As investors, we move through different stages—from trying to make more money to trying to protect what we've built. But what is the biggest underlying threat to that wealth? This episode is a personal reflection on a critical, long-term issue facing all of us. This is: My Biggest Money Fear. Inspired by books like "The Fourth Turning is Here" and the work of Ray Dalio, we explore the potential decline of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. Discover why this status has been the bedrock of American prosperity and what the consequences—like massive inflation and scarcity—could be if it erodes. We'll look at the geopolitical pressures from BRICS nations and a rising China that are challenging the dollar's dominance. This isn't about short-term market moves; it's about the fundamental stability of the financial system we all depend on. What can you do to prepare? Subscribe for more deep dives into the forces shaping our financial future. Key Takeaways The Biggest Money Fear: The Decline of the US Dollar: The host's primary financial concern is the potential for the US dollar to lose its status as the world's reserve currency, a shift that would have profound and negative consequences for the U.S. economy and standard of living. The Consequence: Massive Inflation and Scarcity: If the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency, the U.S. would likely have to inflate its currency to pay its massive debts. This could lead to hyperinflation (40%, 50%, 100%+) and a scarcity of goods as production becomes uneconomical. The Geopolitical Drivers: Several global forces are challenging the dollar's dominance, including the formation of the BRICS nations alliance seeking its own currency, and the geopolitical maneuvering of a rising China against a declining U.S. empire, as described by Ray Dalio. The Bigger, Personal Fear: The Risk of War: The host notes that historically, shifts in global power from a declining empire to a rising one often lead to major military conflict. His biggest overall fear is the potential for a new world war and its impact on his draft-age children. The Recommended Preparation: Faced with this systemic risk, the books and analysis discussed in the episode recommend preparing by owning hard assets that exist outside the traditional dollar system, specifically gold and crypto. "If the dollar is no longer the reserve currency, life as we know it will change forever." Timestamped Summary (00:45) My Biggest Money Fear: The host sets the stage by explaining his personal financial position of "protecting capital" and introduces his primary fear: the decline of the US dollar. (04:41) Why the Dollar's Reserve Status Matters: A clear explanation of what the reserve currency is, how it has fueled U.S. prosperity, and the severe consequences (hyperinflation) of losing that status. (07:54) The Geopolitical Threats (BRICS & China): A look at the global alliances and power shifts, particularly the BRICS nations and a rising China, that are actively working to usurp the dollar's dominance. (10:29) The Bigger Fear: World War III: The host shares his deepest concern, citing Ray Dalio's work, that the shift in global empires could ultimately lead to a major war. (13:48) How to Be Prepared: The episode concludes with the actionable advice suggested by the source material: preparing for this potential future by owning a diversified portfolio of hard assets like gold and crypto. What's your biggest long-term money fear? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If this episode made you think about the bigger picture, share it with a friend or family member. Enjoying our unique take on the markets? A 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps us grow the conversation.
Is your trading causing you tension, fatigue, and anxiety? For most, the constant need to predict the market's next move is a recipe for burnout. This episode explores a radically different, calmer approach to the markets and answers the question: How To Trade Without Stress? Inspired by the book "The Surrender Experiment," we discuss how the root cause of trading stress is trying to force your will on an uncontrollable market. Discover the power of letting go of predictions and instead trading the market you have, not the one you want. We'll contrast the high-stress, predictive style of Jim Cramer with the calm, patient, ownership approach of Warren Buffett. Learn how to use probabilities instead of predictions and how letting go of a single frustrating trade can unlock your entire portfolio's potential. This is your guide to shifting from a posture of stressful control to one of calm, disciplined flow. Is your stress a signal that it's time to change your approach? Subscribe for more insights into the professional trading mindset. Key Takeaways Stress Comes From Trying to Control the Uncontrollable: The primary source of trading stress is the futile attempt to predict and control the market. Accepting that the market is bigger than you and will never be under your control is the first step to reducing anxiety. Trade the Market You Have, Not the One You Want: A less stressful approach involves reacting to current market conditions with a probabilistic edge, rather than trying to force the market to meet your predictions. This means using strategies that have room to be wrong and can be adjusted with the market's flow. The "Surrender" Mindset: Inspired by Michael Singer's "The Surrender Experiment," the goal is to let go of the need to know what happens next. By trading with probabilities and not predictions, you can remove the emotional attachment to a specific outcome, thus reducing stress. The Cramer vs. Buffett Contrast: The episode highlights two opposing trading styles. The Jim Cramer style is predictive, fast-paced, and visibly high-stress. The Warren Buffett style is research-based, patient, and visibly low-stress; he buys good companies and lets them run without trying to micro-manage the outcome. Your Stress Can Be a Signal: Frustration and stress around a specific trade can be a powerful signal from the market (or universe) that you are trying to force something that isn't working. Learning to listen to that signal and exit or adjust the trade can be a revolutionary way to manage your portfolio and your well-being. "I try to have as less stress as possible in my trading, and I try to trade the market that I have, not the way I want the market to be, and I do that by not predicting." Timestamped Summary (02:00) The "Surrender Experiment" Inspiration: An introduction to the core philosophy of the episode, based on the idea of letting go of control and surrendering to the flow of life and the market. (05:50) The Root Cause of Trading Stress: A breakdown of why trying to predict the market and force it to meet your expectations is the primary source of frustration and anxiety for traders. (07:22) The Eli Lilly Trap: A Personal Revenge Trading Story: Hear a candid, personal story about how trying to force a win on one single stock created stress and held back the entire portfolio's performance. (08:34) The Cramer vs. Buffett Contrast: A powerful comparison between the high-stress, predictive style of Jim Cramer and the calm, patient, hands-off approach of Warren Buffett. (12:38) A New Experiment: Trading Based on Stress: Discover the host's new, revolutionary idea of using his own stress level as a signal for when to adjust or exit a trade. Does your trading cause you stress? Share your biggest challenge in the comments below. If this episode offered you a new perspective on trading, share it with a friend who could use a calmer approach. Enjoying the podcast? A 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps us reach and empower more investors.
