bull…. then a 15 year bear (a period of no growth) and the moves back t start a 15 year bull.   These stock market bull and bear cycles are based on cycles of human interaction, war, technology and productivity.

These cycles are intricately connected with the new waves of productivity that grow from the great human platform of combat. The cycle goes like this.

An economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war. Struggles for survival in the war (like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Cold War (WWIII), super charge inventiveness that creates new forms of productivity…the steam engine, the internal combustion engine,  production line processes, jet engines, TV, farming techniques, plastics, telephone, computer and lastly during the Cold War, the internet.

Each new invention helped win a war.  Shifting the technology to domestic use… after the war… created a boom.

Each boom leads to excess.

Each excess led to a correction.  The correction creates an economic downturn.

The economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war.

Here we are… in the correction again… at the correct time when we should expect that another war (or threat of war such as the Cold War) should begin to build!   This latest downturn started almost exactly (1998), 16 years after the last boom began (1982)…which began after the last great human struggle called the Cold War.

If the cycle repeats, the struggle should build now due to the poor economy.  If the cycles repeat then the bottom is around 2012. Everything will seem bleakest… darkest…blackest and this will be the best time of all to invest… hence my light suit!

One of David Darst’s graphs showed these cycles.

The key for spotting the greatest investment opportunities is to spot the next big invention… the technology that will spin out of WWIV.

The key is that a problem must have such severe consequences (such as losing the war and being destroyed) that all stops… all logics of return on investment are ignored. Technology and research are pushed full steam ahead regardless of cost.

The key to great success now is spotting the war.  It could be against global warming.  The battle could be against a plague…. new bacteria that resists antibiotics.  A bad year of crops could create famine and the war would be on hunger.

The solutions could be the small stuff… like removing ties… or even smaller… really tiny… itty bitty.  Yet the opportunity they create will be huge.

For example look at the war on oil based energy in a September 2010 article by Peter Pachal at Device.com entitled “Scientists discover tiny solar panels that create themselves”.

The article says: File this one under “holy crap,” but scientists at MIT have discovered molecules that spontaneously assemble themselves into a pattern that can turn light into electricity — essentially a self-creating solar panel. In a petri dish.

The researchers set out to create a synthetic process that imitates photosynthesis. Certain molecules respond to light by releasing electrons; the trick was discovering a substance that sticks them together in a consistent structure. Phospholipids do just that, and they also attach themselves to carbon nanotubes, which conduct electricity. With the nanotubes holding the phospholipids in a uniform alignment, the photoreactive molecules are all exposed to light at once, and the tube acts as a wire that then collects the resulting electrical current. The most interesting part is that the tiny solar array can be disassembled and reassembled just by adding chemicals. Spray on an additive and the molecular components break apart into a soup; remove it with a membrane, and the system spontaneously puts itself together.

Tiny nano particles in a petri dish that could change our entire world.

How about a war on bacteria. Here the answer may be in the small stuff as well.

A September 2010 National Geographic article by Christine Dell’Amore entitled “Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?” says:  Insects naturally kill deadly MRSA and E. coli bacteria, experiment shows.

A Global economic savior? An American cockroach, as seen in an artist’s rendering. Illustration by Paul M. Breeden, National Geographic

Cockroaches may make your skin crawl, but the insects—or, to be exact, their brains—could one day save your life. That’s because the central nervous systems of American cockroaches produce natural antibiotics that can kill off bacteria often deadly to humans, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and toxic strains of Escherichia coli, scientists said this week.  Two species of locust tested so far also have the same bacteria-killing molecules in their tiny heads. The findings suggest that the insect world—which makes up 80 percent of all animals on Earth—may be teeming with new antibiotics, said study co-author Simon Lee of the University of Nottingham in the U.K.

Such a discovery is crucial, because scientists are scrambling to combat strains of several infectious diseases, including MRSA and E. coli, that are resistant to traditional antibiotics, Lee said.
The scientists found the bugs had antibiotics only in their brain tissue, the most essential part of the body, he added.  A bug might live with an infected leg, for instance, but a brain infection would almost certainly be fatal. Insect-brain drugs for humans are still years away, Lee said, but there’s one hopeful glimmer: When the team added the insect antibiotics to human cells in the lab, there were no toxic effects.

