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THE BILLIONAIRE CONSPIRACY…

How about we crash the market by creating an incredible amount of uncertainty and financial stress? But it has to be more than cosmetic, so we get true buy-in from the Wall Street sheep. 

 After all, they will just get in line.

If the statistics show that 95% of the fund managers don’t beat the S&P 500 is right, this means they must be all drinking the same Kool-Aid, which also means they will follow the same playbook. 

The hedge funds and pension funds will unwind their positions based on downside risk algorithmic models. 

The sell-side will come out, and earnings estimates will be downgraded once the GDP reports come out, taking a hit into the negative zone. Perhaps, we will get Jay Powell to take his feet off the desk and pay attention.

On the corporate side, companies hit by tariffs and the slowdown in the consumer will be forced to adjust their guidance. Manufacturing employment will take a hit, and companies will be forced to lay off workers to protect their financials. 

Now, this all has to work in concert, and there has to be a momentum shift in the news that accelerates behavior. The narratives need to be clearly expressed so that we get a panic not just from Wall Street, but the average Joe on Main Street. 

Everyone has to feel this, so the noise has to be targeted and loud enough for people to hear it and deep enough to evoke a reaction from Jay Powell. Trump plans to shock and awe the financial markets both domestically and internationally with an on-and-off tariff approach to trade negotiations. 

But not to worry, we will make sure that it is far-reaching and material enough to slow down companies by interrupting the supply chain for at least nine months; this will create inflation and cause companies to lay off employees, pushing the unemployment rate towards 6%.

This will be long enough to get Jay Powell to the table, but not before we take the indexes down 20%+ and individual equities down 40% to 50% or more. This will trigger algorithms to sell, as companies are plunging through their 200-day support level in what will look and feel like a bear market. 

And just when the pain gets unbearable, Jay Powell and his band of governors will show up and start cutting. By this time, we will have taken billionaire-size bites out of the markets at the low. Once Jay Powell starts to cut rates, the markets will head higher making us billions more dollars—Ironically, just in time for Trump to pull all self-defeating tariffs and play nice with our trade partners, simultaneously stopping the war in Ukraine and maintaining the cease-fire in Israel, restoring world peace and returning international relations and commerce to a sense of normalcy.

So, effectively gentlemen we have a Fed and a Trump put in place to protect our downside risk, and an investment climate to create billions.

Now gentlemen, do this quietly and cleverly, so no fingerprints point directly to us.

While this is just a conspiratorial example—as we look at the market, the shocking similarities have to make even the dullest person question and scratch their head. 

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that Elon is following the same playbook he followed with Twitter, slashing expenses and reducing the staff by the thousands. 

The Department of Efficiency is trying to run the government like a hostile takeover, but could this all be a distraction from the ultimate goal?

One thing is for certain…Trump holds both the keys and the purse to the kingdom. 

So, it’s very unlikely he will leave the office less wealthy than he started so, be prepared for the biggest head fake of the century. 

THE BULLET PROOF FED…

It was widely believed that Trump was trying to crash the economy so that Jerome Powell would cut rates, bringing down both the Fed fund rate and the 10-year treasury. 

Although inflationary, this would have worked in Trump’s favor as the market does well during a Fed easing cycle and also just in time for the government to refinance its 9.2 trillion in debt coming due in 2025. 

Unfortunately, the Feds aren’t playing into Trump’s hands as they feel that the tariff shocks are transitory. 

The Feds feel it’s too early to decipher or know if we are experiencing tariff or non-tariff inflation. The Feds feel they are in a position to stand pat on rates and stay data-dependent unless issues become more persistent, in which case they will be ready to act. 

Furthermore, since they have reintroduced the word transitory back into the Fed conversation, this will make Wall Street skeptical as they missed the goalpost in 2021, which was the last time the word transitory was used.

In the Fed's defense, there is still excessive liquidity in the money supply and although they have reduced the 25-billion-dollar treasury bond roll-off by 20 billion to a 5 billion treasury roll-off cap, they are still participating in quantitative tightening—allowing mortgage-backed securities to roll off unchanged at a rate of 35 billion, which is still restrictive. 

Jerome made it a point that the underlying economy is still strong.   

So even though the Atlanta Fed has projected GDP would drop to negative 1.8% up from 2.1% predicting an economic slowdown, apparently none of this phases the Feds decision-making as it is mainly caused by the trade deficit. 

When asked if the recent market volatility was a concern, he stated yes, but a major factor was material changes to the overall economy that are persistent. In other words, tariffs aren’t seen by the Fed as a permanent impediment, and they are more focused on their dual mandate of stable pricing low unemployment, and 2% inflation. 

They mentioned that they are keeping a watchful eye out for the new administration’s focus on trade, immigration, and regulation.

They also projected a lower GDP growth of 1.7% in 2025 and 2% for the next two years, raising unemployment to estimates from 4.3% to 4.4% by the end of 2025, while increasing their inflation target from 2.5% to 2.7%.

The labor participation was strong, but they weren’t seeing a great amount of hiring or layoffs. 

Payrolls looked solid, averaging a solid 200k average over the last three months and lastly, they are predicting that they will hit their target of 2% inflation by 2027. 

Jerome Powell’s dovish view sent the markets higher, but with the backdrop of April 2nd being the day reciprocal tariffs go into effect, it will be difficult to find solid footing until the entire tariff conversation is put to bed…

YOU CAN’T EVEN AFFORD YOUR OWN HABITS…

If bad financial habits could kill immediately there would be a lot of dead people lying around in the streets. 