Is the stock market a level playing field, or is the system rigged against the little guy? This episode dives headfirst into one of the most glaring conflicts of interest in modern finance, sparked by a recent legislative push. We're talking about: Congress Insider Trading. We break down the recent bill proposed to ban members of Congress, their spouses, and other high-ranking officials from trading individual stocks. Discover the shocking resistance this common-sense idea has faced and hear the outrageous justifications from politicians who argue that being a senator would become "unattractive" without the ability to trade. This discussion highlights the stark contrast between the self-serving attitudes of today and the civic-duty mindset of the nation's founders. Is it a step in the right direction, or will the system protect its own? Subscribe for more discussions on how Wall Street and Washington impact the individual investor. Key Takeaways A Bill to Ban Trading Faces Resistance: A bill was recently introduced to ban members of Congress, their spouses, the President, and the Vice President from trading stocks, a move widely supported by the public but facing significant political opposition. The "Unattractive Job" Excuse: In defending his vote against the bill, one senator outrageously claimed that being a senator would become "unattractive" if they couldn't trade stocks, highlighting a profound disconnect with the idea of public service. A Glaring Conflict of Interest: The ability of lawmakers, who have access to non-public information and the power to create market-moving legislation, to trade individual stocks is seen by many as a form of legalized insider trading. A Step in the Right Direction: Despite the opposition, the bill managed to pass an initial committee vote, signaling that public pressure and transparency are beginning to have an effect, even if the road ahead is difficult. A Departure From Founding Principles: The episode contrasts the self-serving arguments of modern politicians with the civic-minded ethos of figures like George Washington, who reluctantly accepted leadership roles out of a sense of duty, not for personal enrichment. "He came out and he said that I voted against it because it would make it, quote, unquote unattractive to become a senator. If I could not trade stocks". Timestamped Summary (00:45) The Premise: A System Rigged Against the Little Guy: The episode kicks off by discussing the public perception that the government isn't on our side, using the rampant success of congressional stock trading as a prime example. (01:58) The Bill to Ban Congressional Trading: A breakdown of the new legislation aimed at preventing lawmakers and their spouses from trading individual stocks and the political hurdles it faces. (03:30) The Outrageous "Unattractive Job" Quote: Hear the direct, shocking quote from a senator explaining why he voted against the bill, revealing a mindset focused on personal enrichment over public service. (04:55) A Stark Contrast with the Founding Fathers: The discussion compares the modern political attitude toward wealth and power with the reluctant, duty-bound approach of figures like George Washington. What are your thoughts on this issue? Should members of Congress be banned from trading stocks? Let us know in the comments. If you believe in fair markets for everyone, share this episode with your network. Enjoying our take on the markets? A 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps us grow and reach more listeners.
We've all heard the stories of missing out on early investments like Apple or Amazon. But as history shows, new technological waves are always emerging. This episode dives into one of the most significant digital assets today and asks the question: Why You Should Own ETH? We explore the compelling case for Ethereum, not as "digital gold" like Bitcoin, but as "digital oil"—the fuel that powers a vast ecosystem of other crypto projects and decentralized finance (DeFi). Discover the powerful catalysts on the horizon, from companies being formed just to hold ETH to major technological upgrades. We'll discuss why we may be in the "1996 of the internet" moment for digital assets and how a simple strategy like dollar-cost averaging can be a smart way to gain exposure. Is ETH the next great technological investment you can't afford to miss? Subscribe to hear our take on the opportunities shaping the future of finance. Key Takeaways ETH as "Digital Oil": Unlike Bitcoin, which is often compared to digital gold (a store of value), Ethereum's primary value comes from its utility. It acts as the foundational layer, or "digital oil," that greases the wheels for countless other crypto projects, smart contracts, and the DeFi ecosystem. Powerful Catalysts for Growth: The demand for ETH is poised to grow due to strong catalysts, including new companies being formed with the sole purpose of acquiring and holding Ethereum, as well as significant technological upgrades coming to the Ethereum network. Adoption is the Key Indicator: The increasing adoption of digital assets by individuals, institutions, and even governments signals that they are becoming a permanent part of the financial landscape. We are still in the early stages, comparable to the internet in 1996, with massive room for growth. A Parallel to Past Tech Revolutions: Missing the boat on ETH could be analogous to missing out on early investments in foundational tech companies like Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft. Each technological wave presents new opportunities for investors who get in before mass adoption. Dollar-Cost Averaging is a Smart Approach: You don't need to perfectly time the market. A disciplined strategy of dollar-cost averaging—investing a fixed amount regularly—is a prudent way to build a position over time, buying at various price points and benefiting from the long-term upward trend. "Bitcoin is digital gold, and you hold it... Ethereum is more like digital oil, because it's used to make other things. It's used to grease the wheels of other projects." Timestamped Summary (01:55) The "Digital Oil" Analogy: An explanation of why Ethereum's value is tied to its utility in powering other projects, distinguishing it from Bitcoin's "digital gold" status. (04:15) The Catalysts Driving Future Growth: A look at the key factors expected to increase demand for ETH, including institutional buying and the expansion of its ecosystem. (06:18) We're in "1996 for Digital Assets": Hear the argument for why we are still in the very early innings of crypto adoption, suggesting significant long-term growth potential. (07:40) The Forrest Gump / Apple Stock Parallel: A relatable story illustrating how getting in early on major technological shifts (like Apple then, or crypto now) can lead to massive wealth creation. What are your thoughts on the future of Ethereum? Let us know in the comments below. If this episode made you think differently about crypto, share it with a friend who is still on the fence. Enjoying the podcast? A 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps us reach more investors like you.