On the subject of bugs, National Geographic also pointed out some small  stuff  that could be huge. In this case the war on hunger could create a huge quantum economic shift and the technology for innovation is already available.

According to the September 9th, 2010 National Geographic, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) is working on a policy to promote insects as food worldwide. The article says: Beetles, crickets and many other types are very nutritious. A serving of small grasshoppers has almost the same protein as ground beef. Also, insects can be farmed more cheaply and on much less land. At least a 1,000 species are already part of the human diet. Mexicans liquefy stinkbugs for sauces, Thais deep-fry giant water bugs.

For example, 100 grams of giant water bugs yields 62 calories, 19.8 grams of protein, plus phosphorus, iron, calcium and carbohydrates.

There you have three potential wars… and small stuff that could change the world… in positive and explosively profitable ways.   I have to agree with David Darst in this case. The USA has a huge innovative streak. this is the one nation where failure can be viewed with respect.

Which war… or combinations of wars will change the world? I do not know… yet.  Which small solutions will be huge? I do not know that either.  Which companies will be the winning suppliers of the solutions? That is also still beyond me.

What I do believe is that taking the positive approach is the only one that makes sense…. so watch the problems… the wars and the solutions.  This is where the next huge fortunes will be.

Gary

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for 2013 

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick)           Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)    

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)  Get details here

November 21-22-23 Super Thinking + Spanish Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teacher Suzanne & Shawn Bandick) Get details here

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999 

 

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See more on David Darst’s book The Art of Asset Allocation: Principles and Investment Strategies for Any Market, Second Edition

See more about Jeff Rubin’s book

Read Scientists discover tiny solar panels that create themselves

Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?

For Most People, Eating Bugs Is Only Natural

Times of great change (like now) require new solutions that create previously unimagined opportunities.

Yet we must face the burdens (and delights) of the future armed with educations created by the old ways.

Imagine putting old solutions to new problems.  What if Bill Gates had tried to develop a more efficient paper filing system?  Picture Jeff Bezos trying to develop a better land based supermarket instead of Amazon?   Would Larry Page and Sergey Brin had the same success if they had developed  a more efficient paper telephone book instead of Google?

They may have failed.  At best… they might have modest success.  By finding new solutions to circumstances created by change, each  built a fortune.

This is why Merri and I have want to create new solutions for learning in new ways.   You can learn how to learn more effectively as you gain better health and wealth this autumn… and attend one, two or three seminars, courses and workshops, plus save up to $408.

Autumn is almost upon us.  The woods display a colorful new dress and crisp air bites the finery of  crimson, orange and gold.  Forest sounds come alive… scurrying squirrels prepare for the winter’s nap… footsteps explode on frosted ground… and the wind sings its lullaby.

Merri and I will personally conduct two courses this autumn and use special music to help make them (and you) more effective.

Since the economy has not exactly rocketed back from the recession, we have lowered fees so you can attend more than one course or workshop.  I’ll explain the savings in a moment.

First, let’s face the music.  There is incredible power in sound.

Times really have changed.  We need to face the music that comes from change and ironically we can use music to help us in this process.

In a moment, we’ll see specifically what the power in music can do for us.

First, let’s view some science because one sound… OM… is now being scientifically researched.

Photo from Guardian article linked below.

Excerpts from an article in England’s Guardian Newspaper entitled “Improbable research: The repetitive physics of Om” tells us more when it says:

Indian scientists wield sophisticated mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional meditation chanting sound ‘Om’

Two Indian scientists are wielding sophisticated mathematics to dissect and analyse the traditional meditation chanting sound “Om”. The Om team has published six monographs in academic journals. These plumb certain acoustic subtleties of Om, which these researchers say is “the divine sound”.
Om has many variations. In a study published in the International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, the researchers explain: “It may be very fast, several cycles per second. Or it may be slower, several seconds for each cycling of [the] Om mantra. Or it might become extremely slow, with the mmmmmm sound continuing in the mind for much longer periods but still pulsing at that slow rate.

The important technical fact is that no matter what form of Om one chants at whatever speed, there is always a basic Omness to it.

Ajay Anil Gurjar and Siddharth A Ladhake published their first OM paper, Time-Frequency Analysis of Chanting Sanskrit Divine Sound “OM”, in 2008 in the International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security.

Ladhake is the principal at Sipna’s College of Engineering and Technology in Amravati, India. Gurjar is an assistant professor in that institution’s department of electronics and telecommunication. Both specialise in electronic signal processing.

