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Preserving wealth for future generations has always been a challenging endeavor for the affluent. A seemingly never-ending succession of negative global events has made the market more uncertain and wealth preservation much more challenging. Consequently, effective wealth preservation solutions are in high demand.

Earlier in the month, I had the good fortune to attend Art Basel, the art world’s premier platform for bringing artists and their patrons together. The volume of art that was displayed and purchased was staggering. It was quite an event.

I recently met with two of my clients who are both transitioning into retirement. They initially invested in rare coins because they were simply looking for alternatives as a way of diversifying their holdings and preserving wealth. During our discussion they shared that their investments into rare coins have quickly become their favorite investment. The explanation was simple. Rare coins have given them something many other investments recently have not… peace of mind.

If the Fed would have raised rates back in September it would have strengthened the U.S. dollar making it advantageous from a trade perspective with foreign economies. The only reason the Federal Reserve could have had for NOT raising rates in September was to help the U.S. and European international companies that trade with China, however the Fed’s plan didn’t work because within days of the anticipated rate hike, China responded by devaluing their currency by the largest amount in history which resulted in a positive trade advantage for China. The Fed must have known that they do not have the tools to win this specific battle with China or the rest of the world for that matter, as they devalue their currencies.

Sometimes you get an unexpected wake up call, a call to action if you will. If it happened in your hotel room, the famous errant alarm clock going off, well in that case you just push the snooze button, grumble a bit and go back to sleep at 2:45 a.m. Then, there is the other kind of wake up call, not just the annoyance version. This kind of call to action comes based on something truly significant and it can be so very important to evaluate or re-evaluate something of considerable importance such as your health, a family matter, or financial situation. It’s the latter mention that I will be focusing on in this article.

We all read or hear about the US debt almost daily. What are our sources: Mass Media, Politicians, and the Financial Sector? Pardon my cynicism in believing any of these institutions would tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on the debt. So, who is mudding up the waters? Who is the small player and who is the big player on US debt? To answer this question, we need to take a non-agenda driven look at the US debt.

It’s ironic. Oftentimes we talk about investing as if there are an infinite number of possible goals and every individual is going to have a unique set of circumstances that govern the construction of their portfolio. And while there may be some truth to that in a short-term context, I’ve found that the majority of investors tend to have similar long-term ideas. That is: work hard, plan for retirement, protect what you have, and provide for your family.

I was recently sent the latest TIPS spreads, which are downright scary if you believe the Fed should actually try to hit its inflation target:5 year TIPS spread = 1.34%, 10 year TIPS spread = 1.66%, 30 year TIPS spread = 1.82%. Keep in mind that even if the Fed were on target for 2% Consumer Price Index Inflation, the 30 year spread will usually be a bit over 2%, because long term there is more tail risk of high inflation than deflation. The 1.82% figure is worse than it looks.