Alright, hey there, passive traders. This is Allen, coming to you with another episode of the Option Genius Podcast. Today, I wanted to talk about something that has been a pretty cool milestone for me, something I'm very excited about, but it's not something I can really share with friends or family. But I thought that if I shared it with you, you guys would appreciate it. And there's also a human relations, human nature lesson as well. And so, you know, it comes back to, like, is there ever a time, or is there something that you know to be maybe not true, right? It's like it goes against your common sense, but you still do it because you've just heard it done so many times, and so many people have said to do it, and it's just what everybody does. Yeah, you know, anything like that? And you just keep doing it. I mean, I am known as the passive trading guy, right? And I preach it all the time that, hey, look, if you can get your money to make money for you as much as you spend every month, then you can essentially retire, right? So if your expenses are, say, $10,000 a month, and from your trading, you can make $10,000 a month, then you can retire. You don't have to work anymore. You've just replaced your income. But I guess I don't follow that. I mean, I do, but I don't. And it goes back to, like, when I was very young, right after I got married, my wife was a big saver, and I, at that point, was not. And so she had savings. I had nothing. I was starting to trade. But her savings were really, really significant, and so I had to do something to show her that, look, we're going to be secure. I'm going to take care of you. And so I started putting money away in our Roth IRAs at that point, right? So I'm putting the money away, and that's the thing to do, right? You put your money away, you put it in a retirement account, and you let it grow, and you let it compound, and then eventually you get old, and then you retire, and you don't have to worry about money, right? That's what you're supposed to do. Now, my goal all the time was to retire early, but I'm still plugging all this money away into the retirement account every year. And then I started a company, and then the CPA told me, "Hey, you know, you should probably start a retirement account from the company. So the company pays money into your retirement account. For you, it's deductible. You'll save some money on your taxes." And I'm like, "Okay, that sounds good. I like saving money on taxes." So we started putting more money away. We started putting more money away, and it just kept going. And I didn't really think about it. Now, I read a book recently. It's called Die With Zero, and that got me to think. And so recently, at the end of the year, I went and I looked at, you know, all my finances, the balance sheet, and the net worth, and assets, liabilities, all that stuff. And I'm looking at it, and I'm realizing that, look, in our retirement accounts, for me and my wife, we have a substantial amount of money, especially with last year, you know, the market going up 20%, the year before that the market was up 20%, and so it's grown a lot, and we have a substantial amount of money in our retirement accounts. Maybe I don't have to put any more money in there, I don't know. So I took out my calculator, and I'm like, "Hey, this is going to be... let's see, right?" So I took the amount of money that I had, and let's call it "A," right? Just to make it simple, let's call it "A." And I said, "Okay, if I have this 'A' pile, right? I have 'A,' and that's the nest egg. Now, I'm going to retire at 65, let's just say, it's the number everybody uses, 65, want to retire, and I've got 17 years left. So if I have 'A,' and it grows at a decent rate of return, maybe 6, 7, 8, 9%, I don't know. You know, it varies. But if it grows at a decent rate of return, how much money am I going to have in my retirement account, my nest egg, in 17 years when I'm 65?" I did the numbers. We did it at different percentages, and it's going to come out to a very big number, you know, let's call it "Y." So the future nest egg is "Y," alright? The current nest egg is "A." Then I talked to my wife, and I'm saying, "Hey, babe, you know, 15 or 17 years from now, I'm going to be 65, you'll be a little younger. How much money do you think we can spend every month?" You know, we talked about it, we went over like, "Hey, you know, the kids will be grown. We're not really going to spend much money on them. Maybe the house will be paid off. And we're not big spenders as it is. So maybe we'd be spending, I don't know, on average, maybe $150,000. Now with, you know, inflation and whatnot, I'm not going to count that in. I'm not going to count taxes. I'm not going to count other expenses. And also, that's not the only, you know, this nest egg, the 'Y,' is not the only money I'm going to have. I'm going to have other investments and Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, whatever, and all that stuff too. So I'm not going to even count any of that." So she said, "Okay, $150,000." I'm like, "Okay, that makes sense." So I took my "Y," divided it by $150,000. So if that money does not grow at all, you know, I take it out completely, out of the market. It's sitting in cash, it's sitting in my mattress, whatever, and it's not making any more money. Doesn't grow at all, and I deduct $150,000 every year from it to live off of, that money is going to last me roughly about 30 years. Now, I'll be 65, 30 years, I'll be 95. I don't know if I'm going to make it to 95, but most likely, I probably will have enough money to last for the rest of my life in retirement from just "A," if it grows the way it's been growing. And so I do the math several times, and I'm like, "Wait a minute, I don't have to put any more money away for retirement. My retirement is secure, in a sense, right? It could always go down, yes, but then, you know, there's going to be other stuff that we have as well. And worst comes to worst, I'll tell my kids they gotta, you know, take care of Dad and Mom." I've got that backup plan; I have, like, Plan C. So anyway, to me, that was really exciting. I was like, "Oh my God, this is really, really cool. This is awesome. This is..." And it's sad that I can't really talk to any friends or family about it because they're just going to get jealous, or, you know, they're going to say stuff. But I