They now sub-specialise in analysing the one very special signal.

In the introductory paper, Gurjar and Ladhake explain (in case there is someone unaware of the basics): “Om is a spiritual mantra, outstanding to fetch peace and calm. The entire psychological pressure and worldly thoughts are taken away by the chanting of Om mantra.”

No one has explained the biophysical processes that underlie this fetching of calm and taking away of thoughts. Gurjar and Ladhake’s time-frequency analysis is a tiny step along that hitherto little-taken branch of the path of enlightenment.

They apply a mathematical tool called wavelet transforms to a digital recording of a person chanting “Om”.

Merri and I experience the power of sound… every day…  we enjoy the benefits inherent in music and the sound Om.  This is why we developed our Super Thinking plus Spanish and Quantum Wealth courses… to use this power for greater health, wealth and fulfillment… 300% of life.

The power of music (frequencies in tune with the flow of nature) rests in the fact that certain kinds of music creates order out of chaos.

Yehudi Menuhin expressed the power of music in his book “Theme and Variations” this way: Music creates order out of chaos; for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity of the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.  Thus a confusion surrenders to order and noise to music, and as we through music attain that greater universal order which rests upon fundamental relationships of geometrical and mathematical proportion, direction is supplied to mere repetitious time, power to the multiplication of elements, and purpose to random association.   

Sound… as seemingly as simple as OM… can give us almost unimaginable learning power.

Many ancient cultures understood that music embodies, within its tones, elements of the celestial order that govern the universe.

As in music, so in life. Audible sound, including music, manifests from the most fundamentals vibrations that weave the universal tapestry.

One thread that weaves through this blanket of reality is OM.   Long before Western scientists began investigating music and sound in a scientific way, many wise philosophies and sciences were divined from the primal sound… expanding through mathematical grace to the point where an infinite unbounded intelligence could be glimpsed… and even used via the human form.

The Chinese for example believed that the primal sound is present in all things as a divine frequency.  This one unifying vibration then divides into twelve sub frequencies that could be measured.   This realization created astrology… the study of the Cosmic Tone.

Many  ancient beliefs about sound… chants… music… are being restated by studies in numerous fields… quantum physics… medical research (see the studies of neurosurgeon Dr. Karl Pribram) and computer sciences as shown above.

What can the power in music do for us?

First, the power in music can help us be healthier.

I recently took extensive physical exams and based on heart, lung and various organ capacities and are said to be nearly 15 years younger biologically than chronologically.

I do not get very caught up in numbers like this but do believe that Merri’s and my substantial energy, enthusiasm and happiness and the fact that we have not needed an MD… or medication for any type of sickness in over 30 years, has a great deal to do with the fact that  we use music extensively to integrate our mind with our body.

For example just listening to certain baroque music can reduce blood pressure and heart beat.

Second, the power in music can help us be wealthier. Again and again, at times when stock markets seem at their best, I have been able to provide readers with investment warnings because I study market frequencies while listening to musical frequencies.  Using music to integrate brain waves and induce more holistic thought about society, economics and markets helps see through the dangerous noise of daily movement to spot upcoming realities.  This ability to defy the common knowledge… outwit trends… and not be swayed by the herd… so we can spot value creates the energy to generate everlasting wealth.  

Third, the power in music can make us more intelligent. Actually a better way to describe this is to say that music helps our logic connect with and use the infinite wisdom that we are and already possess.

There is enormous power in sound and it is available to all of us… almost free. We can use sound and music for better health… increased wealth and fulfillment.   We hope that sounds good to you because we are offering the power of sound in three ways that we call the ABC of power learning:

#A: International Investing and Business plus Quantum Wealth seminar. This course is divided into three parts… international investing…. how to have a micro business AND quantum wealth.

The international investing portion of the seminar reviews all the updates I shared (and gained) at Jyske Bank’s 9th Global Wealth seminar with Kenneth Rogoff, Jeff Rubin, Tommy Leung, David Darst and many other global investing experts.

I was privileged to speak about multi currency investing, but also was able to listen to a wealth of knowledge as well.

Here is a panel at the Copenhagen seminar including Lars Stouge and Thomas Fischer of JGAM, plus Peter Berezin of BCA Research and David Darst of Morgan Stanley plus yours truly.  These were incredible learning sessions for me and we’ll share what I gained in October.

Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Managment will join us also to speak at this seminar.

This October 7 to 10  course goes beyond just investment ideas.

In the second portion of the course, my webmaster, David Cross, and I will share ways to develop income and gain the freedom to live where you desire in these difficult times with a micro business.

The third portion of this seminar looks at quantum wealth and health.  We have been incorporating these ideas into our courses and seminars for decades and have added this extra one day Quantum workshop to help solidify and make the financial and business data more usable.

The foundation of Quantum Wealth is to integrate:

* Logic with intuition.  The benefit is increased prosperity from better adaptation to change.

* Desire with action.  The benefit is more enjoyment and fulfillment from life.

* Good health with everlasting wealth. The benefit is reduction of stress, more energy and feeling better.

Join us here, at our North Carolina home.

Bringing delegates to our home for an afternoon treat is an example of a quantum wealth benefit.

This seminar is not only education but it is fun.

Delegates enjoy coming to our home during the “Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Seminars” Here is a group at our North Carolina home.

Yet there is more.  This process helps delegates hear, see and feel the authentic reality of the ideas we share.  We do not spout ivory tower, unattainable theory.  Our seminars share what we do… how we live… and how we have developed our lifestyle. Our mission is to help you see what we do, so you can blend our lessons into a lifestyle that is better… happier… richer…easier for you.

I have never heard of other seminars offering this… an integration of what we speak about with our actual “at home” lifestyle.

Here are the 21 main points we cover in our one day Quantum Wealth Workshop.

#1: Quantum mechanics & frequency how they all connect.

#2: Three aspects of being – air – fire – water… how to balance and integrate them.

#3: Three ways to integrate brain waves and be in the zone… 60 cycle sound… L- theanine and meditation.

#4: The Andean – Indian Connection. How Ayurved and Andean relate.  Three fundamentals of longevity. Eat right, work hard and sleep well. Nutrition, exercise and purpose.

#5: How dis-ease develops and is stopped.

#6: Nutritional goals: Improve digestion, avoid dis-ease here first.

#7: How to use cleansings. Melon, pineapple, apples-grapes, vareshna, chelating, cinnamon-sweet pepper tea, steam and mists.

#8: Teas. How and when to use cedron, chamomile, lemon verbena, peppermint.

#9: Relaxers. How to use chamomile, valerian, lettuce and milk, hot water, vata press.

#10: Fire reducers. How to use peppermint tea, aloe, cream massage, frozen grapes.

#11: Water reducers. How to use cinnamon tea, paprika, cloves, ginger, ginger-black salt and lemon juice.

#12: The power of ritual & routine. When to eat, think, exercise.

#13: How to spot imbalances. Moods, physical signs. pulse testing.

#14: Quantum leap. How energy, colors, organs, glands work together and change every seven years.

#15: Shamanic exercises-yoga, llama walk, lizard, sun salute, crab and mouth release, ring chew, etc.

#16: Deeper Digestion.

#17: How to use the senses, taste, six flavors.

#18: How to use color for greater balance.

#19: How to use sound for greater balance.

#2o: How to use essential oils for greater balance.

#21: How to use music.

This seminar takes place during the autumn leaf change in the Blue Ridge mountains, West Jefferson North Carolina.

Then in November as winter’s cold strikes the north we head to Florida for our B & C courses.

#B: How to gain Super Thinking abilities, increased intelligence and super thinking into our Super Thinking + Spanish Course for many years but now have added this to our international investing and business seminars to create quantum wealth. This course teaches how to listen to music for more energy, power, intellect better health and everlasting happiness and wealth.

Music helps integrate four categories of brainwaves, ranging from beta waves, the fastest of the four different brainwaves to alpha, theta and the final brainwave state, delta. Delta brainwaves are of the greatest amplitude and slowest frequency.  Deep dreamless sleep takes you down to the lowest frequency.

Merri and I listen to 60 beat, ten cycle classical music as we work.  We allow these waves to interconnect freely so gain unimaginable energy and thoughts that go beyond ourselves as the music relaxes, enhances and opens our intuition.

The right types of music moves the mind into Alpha and even deeper states of knowing.

Health benefits are gained as blood pressure can drop, heart rates slow and the mind becomes calmed… and you become smarter.  You tap into your higher intelligence and are more likely to have… and  enjoy… success.

