Nilus Mattive

Santa Barbara

Publisher of Easy Street Investing and Editor of Income Superstars

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Articles

Does the Big, Beautiful Bill Mean a ‘BBB’ for America?

1 week ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

This could be the tip of iceberg. In fact, my friend and colleague Sean Brodrick recently passed along this chart that shows credit markets are currently pricing in the possibility of the U.S. seeing its rating drop all the way down to BBB … which is barely “investment grade.” Click here to see full-sized image. It’s hard to ignore the possible irony of the Big Beautiful Bill resulting in U.S. bonds getting slapped with a BBB rating.
If you own this, you own the world itself.

3 weeks ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

In the early days, humans formed nomadic tribes of hunters and gatherers. But the minute they started cultivating crops and domesticating animals, land — specifically dirt rich in nutrients … under abundant sunshine … and located near a steady source of water — became the most valuable thing on planet earth. That remains true to this very day. If anything, arable farmland is only becoming scarcer. That’s because the global population keeps growing.
Wall Street’s Age-Old Wisdom Is Now Outdated

1 month ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

Source: CNBC. Click here to see full-sized image. Today, it makes less sense for two reasons. First, stocks and bonds have moved in tandem more often in the modern Fed-manipulated era, especially during times of heightened inflation expectations.
Don’t Get Paralyzed by This Market Action

1 month ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

They simply collect the minute they can, or at best, file at “full retirement age.”In my dad’s case, we went way deeper. First, I had him file and suspend his own benefits. Next, when my mom started collecting her benefits, I had Dad collect spousal benefits on her work record. Then, at age 70, he filed for his own (MUCH) higher, fully maxed-out benefit checks.
DXD: An Inverse ETF to Consider as Market Turmoil Strikes

1 month ago | moneyshow.com | Nilus Mattive

I probably don’t need to tell you that the stock market’s been getting hammered. Nor can I say I’m surprised. This is precisely the type of big drop I’ve been warning about for many months now. Consider Inverse ETFs like the ProShares UltraShort Dow30 ETF (DXD) for protection, writes Nilus Mattive, editor of Safe Money Report. In my opinion, there’s still more potential downside ahead.
Are You Worried the Market Could Fall Further?

2 months ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

So, I turned to a type of investment that had become available two years earlier — an inverse exchange-traded fund (ETF). You probably already know the basics about ETFs, including some of advantages they bring to the table. Inverse ETFs carry all those same advantages while allowing you to profit whenever a particular market or group of investments goes DOWN.
4 Wall Street Rip-offs

2 months ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

And in many cases, the advisers earning 1% a year are steering their clients into “house” funds … compounding the problems on top of each other. Which brings me to …No. 3: Paying for UnderperformanceMost actively managed funds are consistent underperformers. It would be one thing to pay for performance. In fact, you will often hear Wall Street describe its compensation structure this way …But the reality is that the majority of actively managed mutual funds (and ETFs) fail to beat their benchmarks.
Time to Decouple from the Dollar

2 months ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

It’s worth noting that the last time the dollar was extremely elevated — back in the 1980s, right where my chart above begins — the U.S. ultimately reached an agreement with trading partners in Europe and Japan to make a coordinated effort to weaken the dollar. That so-called “Plaza Accord,” which took place in September 1985, ended up being effective. In fact, by 1987 it had weakened the dollar so much that a new “Louvre Accord” was put in place to reverse the effects.
If You Aren’t Diversifying, You’re in Big Trouble

2 months ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

Click here to see full-sized image. Consumer staples, healthcare and utilities — which account for three of the top five — are typically the three-best performing sectors during recessions …Real estate would be a prime beneficiary of renewed inflation …And the financial services sector is expected to enjoy less regulation under President Trump. These are all points I have made before.
Readers Agree (and Disagree!) Over Social Security

2 months ago | weissratings.com | Nilus Mattive

That means someone like the person above could end up receiving a higher benefit because they appear to be a lower-wage worker even though they made substantial amounts of money that is outside the Social Security system. The WEP was designed to fix this problem. And as explained here, the GPO was put in place to address similar discrepancies regarding spousal benefits. Note that eliminating benefits for living beneficiaries as I suggested would take care of a lot of this as a byproduct anyway.