After seeing an upward trend in the markets over the past decade, you may be concerned that we’re at the top of the market cycle.  Many people are feeling the volatility and uncertainty.  How do economic factors direct your decision-making?  Should you stay in for the long haul and ride it out?

In today’s show, we address these concerns and show you how to not lose sleep and not lose money.

You’ll stop feeling the impending sense of crisis and be able to focus on building your wealth goals, regardless of the market, instead.

Table of contentsWhere Does Investing Fit into the Cash Flow System?Market CyclesCurrent Market EnvironmentAll-Time HighsVolatilityWhat's Ahead?How to Not Lose MoneyMaximize Safety and GuaranteesStart Creating Time and Money Freedom Today

Where Does Investing Fit into the Cash Flow System?

We’ve developed the 3-step Business Owner's Cash Flow System as your roadmap to go from just surviving, to a life of significance, purpose, and financial freedom.  The first stage is the foundation.  You first keep more of the money you make by fixing money leaks, becoming more efficient and profitable. Then, you protect your money with insurance and legal protection and Privatized Banking. Finally, you put your money to work, increasing your income with cash-flowing assets.

Investing is part of stage 3. It's here that you select an investing strategy that puts you in control.

Market Cycles

Just as there are healthy cycles in biology and farming, the market follows a cyclical pattern.

Wyckoff theory describes the four phases of the market cycle as accumulation, mark-up, distribution, and decline.

To profit, you would want to buy during the mark-up and sell at distribution. But that requires an intimate understanding to be able to predict exactly where where we are in the cycle.

You would also do well to understand the Austrian business cycle and how it impacts access to capital.

Current Market Environment

We’re now seeing all-time highs from a decade-long bull market, along with volatility.

All-Time Highs

Today, the S&P 500 trades at a cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE) of 31.2. There are only two times in history that the CAPE has been materially higher: the 1920s market bubble and the 1990s market bubble – both of which preceded not just stock market corrections, but full-blown bear markets.

https://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T052-C008-S001-is-a-stock-market-correction-in-the-cards.html

“Stocks are expensive by virtually any metric you want to use,” says John del Vecchio, noted short seller and co-manager of the AdvisorShares Ranger Equity Bear ETF (HDGE). “The price-to-sales ratio for the S&P 500 is higher today than during the 1990s dot-com mania. Price-to-book ratio, dividend yield, Tobin’s Q … Pick any of these broad market metrics, and they’ll tell you the same story. Stocks are priced to deliver lousy returns over the next decade.”

https://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T052-C008-S001-is-a-stock-market-correction-in-the-cards.html

Volatility

This CNBC article gives a good synopsis of the market and economic factors underlying the current volatility.

What's Ahead?

Who knows for sure?

While there’s no way to predict what the market will do in an exact future timeframe, the highs are usually followed by lows.

... the stock market will continue to be essentially what it always was in the past, a place where a big bull market is inevitably followed by a big bear market. For every "bull market" there MUST be a "bear market."

Ben Graham, father of the investment management profession, in 1959

A possible sign of the times, one of the strongest performing stocks of all time, General Electric, froze their pension in early October 2019.

“Returning GE to a position of strength has required us to make several difficult decisions, and today’s decision to freeze the pension is no exception,