Super Thinking plus Spanish looks at how to use super thinking to tap into deeper intelligence and what to do with this intelligence in business, investing and life so you improve the way you absorb, retain, recall information and think forever. To prove the point you learn Spanish in just four days.

Immediately after this November 4 to 7 course in Mt. Dora Florida, we have added a brand new two day workshop.

#C: “NAAD YOGA – REALIZING THE NATURE OF REALITY THROUGH SOUND.”   This two day workshop on Vedic music teaches how to make music for more energy, power, intellect, better health and everlasting wealth.

Following in the footsteps of Confucius who said:

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

“When music and courtesy are better understood and appreciated, there will be no war.”

We may not be able to end the outside wars, but we can use music to win our inner battles so we reduce stress… live happily and succeed regardless of external circumstance.

There you have it, three courses that can help you gain power, energy and a better life.

#A: International Investing and Business Plus Quantum Wealth seminar.    Oct. 7-10, 2010.

Enroll here. $749 Reserve here -  $999  Reserve for two

Course for one $799. Enroll here

Join Gary, Merri and Arijit Mahalanabis in Florida.

Autumn Savers

Attend “Naad Yoga and Realizing The Nature of Sound” only. Attend Both Super Thinking + Spanish and Naad Yoga Workshop.

Combination for one. $1,149  Enroll here Save $149.

Combination for two. $1,549 Enroll here Save $199.

Join Gary & Merri in North Carolina at our home above or Florida at our home below or…

both.

Our home in Florida.

Attend all three seminar, course and workshop – A, B & C – this fall Oct. 4 to 7 and Nov. 4-9 2010.

$1,649  Enroll here Save $398.

$2,239.   Enroll here for two Save $408.

We look forward to sharing these adventures in knowing with you.

Gary

Read the entire article  Improbable research: The repetitive physics of Om

Focus on global investments brings the best results.

See how this wise old owl can help us be better at focus in global investing and business.

Last week’s article Micro Business & Global Investing Success looked at the importance of concentration… of concentration in business…. investing and life.

The article argued that focused experience and information… focused beliefs,  focused values and focused determination are threads that weave happiness and success.

Then this article shared how modern media…. especially the internet… might be detracting from concentration and even retraining our thought process to a shallower level.

It asked, “What will be the global consequences be if today’s children globally are being trained to have shallower thought?”

A reader replied to this message and said:

“Wow, Gary, your latest posting about concentration really caught my attention and made me slow down long enough to read (not scan) your entire article. As a teacher, I often plan lessons on my computer.  I use the Internet to research information in order to supplement my lessons.  My problem has been that I often spend so much time scanning websites and jumping from link to link that I lose my focus and it can take hours to write a simple 30-minute lesson.

“I, too, have worried about becoming addicted to the Internet.  I was bragging to my friends that I don’t watch television, when I realized that my addiction to the world wide web could be just as brain numbing, or cause even more withdrawal symptoms than watching television.

“One way I have helped myself is by taking my laptop to a place where I don’t have Internet access.  First, I make a mind map of my ideas on paper, and then I start putting my ideas on MS Word, inserting bolded notes in areas that I want to research or confirm later.

“I have had the same intuitive feeling that something was changing in our brains from the effects of reading online ‘where portals lead us on from one text, image, or video to another while we’re being bombarded by messages, alerts, and feeds’.  As a reading teacher who works with children struggling to read, I have noticed a profound difference in those students who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet from those who don’t spend much time on the computer. The students who are addicted to surfing the Internet, text messaging, and video gaming, cannot seem to slow down enough to focus and read words on a printed page.  It is almost as if it is painful for them to read this way.  I have suggested to the school administration that these students seem to have a different way of reading that makes concentration difficult for them.  Now a book delves into this theory.

“I will read the book, and I continue to look forward to your intuitive and timely postings.”

Yet concentration needs to be woven with diversification because in this material world, there is always something we do not know… no matter how much we concentrate. The quantum aspects of our existence are so complex that our logic can only see them as  chaotic.

This is because of “sensitive dependence on initial conditions.”  Take the weather as an example.  The outcome of the weather… despite all our advances in understanding is unpredictable because it is so susceptible to the initial circumstances.   Investing and business… our lives are the same…. unpredictable.