thought that you'd be interested in it. And, you know, you might be thinking, "Okay, hey, is that going to be enough money? What if you run out? Inflation, this and that?" And in that book I mentioned, Die With Zero, the author talks about this concept. He didn't bring it up, he didn't make it up. But he talks about something called the three stages of retirement. And so, in the first stage, right when you retire, those are called the Go-Go years, and then you have the Slow-Go years, and then you have the No-Go years. So in the Go-Go years, right away, you're like, "Hey, I just stopped working. I'm energized. I've got energy, my knees work. Let's go traveling. Let's go see our friends. Let's go travel the world. Let's knock off all this stuff on the bucket list, right? Let's go climb a mountain, maybe. Let's go climb a mountain, maybe. And so you're going to use more money, and you're going to go more places, and you do more things in the first few years, the Go-Go years. Then you transition into the Slow-Go years because now you're like, "Man, you know, if you've seen one museum, you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all, right? Like, I don't need to see another museum." And so maybe you take up hobbies like gardening or trains, or whatever, right? And so you still go places, but you don't go as much, and you don't spend as much. And then, unfortunately, we have the No-Go years, which is, like, you know, when we're really old, and it hurts. Everything hurts. It hurts to get up. It hurts... you know, "Oh my God, I can tell when it's going to rain," kind of thing. And, you know, "It's a good day when Jeopardy has reruns," right? So those are the No-Go years; you're going to spend very little money. And so, I mean, that made a lot of sense to me. I was like, "Oh, okay, so yeah, I think even if we spend more money upfront, in the later years, we won't be able to spend that much. We won't be doing that much, and we're going to be fine." And if something happens to me, and if I pass away, like, you know, I've got life insurance, my wife has life insurance. So if one of us passes away, we'll have even more money, and then we'll definitely not run out of money. And plus, I probably won't be... I don't know, we'll see. I don't think about it, but without her, I don't want to do much traveling anyway. But, um, that's the thing. So, like, that's the goal, that's exciting. And it's just... it's the opposite of what I teach, but it's something that people always drum into our heads, like, "We have to do it, we have to do it, we have to do it." I have to interrupt this message because I am super excited. I haven't been this excited about something in trading since I first discovered trading options. Okay, it is that important. Now look, this is a new strategy that I've discovered recently that is just out there kicking butt and taking names. I can't give you all the details here, but if you go to marketpowermethod.com, you can get all the information. Again, that's marketpowermethod.com. Trust me, you want to know what this is. Now, back to the show. So what are you doing that has been drummed into your head that doesn't make sense, you know? It's counter to common sense, counter to what you know. But everybody else is doing it, and everybody's telling you to do it, and if you don't do it, people are like, "Man, you're stupid. You know? Why are you rocking the boat?" kind of thing. Now, in this case, it kind of worked out, right? It helped, you know, that I would have had the extra funds, but now I have the extra money. So t
This is part 2 of my interview with John S Pennington Jr. Make sure to listen to Part 1 first. Allen It seems like I mean, because all the stuff you're mentioning, you know, Ray Dalio in his books, he talks about it too, you know, like, how does one Empire take over from another one? And it's because of the the currency, it's because of you know, and he's been talking about it for a while that there's a collision course coming. And everybody's afraid of it. You know, I mean, I'm even afraid of it. Because if we go to war in 10 years from now, you know, I have two boys that are 13 and 11, they're probably going to be drafted because everybody in the United States is overweight, and they can't fight it. So there's got to be some, right? There's gonna be some serious problem with the Army not having enough people. So my kids are gonna be fighting in a war. I don't want them fighting in and like, everybody's freaking out about it. And like you said, you know, China, they brokered the deal. They're making friends in the Middle East. They're making friends in Africa. They're giving loans like you said, US gave loans to everybody. They gave loans in trillions of dollars, not even billions, but I think it was trillions of worth of loans to build infrastructure in Africa that is then maintained owned and run by Chinese. It's not run by the Africans, the Chinese are in charge of it, the Silk Road Project that they built those highways all the way from China all the way to the, you know, the Mediterranean. I mean, yeah, they've been doing it crazy. And so it seems like everything that you're saying it lines up. And it's like, now that we see John last year in the last year and a half, while the last few months, India has stopped on some level, not all the way stopped buying Russian oil. They just read some reports this last month that they have, they have curbed their Russian oil purchases. Really. Okay. Now, I don't know exactly why. But I do know, there's tons of companies that have moved from China, to South Korea, Thailand, and India. And I believe India is now choosing Wait a minute, we want to be in good graces with the United States because that's where we're going to suck up all those jobs on China. They're going to come to India. Right. And I think India's Modi, President Modi over there is making a strategic move to go with you know, the US dollar and to do that he's got to appease the the United States by saying you know what, Russia, we even though your oil is cheaper, doesn't matter. We're gonna go with US dollar purchases for oil. That Allen could be because China is also having territorial disputes now with India over certain areas. It's funny because we have a an oil Options program where we train, we do coaching on oil options, and we you could see it in the news play out when