Happy hump day, Reader,
And what a hump it is that we’re cresting. Charlie Morris, who had billions of pounds under his management when he was head of absolute returns at HSBC, described Tuesday to be “a memorable day in the history of finance”.
Charlie prospered in the fund management business for 25 years by only following strategies that work, so you don’t want to be asleep at the wheel on days when he says things like this:
To my mind, this is it. Tech has become a dangerous place to be invested. In my opinion, companies such as cruise ships and airlines, which face huge problems, are less risky than the likes of TSLA.
Charlie took the market action we illustrated in yesterday’s note as a signal to be taking exposure to tech stocks off the table – though with one important exception, which I won’t spoil as it’s for The Fleet Street Letter Wealth Builder subscribers.
But I can reveal just how long Charlie reckons he’ll be editor of that letter. Here’s what he said in the issue, in response to a reader who wondered how long he’ll continue rendering his expertise:
The Fleet Street Letter may have been founded in 1938, but it remains at the cutting edge of finance. I plan to write this until I have one foot in the grave. Other than being a platoon commander, it is the best job I have ever had.
High praise indeed. And just another reason to consider lifetime membership to our services here at Southbank Investment Research – Charlie is in for the longest of hauls! But our membership window expires today – so if you want to join before it becomes more expensive, you’ll need to act fast. Click here for the details.
On the topic of cruise ships and airlines though, I’ve been reading with great interest your stories and opinions on seeking freedom and fortune abroad, after I told you I’ll be scouting out Texas with a friend of mine who’s considering going there.
Thank you for all your responses, they’ve been a fascinating read. I can’t print them all alas, but I thought I’d share a few today and maybe a few more in future.
Here’s what some of you had to say on the topic of getting out of Blighty, and living free on foreign shores:
I’m way ahead of your friend – but for identical (and I mean IDENTICAL!) reasons. I have “Gone Galt”, I now have no more than one month’s cash requirement in a bank at any one time…
As regards location, I have long held with the concept of “freedom in isolation” and have bought some land on a remote Scottish Island seven miles from the nearest road with sea access only (for £40k). There, I could be self sufficient and off grid. However, it is still in the UK but a useful refuge for the distant future. Meantime, after due consideration, my conclusion was that the only way to obtain true freedom is away from the land altogether; I plan to live afloat. Ultimate mobility.
I still have responsibilities here for the time being but for now, I am financially outside the system at least with two out of three options sorted out.
Good luck to your friend.
A few years back I was thinking of moving to an island off Scotland and living in peace out there for a while. It does get a bit breezy out there though – there ain’t much tree cover. And most of the time you’re still under the domain of Holyrood, which continues to display a lack of interest if not animosity towards the whole “civil liberties” thing.
I applaud your action and hope all is going well for you out there – boats do seem to offer a unique “unplugging” opportunity.
I have a mate who is a dentist in Houston. He bought 600 acres of woodland to become a hillbilly to get away from the cops, tax officers, and dodgy building inspectors who hound you for every misdemeanour so you can be fined to boost city revenue. He got sick of it, built a shack in the woods, got found out and had the whole kit and caboodle on his arse for permissions and taxes for months.
Your mate will be terribly disappointed.
I hear that in some of the states you can build your own house on your own land without having to meet any regulations – and if the roof falls in on your head, well on your head be it. Texas ain’t one of them though. But then again, my buddy ain’t thinking of building his own house – not yet, anyhow…
I have lived and worked abroad for about 2 years in each of the following: Australia, Borneo, USA, Italy (and Scotland).
In each case I had a fabulous experience, enjoyed myself enormously and would change nothing.
However, in all my travels, I have found no more civilised place to live, nor indeed one that enjoys more freedoms, than The United Kingdom.
The only way to get under the skin of a place, and find out what it’s really like, is to live there.
My advice to your friend would be absolutely to go for it but don’t break all ties to home: the chances are he will want to come back one day.
Friends, family and British passport – keep ‘em safe, no matter what you get up to.
Six years ago I decided to “retire” to Manila.
I had been running subcontracting businesses in the UK construction industry most of my life and had many ups and downs with clients going into liquidation owing me large amounts…
I realised I had enough land next to my house to build another so sold the existing house and built a new one to let for a monthly income.
I then decided I had enough money to move abroad and found a lovely wife who also seemed to have some business skills, bought a house in Manila to live in and 12 apartments for rent. Never one to settle for the easy life I decided to start a car rental business with no previous experience although I knew a lot about car maintenance.
We bought an SUV and two people carriers in 2015 and now have 25 vehicles so I’m thinking about retiring again, but easier said than done. It has not been easy, we lost 10 cars at one point in a scam by two syndicates but we discovered a lot about the legal system and how to get people arrested and we now have some good helpful friends in law enforcement.
To sum it up, I am probably worth more now than when I left the UK, it is not too much different from running a business here than in the UK, it is somewhat easier to access the legal system here as it is cheaper but also quite different from that in the UK. The paperwork for buying and selling cars and most other transactions is quite horrendous but you kind of get used to it…
On balance I think I am happier doing this in the sunny Philippines than sitting alone in my UK house, staring at the rain through the window while worrying how to survive financially.
Sounds like a great set-up! I didn’t even know I had any readers in the Philippines. Personally, I’m not sure South East Asia is for me. The Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to seize the South China Sea alone has the potential to disrupt the area in any number of ways that I’m not confident I could stay ahead of.
Myself & my wife have been living in Latin America, Ecuador for 7 years and now Medellin, Colombia for 2 years and love it here. We left California in 2011 and haven’t looked back. People are wonderful and warm, very innovative & young (average age in Colombia is 30 years old). Weather is in my opinion perfect, 68 – 78 F.( 20 – 26 C ), elevation is 5300 Ft. ( 1600 Meters ) which means very few bugs and humidity around 70 %. We are retired and with the strong $ US the quality of life here is very, very good and the cost of living quite low.
Like everywhere else in the world things are screwed up here with draconian lockdowns in place, but things WILL at some stage get better. I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now, particularly seeing what’s happening with riots in Europe & USA. By the way beer is cheap here with quite a few micro-breweries opening up recently (before the Corona illness ). Not the choices you have obviously, but quality & choices still getting better.
Good demographics, great weather, a weak currency, and a growing beer culture. Sounds like an investment opportunity…
Until tomorrow,
Boaz Shoshan
Editor, Capital & Conflict
For charts and other financial/geopolitical content, follow me on Twitter: @FederalExcess.
Category: Market updates