Who knows exactly where an individual cloud will be in the sky ten years from now? Or where we will be or any particular economy or investment?

We had an example at our farm of the importance of matching concentration with diversification. We always have a lot of excitement at the farm when we are preparing for our courses on international business and investing as many of our speakers come and stay in our cabins.  We often have a lot of rushing to get everything in order.

Our helpers were rushing around when they a screech owl in the barn and wanted us to come down and see it.

We did.

I took my camera along and these shots perfectly depict in pictures what this message is trying to explain in words.

This is a bird’s eye view. Can you see the owl?

Perhaps and you see the whole picture, the rafters the steps, the walls.

But a bird’s eye view requires a complete picture, many dots we can connect.

See the owl better now?

Our fine feathered friend is easier to see. We know him better now.

Can we creep closer?

Yes. This was one brave owl and now we feel like we really know him.

However I decided to take my chances and walk up the steps. This and a zoom lens let us really see “Mr. Wise One”.

We see the color of his eyes and can literally count his feathers. This is what we try to do with our international investing and our micro business… get into all the details.

This often causes the downfall of a business… having too much concentration on the small stuff.

When we get too close… can we see the walls?  Remember those rafters and the steps?  Where are they now?

Global investing requires a complete view seeing both the broad horizons as well as the narrow perspective.

If we are too caught up seeing the trees, we miss the forest and having taken a glopbal view, we have expanded our forest… a lot!

So this week we will review several global investment and business thoughts blended with the idea of attaining the correct blend of concentration and diversification.

Today’s review is on Jyske Global Asset management’s Medium Risk Portfolio.

JGAM’s management team use a lot of concentrated research. They collect data from Jyske Bank, Morgan Stanley, Bank Credit Analysts and many other sources.  The members of their portfolio management then filter this concentrated data through their knowledge and experience.  Then they meet regularly to further concentrate all this data into a group consensus.

Hundreds of years of investing experience concentrated into a decision making process.

Yet that process creates a very diversified portfolio.

Here is JGAM’s  current  medium risk portfolio for investors with $200,000.

Currency            Investment                        Percent of Portfolio

Fixed Income:

USD            5.800%  E.ON 30.04.18                            4.53%

USD             8.000%    Mobile Tele 28.01.2012            5.06%

USD             6.000%    EIB 14.08.13                            5.31%

EUR              7.250%  Bombardier 2016                      2.20%

EUR              5.030%  Gaz Capital 25.02.2014            3.25%

BRL               12.500% Brazil rep. of 05.01.16             4.99%

AUD               5,125%   EIB 30.05.17                           4.88%

CAD                CAD – No.1 Interest Account                5.15%

Fixed income Subtotal                                          35.36%

Equities:

CHF                          Kuehne & Nagel Intl AG            3.19%

CHF                          Nestle SA                                     2.99%

CHF                          Novartis                                       3.07%

DKK                          Carlsberg B                                  5.49%

DKK                           Neurosearch A/S                        0.56%

DKK                           Novo Nordisk B                          4.47%

EUR                          Adidas AG                                    1.83%

EUR                           Bayer AG                                     1.75%

EUR                           Siemens AG                                 1.95%

HKD                           China Mobile                               5.49%

JPY                            Toshiba Corp 6502                      3.14%

SEK                            ABB Ltd                                       3.10%

USD                           Apple Computer Inc. Com          4.07%

USD                           Cisco Systems Inc                        1.97%

USD                           Gazprom-ADR (E/C)                  3.02%

USD                           Teva Pharmaceutical ADR          3.92%

USD                           iShares Msci Ac Far East XJP     2.21%

Equities Subtotal                                                     52.22%

Alternatives:

USD              ETFS Metal Secs Physical Gold                6.71%

Subtotal Alternatives:                                               6.71%

Cash:  USD                                                                   5.71%

Total:                                                                         100.00%

This is concentration and diversification in global investing action.

Join Merri and me in Copenhagen to learn better ways to concentrate and diversify your global investing.

See details on how to join Merri and me at Jyske’s bi annual Copenhagen seminar here Global Wealth Management Seminar.

We also really enjoy the restaurants and coffee shops along Nyhavn.

We need concentration and diversification for good global investing and business because we live in chaos.

Gary

When we combine our logic… intuition and experience we dramatically enhance the chances for success. One way to integrate these three assets  of logic… intuition and experience is with music.