Russia was putting all their tanks on the border of Ukraine, you know, everybody knew it, they're coming in, they're going to invade and everybody was like, when is it gonna happen? When is it gonna happen? I told her, I'll tell all my traders it's like, you know, just wait. It's not going to happen until the Olympics are open. Olympics are over because the Olympics are in China is like they have the closing ceremonies, like four hours later, boom, there's an invasion. It's like, okay, now we can play it now. It's, you know, it's, yeah, he was insane. So now you said, now I'm trying to figure out like, okay, alright, how can I make money off of this? Right. So it's like you said that Russia and China are still buying gold. So is that? Is that an investment that's going to continue to ramp up because I think gold is at all time highs right now? John Yeah, it's all time high. Silver is kind of trying to get up there. But Silver's having a tough time. So let's go to Okay, let's go to the summer of 2020. All right, summer 2020. The SEC, which is part of the team, you have the team, you know, US dollar, the SEC sues JP Morgan. What are they suing him for? They're suing him for manipulating the precious metals market for nine years. Silver gold, okay. And they lose, JPMorgan loses and they're fined almost a billion dollars a billion dollar fine for nine years and mutilation the SEC. Okay. The point is, JP Morgan figured out how to manipulate and control a market that's 30 times bigger than Bitcoin. Gold and silver and gold for nine years. And they finally SEC found out about it pseudonym wins, finds you billion dollars, but guess what, no one that I know of went to jail. Allen I mean, it wasn't that big in the news, they get headlines, John kind of kept quiet, right. So millions of people that buy and sell silver and gold were fleeced out of how know how many much money but no one goes to jail. But you just find they probably made 20 billion but they're only find a billion it was it was 930 million, but I rounded a billion because we talked about a billion seconds earlier. Right? Okay, so nine 30 million, but close to a billion dollars. All right. So my theory in my book that I explain is you have precious metals market that have been manipulated through using futures and all kinds of different manipulations. And a year from there, now you're in summer of 2021. Bitcoin is trading around $31,000. This is July. Okay. So August, September, October, November, four months later, Bitcoin hits all time high $69,000. My theory is that the Federal Reserve, US government viewed Bitcoin as a competitor possible to the US dollar. And so they took the playbook that they learned from JP Morgan, and I think they had JP Morgan personnel help them do it right. Clandestine to control try to control Bitcoin. And that's why it went from 31,000 to 16,000 in a four, three and a half month period of time. So November it hits $69,000. And so how are the way that you control Bitcoin? Well, one JP Morgan used a futures market. Okay, now what I'm about to tell you all these things that I'm gonna tell you happen in November 2021. Okay, one bitcoin hits all time high. Number two, the SEC approves a Bitcoin ETF not I first bought only four futures right and they denied grayscale the spot one Why would you approve one for futures and not one for spot doesn't make any sense. So that happened November also, also November and Allen hold that for people who are listening to spot means the current price futures means prices in advance. So the actual the actual Bitcoin John not a Hypothecation the actual non derivative, the actual Bitcoin, right? So the SEC says no you can't you can't operate, we're not gonna allow you to operate a ETF that actually buys Bitcoin, we're only going to allow this other company, an ETF that actually buys futures on contracts, right just contracts, which is the what the way JP Morgan was one of the ways they were able to manipulate the silver and gold market for nine years. Okay, that's the third thing that happened in November, the SEC extends their lawsuit against a ripple XRP coin. Why XRP from the nanosecond XRP was invented. Its one goal was what to do to circumvent the SWIFT system, which would decrease the demand for US dollars. So the SEC extends the EC the lawsuit for no apparent reason. And they just kind of lost it. They lost the SEC last last summer, and then they appealed. So they're this lawsuit still going on against XRP? Okay, a former thing that happened in this month, in November, Hillary Clinton came out and said, Bitcoin could damage the US dollars, reserve world currency. Now, again, back to probabilities and predictions, you can say she just went to a microphone and just talking. That's you can believe that, or what's the is that a probability high probability? Or is the probability that she had been privy to previous meetings months earlier, that the Federal Reserve was going to try to pinch Bitcoin control, they don't want to kill it, they just want to control it. And so she got in front of microphone, which she loves to do to tell all her memes. Hey, listen to me, I always know the truth. I always give you the truth. Guess what the Bitcoin could take over the US currency, which is our number one product and why so he's she's sending a coded message, maybe? Maybe not. But the probability, I think the probability is high that she had some information that the government was using a clandestine approach to try to control Bitcoin, Allen because she was a congresswoman and she was sitting on committees and all that, yes, yes. John One other way you can control a traded commodity or traded stock or whatever or bitcoin is if you can get 45 to 60 days of trading volume, meaning if if bitcoin trades 100 coins a day, you would need 4500 coins. If it trades 1000 coins a day, you would need 45,000 coins are 60,000 coins. This is what how you do it. So let's just say hypothetically, that from July 2021 to November 2021, the Federal Reserve had to obtain 45 days of trading bonds 66 days trading bond that means they have to buy bitcoin. They're buying Bitcoin buying Bitcoin buying Bitcoin buying Bitcoin buying Bitcoin, that means the price is going up, up, up, up up. Once they have 45 or six days of trading volume, they take their 45 Day Trading bond, and they stick it at six $9,000. And they put it there for sale, all this at a limit price 60,000 or so we start buying you buy I buy we're buying. And then we keep hitting 69 69,006 96 Night Out signal, there's a ceiling, there's a price ceiling, the ceiling, and we can see it and we go Wait, there's a big seller at 16,000 or so mean, you start selling. So we start selling everyone starts selling and it goes down to 68,000. Guess who's buying at 60,000 The Federal Reserve, they're replenishing their 60 day supply or 45 day supply of trading volume. So that mean you go Wait, there's a buyer at 68,000 and we start buying again. And it goes to 68,000. They don't let it go to 69 because that would be a bullish chart, right? They can have a they can have a higher high. T
