What To Do Before The Other Shoe Drops

Here's what to do before the other shoe drops.

Other shoe? It's a rather vague reference, right? Or is it?

At this point, whether you read this blog or not, you must be aware of how dysfunctional our financial markets have become. To say the stock market is overvalued is an understatement. And unless we believe either that this time is different (i.e., there will be no reckoning, but a straight shot to the moon) or that the economy will boom, exceeding the speed of sound (Boom!) approaching the speed of light, thus justifying the current insane valuations. Of course...

You must be aware that the economy, purportedly booming under the brilliant leadership of the Big Orange Guy, is not serving up a lot of good news and good stuff to, well, at least a significant portion of our esteemed citizenry. 

You must be aware that the war with Iran is not what it appears to be - whatever it might appear to be to you or anyone else. (cf: the fog or war, something we discussed last time). And with that awareness of our lack of awareness, you must be know that the repercussions of the conflict are only being felt in their initial stages - and that the coming stages will impact us in ways we can only imagine.

And you must be aware that the coming mid-term elections will likely shake us up in ways that - well, we can only imagine.

With these items in mind (and there are more) it's hard to fathom how that other shoe will not drop - perhaps soon.

Naturally, timing remains the issue. It always is. Sure, there are some who can hit the nail on the head when it comes to timing things in the short-term. But there are few. Even our trusted sources who have a decent handle on timing in the medium and long term admit that the short term can easily escape their grasp.

No matter, if life is lived only for today, with no regard for the future, well, consequences ensue. But you knew that, right?

So knowing that those items mentioned weight heavily on the medium and long term, we can reasonable take precautions for the short-term. Makes sense?

Now, we've talked about being prepared many times over the course of the life of this blog. And most times our call for caution and preparation resulted in things not immediately falling apart. But they do from time to time, and sometimes more than other times. So while we remain at the bottom of the totem pole of those who can nail turning points in the markets and the economy, we nevertheless stick to our guns when it comes to being prepared.

Without needing any special skill in imagining scenarios that could play out - possible soon - the obvious means of preparation will naturally spring to mind. 

Have cash available for emergencies. And this includes actual hard currency, not just digits in your bank or brokerage accounts.

Have food - ideally canned, dried - in case of some sort of food crisis. (Not likely in our country, likely in poorer countries - but you never know.)

These two go a long way to the land of Peace of Mind.

There's a lot more that those who accept the need for preparation - known these days as "preppers" - and you can find all sorts of idea if you search. 

(Meanwhile the stock market just hit yet another all-time high - as if mocking the very idea that there's any trouble brewing. We leave it up to you to discern whether this signals good time ahead, or whether it's yet another manifestation of manipulation and dysfunction.)

A more interesting aspect of all this - one we've not spent a lot of time on in the past - is whether we who live in the "greatest country on earth" deserve whatever awaits us. 

But let's not dive into this now. Perhaps in the future.

For now, the weekend awaits. And unless the world ends according to God's Plan, we can and should find some respite from our daily labor and any anxiety that may have come to roost during our little meditation on that other shoe dropping.

Peace!