This quote is about Chaos Theory 

“A Brief Introduction confirms a relation between music and the quantum aspects of our existence.

“Music can be created using fractals as well. Using the Lorenz attractor, Diana S. Dabby, a graduate student in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has created variations of musical themes. (“Bach to Chaos: Chaotic Variations on a Classical Theme”, Science News, Dec. 24, 1994) By associating the musical notes of a piece of music like Bach’s Prelude in C with the x coordinates of the Lorenz attractor, and running a computer program, she has created variations of the theme of the song. Most musicians who hear the new sounds believe that the variations are very musical and creative.

See how music can help you learn to speak Spanish in just four days.

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for 2013 

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick)           Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)    

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)  Get details here

November 21-22-23 Super Thinking + Spanish Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teacher Suzanne & Shawn Bandick) Get details here

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999 

 

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Chaos Theory: A Brief Introduction

This is the official holiday for the 4th of July so here is a thought about independence and freedom.

Technology has robbed the world of a lot freedom… just as it has added great freedom in other ways.

Technology allowed me to live in Hong Kong in the 1970s.

Technology has brought us the freedom to see the world in an instant… to speak to the world in an instant… to message the world in an instant… to travel the world… to buy and sell with those who offer the best deal… plus ever so much more.

Yet the same technology has allowed governments everywhere to restrict privacy and in many instances lifestyle.

For example… US legislation has slowly created such a burden on overseas banks that to serve US citizens most overseas banks will no longer accept Americans as customers.

Technology allowed me to live in London and …

work in the Isle of Man in the 19080s.

Our newsletters and later this website have warned about this problem for nearly 4o years as we have observed the gradual erosion of American access to global banking.

The first clues of our restricted freedom came clear back in the early 1980s when overseas mutual funds started dropping American investors. I saw the results of this myself. The 2nd book  I wrote about global investing “Three Confidential Reports About Making Money Abroad”  recommended several overseas mutual funds including Action Suisse (A Swiss fund that invested in Swiss shares) and Deutscher Investment-Trust (a German fund investing in German shares). These were great funds for that time as the Swiss franc, German mark and these stock markets were exploding.

I invested in these funds and was making triple digit returns when my Swiss banker at that time, Credit Suisse wrote and said…”Sorry we have to sell these funds for you because you are an American.  Thank you very much.”

Since that time Swiss bankers and banks globally have been fighting a rear guard action against more and more legislation that does not make it illegal for Americas to bank overseas…. just financially impractical.   The cost of complying with all the legislation is so high that overseas banks can’t charge enough.

The beginning of the end came in in 1996, when the USA concluded a new double taxation agreement with Switzerland, which, among other things, regulated the conditions for administrative assistance in matters of taxation. Switzerland agreed to provide assistance with regard to “tax fraud and the like”.

“And the like.”  Three infamous words.

This extension of the concept of “tax fraud”  was like a ticking time bomb. US  authorities simply had to wait for some bank and in this case it was UBS to act in a way so the US authorities could expand their control over non US banks.   Thus banking secrecy was well and truly dead not in 2009, but already in 1996.

UBS activity allowed the US government to pile so much additional paperwork on overseas banks that other banks in other countries began closing down American accounts as well.

A Daily Telegraph article “Lloyds Bank hit by Obama tax purge”  shows what happened to Americans (even those who had lived in England for decades) says:  Lloyds Banking Group is ditching American customers based in Britain pending a crackdown on international tax evasion planned by President Barack Obama.

This week American private client account-holders at Lloyds’s received letters informing them of an “important change in policy regarding clients who are resident, domiciled or linked to the United States by property or asset holdings”. They were told the bank had “no choice” but to “cease acting as your investment manager.  One letter sent to Bank of Scotland’s portfolio management division, which is now part of Lloyds, said: “The USA has a mature regulatory environment governed by its Securities and Exchange Commission. These regulations mean that we are not licensed to manage portfolios for US clients”.

The letter added: “Unfortunately we cannot offer an equivalent service from within Lloyds Banking Group.” Clients have been advised to transfer their assets.

One recipient, who has lived in the UK for over 25 years, said: “After all this time, I’ve suddenly been told I must take my money elsewhere and I don’t understand why. Now I’m scared that other banks won’t take me on either.”