Allen Welcome passive traders. Welcome to another edition of the Option Genius Podcast. Today, I am here with someone that's going to blow your mind. I'll give you his name, you probably haven't heard from him. But what he says is going to make a big difference for you. So John S. Pennington Jr. in 2008, co founded a family of private investment funds that by 2021 had over $28 billion of assets under management and completed a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. John then retired that same year but remains a significant stakeholder and is now partner Emeritus at the company. He has been married 38 years with three sons, five grandchildren, and he recently wrote a book which we're going to be talking about called Dollars, Gold, and Bitcoin. It's right here, I could not put it down, you can find it on Amazon and Audible. You guys need to get a copy of this book, because we are not going to be able to talk about everything in this book on this interview. John, thank you so much for being here. John Allen, so good to be here. Thanks for having me. Allen So now I have done. I have heard you speak in the past. And so a few podcasts, I don't should have looked at the episode, but it's one of the past episodes called billionaire lessons. I have talked a little bit and gone over some of the things that you presented on which were covered in your book as well. So it was one of our most popular episodes, really happy that you're here. I just want to get into it. So the book is titled dollars gold and Bitcoin. Now I've already you know, talked about your successful guy you're doing well. Why did you write this book? John When I retired, some people asked me to speak on stage. And I, you know, I didn't charge them. And I just went to these masterminds and I thought, What do I want to talk about? And, you know, I just I looked at what everyone else talks about. And I thought, well, I got to talk about something different. So I started talking about economics and the Federal Reserve and the strength of the dollar and how, you know, the dollar is just a fantastic product worldwide. And I actually, you know, followed the Federal Reserve and how they promoted the US dollar over the years, and how they nudged people to make their product more acceptable around the world. And I kind of used that formula. In my company, or me and my partner's company, as we grew, we kind of use the same type of tactics that the Federal Reserve and the US government has used over the years to promote their number one product, which is the US dollar. And so so it's kind of a, it's kind of reflection of my business history. But it's also a reflection of how I studied and watched the the greatest product ever become the greatest product ever. How did it get there, and then I just kind of wanted to learn from the best. So I just kind of use those tactics with me and my partners to kind of push our business kind of the same way. So that's why I kind of wrote it. Allen Cool. Now, you know, the first time I heard you speak, I've heard you speak twice. And the first time and second time, I'm listening to you, and you are taking these what seemed to be very random events around the world. Yes. It's like, Oh, this guy said this, made this comment. And then this person visited this country, and then nothing happened. And then that happened. And then you took all of these to me, they were just random, you know, like watching the news. You story after story. But you took them and you whoa, this intricate, detailed story that linked them all together. And I'm like, Whoa, how does this guy think like this? how do you how do you come up with this? , John I don't I don't know. I just I just I think as an entrepreneur my whole life, I started my, well, my career, but when I was a young man, I just was really slow reader. I wasn't a good, I wasn't a good student. And I knew that I could not survive in corporate America. I just knew it would eat me alive. It didn't I just wouldn't fit there. And so I knew I had to be my own boss. And that means I probably need to just start my own companies. And so I remember looking in the mirror and this is I think I was 17 or 18. And I said to myself, these words and and I I've repeated this in the mirror, every year, 10 times a year, whatever, I don't know how many for 30 something 40 years, but I said this to myself in the mirror of John, you're not afraid of being poor. And John, you're not afraid of being old, you're just afraid of being old and poor at the same time. And that is stuck with me to push myself in the areas of, I have to start my own business, I have to save money to take risk, right. And so I started 14 businesses in my lifetime ish. And three, I've made a lot of money on obviously, the one I did with the funds and still in it made a lot of money, I three I've lost money on and the rest of them in the middle, you know, I made some money on them, they were pretty good for a while. But you know, so over those periods of time, when you'd make good money on one, you have to save the money and live beneath your means. So that when the next opportunity comes up, you have a war chest to go and try again. Because if you try a business, and it doesn't work, you lose the time and money. And sometimes I might, I've had a couple of businesses in a row not work. So you spend 910 months getting a business launched, and then you wait six, seven months, it doesn't work, and you go on men 18 months later, and now you're kind of out of money if you didn't save, and then you have another idea come up, and then you try that idea. And that's going to take a year, year and a half to figure out and spend all the money. So