There you have it.   Americans are totally free to bank abroad… yet many cannot because the cost of compliance is so high. This is true in many other fields.    There are some great natural health products available that aren’t offered because of the high cost of  FDA approval. The list could go on.

This is not a unique American phenomenon by the way. European food supplements are even more restricted than in the US.

What can we do to maintain  freedom?

Freedom is an attitude and lifestyle we choose… not something legislated so we can use technology to help us be free as citizens of the world which I recommended in my first book (written in the 1970s) “Passport to International Profit”.

Here is an excerpt from that book.

Don’t be a Shooting Duck

This is the first story in the second chapter of a book, Passport to Profit, I wrote in 1979. Does this now apply to you?

Having a Harbor

Doesn’t everyone dream of having some safe harbor for the ultimate escape? A completely dependable last line of defense, so that when everything else falls to pieces, one can drop back inside this cozy little shelter and enjoy a safe snug comfortable life. Certainly it is sensible to have one. In fact, to my way of thinking, anyone who doesn’t have quite a few safe harbors is not only playing a dangerous game he doesn’t have to play, he is missing one of the greatest contentment’s of life..confidence.

Duck in the Pond Theory

We would all have our own little partnership with our own little pond if we were ducks. The pond gives us water, food, shelter and peace. We, in turn, give it ducks. For what is a pond without ducks? We clean it, eat up unnecessary plants and in general keep everything in tiptop condition. However, every once in a while the hunters arrive. Very quickly the rules of the partnership change. You see, the pond as your partner has a limited range of powers. Whether it likes it or not, a new partnership is about to be imposed upon the pond. It will be forced to join in a hunter/pond partnership and part of the rules of that relationship is that the hunters can shoot at the ducks on the pond. This not only throws you, the duck, into an unrequested, unwanted hunter/hunted partnership but threatens to terminate quickly your duck/pond partnership.

It’s possible if you are not careful that you will become a diner/dinner partner on the wrong end of the fork. Logic dictates what to do in a situation like this. Since your pond partner is no longer dependable because the rules are about to be changed, you should take the initiative. Rule #1 of the Duck in the Pond Theory is in fact “Don’t be a sitting duck when the shooting starts”, so you’ve go to decide what to do.

All too often in real life, people get too upset with change to use logic. Their first reaction instead is dismay. They sit there wallowing in disappointment, shock and anger because their pond has let them down. Or even worse, they sit there looking at the gun barrels and choose to blind themselves to the reality of the situation, saying this is some sort of joke or the hunters are really looking for rabbits or the pond won’t let this happen.

Rule #2 in this theory is “be realistic”. If you don’t accept partnerships change daily or ignore the limitations of your partner; you are not capable of deciding when to run for your harbor. You’ll lie to yourself and probably to your partner. This gums up the whole works. You’ll mess up a fairly clean machine by adding unwanted, useless nuts and bolts which do nothing but clog everything up.

The human mind/body partnership has an almost unlimited capacity to ignore its eyeballs, to adjust reality to match its desires. This inbred flaw causes humans to ignore reality and expect the world to revolve around them. Being realistic is accepting that no person, thing or partnership is indispensable or permanent. Realism is recognizing change and accepting it when no one is able to stop it.
If, by being realistic, you recognize that as much as you love your pond and as much as the gun barrels look harmless, that the shooting is not far away, you must act. You must get off the pond. Where do you go?

Rule #3 of the theory is to be sure you have another pond to go to. I call it having a positive pond factor. The more places you have to go, the more positive your pond factor.

Technology allows Merri and me to live on a remote Blue Ridge farm…

in Florida…

and Ecuador now.

Until next message, where we learn how to find other ponds, may your pond be a good one.

Gary

One bank that still welcomes Americans is Jyske Bank. They spent years (and probably millions in legal fees I might add) figuring out all the ways to make it possible for them to serve Americans.  This is why I am pleased to be speaking at their 9th  Global Wealth seminar.

See details on how to join Merri and me at Jyske’s bi annual Copenhagen seminar here Global Wealth Management Seminar.

Join us on the waterfront restaurants and coffee shops along Nyhavn as we learn about global investing in Copenhagen.

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for 2013 

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick)           Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)    

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)  Get details here

November 21-22-23 Super Thinking + Spanish Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teacher Suzanne & Shawn Bandick) Get details here

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999 

 

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