you always I always live below my means way below my means so that I would always have a war chest to take risk until I really, really, really made it. And when I first started my first fund in 2004, and then my second fund in 2007. And my third fund in 2008. You know, I didn't really know if it was going to work, work, work work work until about 2013. And up until that time, I was driving a car with 200,000 miles on it, you know, so but once I got there, then I got a Mercedes, you know, a small number, say a used Mercedes kind of thing. And so, but I was always I always lived beneath my means because I just knew I had to be a entrepreneur. So what I'm getting at was my business antennas, my business antennas my whole life since I was 17. I had been up trying to read listen to receive things, right? And when I graduated college in 8898, with an economics degree which if you have an economics degree, there's not a lot of really, you're not trying to do much right unless you go on to get a masters or PhD trained. Well, what do you I'm saying, right? I didn't matter I had a degree in and I wanted to start my business. My first business that I started right at night, not my first business but but my first successful business right out of college is in 1989 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, they took down the wall in Germany, there used to be a wall right down the middle of Berlin, a physical wall, and they took it down. And before that time, kids in Eastern Europe could not get American products. They can watch American TV or watch American movies, but they couldn't get made in USA products. And when that wall came down, there was a flood demand because the US was like this golden child. And everyone loved the US for about 99 About 95 They just love love, love anything made the USA was the best. And they wanted American huge Levi's. Or they want American Levi's jeans because Mr. Levi Strauss in San Francisco was the first guy to ever make denim jeans. And he did him with a button flying and the original was the button fly 501. Well, all over the all over the world. These were being sold for hundreds of dollars. They were a fashion gene but in the Western United States, we'd had them for 100 years they were worth jeans. We grew up with them in high school, right but so anyway, two of my partner's eventually moved to Southern Germany and I stayed in in Utah, and I collected us Levi fiber ones all over the United States, mainly the Western United States, cleaned them up, sewed them had seamstresses, scrubbing them, cleaning them up taking the stains off of them sewing, and it shipped to my partners in Germany, and they sell them to Prague and all over the western eastern states. So I could buy new fiber ones on sale for 1499 in Utah, and they would go for 100 $120 in profit. So I had my antennas up. And so when I found out early on in Ada or early on at nine that we had a friend over there in Europe saying that people were at you know, walking up to him on the street trying to buy his jeans on down for $100 100 US dollars. And we could buy them used at a thrift store over here for $6. What's the probability I can make a business so we I ran this business for nine years From 89 to about 1988 1998. We ran this was my first real big, huge business. And it was booming. I mean, we were doing a lot of jeans. I think our best year total sales was $8.5 million. US Levi's, I think that was 9094, maybe 95. Somewhere in there. But it was the fast business. And I had, you know, seems so what I'm trying to say is, you asked me the question, how do I think this way, right? If you have your business antenna up, always trying to receive some information, and someone tells you, hey, people in Austria are paying $100 For usually buy 501 jeans, and you live in a place where you can buy them for $10. You have to think of how do I make that into a business? What's the probability? Not the prediction? What's the probability I can make that into a business? And that was my first real run into business employees in Germany employees here. It was really a fantastic, great, like classic arbitrage. Yep. Just yeah, that's right. We were value adding we were cleaning them up, right. We were selling them. We were repairing t
Hey there, if you're looking to invest in 2024, you've probably already heard of the AI boom and how those stocks have already taken off and gone into the stratosphere, you've already probably looked at the weight loss drugs like Eli Lilly and how that's already exploded and gone into the stratosphere. And you've probably even looked at, you know, the mega cap tech stocks and how they've already taken off and gone. So far so high? Well, there is one sector, it's an unloved sector, but it is on fire and it is going to do amazing in 2024. That's what I want to talk about today. So what is this sector? Well, it's not really a sector, it's more of a commodity, which commodity? Well, it's not the normal ones you normally think about. It's uranium. So if you look at uranium prices, uranium prices have doubled in the last year, and they're probably going to double even more, I don't know more than double, but they're gonna go up continuously, maybe even doubled this year that those are the expectations. Why? Because uranium is used in nuclear power plants. And more and more countries are getting away from coal power plants are shutting their coal ones down. And they're building nuclear plants. Only problem is there is a shortage of uranium. So uranium only comes in a few places. It doesn't come from everywhere, you can't mine it everywhere. It's only in a few countries and only in a few mines. And creating a new uranium mine takes millions of dollars and years of planning and research and development to actually get the uranium out of the ground. So right now there is a shortage of uranium. But the demand continues to explode. Pun intended, right. And so that is why your energy prices continue to go higher and higher and higher. Now, if you were companies starting to do a uranium mine, right now to take advantage of these higher prices is going to take you years before you get your money back. And before you even start mining. So the companies that are already there, they already have mines, they are making a killing. And they're making more and more money because their costs are staying relatively the same, but they're making more money when they sell their uranium because the prices continue to go up. Now you can go ahead and check to see a chart of uranium and see how it's going from the bottom left to the top right, and how it continues to grow. Now, if you look at some of the companies themselves, they're doing great as well. There are companies that do mining, they're also ETFs that can only focus on the uranium. Now normally, if you are looking at a miner versus the commodity, you will make more money on the miner than the commodity usually, because there's more Alpha there, there's it can grow faster. But the uranium utility or ETF are also going to be doing very well as well. You might even even get into the futures I haven't even checked to see if there are futures. But that might be an option to play as well. So why is uranium prices going up? Well, one of the reasons is because of the explosion in or not the explosion, but the demand for more nuclear power plants, right? For energy, because the world continues to need more and more energy and wind and solar are not getting the job done in terms of renewables, because of battery power problems. You can't store the energy, so they need a different source. Nuclear is one of the cleanest ones out there. I don't want to get into the politics of it, but it is very clean. And it's a very powerful source of energy. So we have a imbalance in supply and demand. Right. One of the largest mines of uranium is in the country of Kazakhstan. Now Kazakhstan puts a limit on how much uranium is allowed to be mined every year. And so, the main mind there, they announced a few months ago that they were only going to be able to produce about 90% of that limit, because of their own little internal problems. Recently, about a week or two ago, they announced that they're only going to be mining 80% of their prediction, and that chant that sent prices up even higher. And if you look at the price charts of some of these companies, you'll see, there was a big gap on that day. So these are companies and stocks that are not going to go up, you know, 500% in a year, like on the video, right, but they are slow and steady, and the train has not left the station, they've already gone up a lot, they've already more than doubled. But there's a lot more room to go. And that's why I think in 2024, uranium is going to be a very hot ticket. Now there are some ticker symbols that I want to give you. So you can take a look, put them up on your charts, see which ones you like, if you'd like them, great. If you don't, no worries, the first one is CCJ. Okay, this is probably the biggest company out there. It's a Canadian company. And it has mines all over the world. So this one, if you're looking for the biggest one, the more reliable one, I think this is the one that you can look at. Now, disclaimer, okay, I do not own any stock in any of these companies or ETFs. Neither does my hedge fund, okay. But we are trading CCJ, we're trading options on a we're selling naked puts on it as it goes up. So if we own it, we might own it. But I just want to give full disclaimer that yes, we are trading CCJ. Because this is a theme that I think is going to work for all of the whole year. And I'm sharing it with you to help you make some money off of it as well. And so, I think that CCJ is a good one another one is you are n m, okay, you are n m, the next one is DNN. The next one is LEU. The next one is UROY then you have an NXE, you have UEC you have UUUU this for us. And then the last one is URG. Now, do your own research. Look at these companies, see which ones you like if any, if you want, use your own judgment, talk to your financial advisor make an investment if you want. But I think this is a sector or a commodity that is going to do very well. As long as that supply demand balance stays out of balance. It could take two years, three years, four years for more uranium supply to come online. And as long as nothing happens to the demand of uranium, the price is going to continue to go up. So that's how it is. And even if these companies don't mind more, as long as price continues to increase of uranium, the stock price will go up as well. So it's not going to go as fast as you know, Eli Lilly did, but those stocks, the weight loss, the mega cap tech, and the AI boom, right? Those have run up so far so fast. It's kind of like I don't know if I want to get in here because they've gone up so far, there has to be a pullback, eventually there will be who knows when it's going to come. This train has left the station, but it's a slower moving trade, you could still make a lot of money. And it's investable, I believe, like now. So take that with a grain of salt trade with the odds in your favor. We'll see you around. Are you ready to get started with passive trading, and be a consistent and confident and profitable trader generating cash flow consistently from the stock market? Well, I have some great news for you. For a limited time we are offering my new book passive trading for free. All you got to do is go to passive trading.com/free book. And we will send you the book in the mail for free as long as you cover the postage and handling. So if you didn't cover that, we'll send you the book for free. We've already printed it, we got it for you. We're gonna send it out to you. It's free. All you got to do is just go to passive trading.com/free book and learn the basics of passive trading. Get the behind the scenes, get some examples, learn the strategies, and put this stuff to work in your life right now. Remember, go to passive trading.com/free book and get yours now while this offer is still available.
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to: https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
OptionGenius is turning 15 years old in February! As part of the celebration, we are releasing the audiobook of Passive Trading for free! If you would like to get the physical copy, head to https://passivetrading.com
Ryan Schaub
There's some good truth here!
Ryan Schaub
Excellent episode!
Charitie Nicholas
I loved this episode. I was a poker player before it seemed to disappear.
Michael Hennig
Hey al enjoy listening to your podcasts, only just started a week ago but you've uploaded ep28 for ep31
Dave Weaver
Love this podcast. Entertaining, educational and easy on eats. Learned a lot from it so far.