Car horns would be blaring, people would be slumped over their Bentley and Lamborghini truck steering wheels. People would be dying in the tracks of their Balenciaga sneakers, and houses would be burning down due to people dying while cooking in houses they couldn’t afford. 

It always amazed me how people would be willing to live and die by their choices, never truly understanding the consequences of their choices. If you look up the definition of choices it reads,

“an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.”

And then it shifts to the juxtaposition, “the choice between good and evil.” Your ability to define your choices will determine not only your financial path but your path in life itself. 

The consequences of our choices will be reflected in how we retire, the type of health we enjoy, and more importantly the results of our choices and how we think. Very often our relationships are a direct reflection of our good or bad experiences. 

In many cases, if we have a bad relationship, we tend to run away from the relationship instead of toward the lesson the relationship was meant to teach. 

The same can be said for investing during the Dot-com bubble—from 1995 to 2000. The Nasdaq index had increased five times its value and then crashed from a peak of 5048.62 on March 9, 2000, down to a low of 1139.90 on October 4, 2002. I remember walking into my office and reading a news article that read which company would be the next Cisco, Intel, or Microsoft—this was the beginning of the end.

The market would sink like the Titanic for two straight years giving the Nasdaq a 76.81% haircut that would take 15 years—from March 10, 2000, to April 23, 2015, to grow back. If you were an investor at that time, throwing money into the market immediately after the burst in 2000 would have been like tossing paper into a California brush fire. 

The entire market was on sale and growing cheaper by the day. But had you run away from the idea of investing you would have been severely burnt by the reality that you missed one of the best opportunities for building wealth in this lifetime.

Because as of March 9, 2019, you would have missed the 10th anniversary of what some are calling the longest bull run in market history. This is why I teach my leadership teams that it’s not about the “what” happened or what is happening, it’s more important to focus on the “why” or why it happened.

The “why” is so much more powerful. The “why” has many more teeth than the “what.” 

 For example:

Let’s say you keep having bad experiences in your romantic relationships.

Perhaps had you understood why the relationship went bad instead of running from the truth, perhaps repeating the same situation would not be a consequence as opposed to running from it and pointing the finger of blame away from the mirror.

Knowing why helps you identify what caused the relationship to end and what about yourself attracted you to the disaster in the first place. 

“What” only keeps you in denial because you only focus on what happened and how that person made you feel, which in most cases is an executive decision to remain selfish. Seeking the “why” in the “what” makes you feel a certain way, helps you take a deep dive and ask the tough questions.

Like, was it truly them or was I being selfish? Or even deeper…what about my past keeps me repeating in my present? As weird as this may sound, the same can be said about your financial life and your relationship with your money.

Have you ever wondered why you keep repeating the same financial cycle of destruction? And isn’t it time you adjust the bad financial habits in your life before they destroy any chance of you having the future you desire?

If you take a look around you at most of the people you see, no matter how well put together they may seem, they are one paycheck away from living on the street. 

According to an article released on bankrate.com, just 39% of Americans say they have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency room visit or car repair.

The scariest part is according to the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the tendency to have no emergency savings is highest among those aged between 53 and 62. 

So, if you have no savings at this age, ask yourself the question, how are you going to retire? 

Social security only pays approximately $2,200 to $3,700 monthly depending on the age you retire and even if you retire at 70 and achieve the highest payout, inflation and overall cost of living will destroy any hopes of a dignified retirement. 

This is why controlling bad spending habits is vitally important today because they have a direct impact on the quality of life you will have in your retirement stages. 

Many people keep trying to immolate lifestyles they can’t afford to impress people that they don’t even like or even worse who don’t like them. 

Peer pressure at any age is real and living life backward expecting a forward result is a real oxymoron at any level. Hanging around the wrong crowd will have you buying things you don’t need and doing things that are counterintuitive to the legacy you’ve always imagined building.

Like the unwise decision to eat and drink out every week and weekend spending on lavish dinners, trips, and luxuries consistently, instead of rallying around a good mind-bending book and learning how to increase your income instead of decreasing it as fast as you get it. 

According to Consensus.gov average annual household income in the U.S. was $80,610.00 in 2024. The average person spends a minimum of 12.9% of their monthly income on food and that’s both eating in and dining out. 

This equates to $1039.69 a month. Let’s say you stopped eating out and invested half of your monthly expenses (519.50). If you just achieved historical market returns of approximately 10.6% from the age of 21 to 55 over the next 34 years, you would have accumulated $1,950,280.16.

For that type of return perhaps it’s worth it to eat at home. 

While this return is attractive for some it is elusive to many who can’t control their habits or better yet their thirst for material things. 

For many, they will never see the light of this financial day because of one of my favorite simple little Wall Street phrases “Short-term pleasure brings long-term pain” and “You are the financial cancer that can’t afford yourself.”

DON’T BE THE BROKE FIFTH…

They say if you have four broke friends, chances are you will be the fifth and you will only get as far as your brain trust or talent pool. This is why it’s extremely important to audit your circle. 

Take a look at your circle’s educational achievements, level of influence, familial situation, and social standing. 

Simply ask yourself, do you admire the people in your closest circumference, are you inspired in a mental, spiritual, or physical way or are you tired and feel drained by the level of struggle, the lack of stimulating conversation, and life mismanagement skills?

Are you around whiners or winners?

The bottom line is…if you are the only one in your circle who knows how to figure it out, and build bridges or ladders depending on the size problem you have to overcome, that’s the equivalent to being the smartest person in the room and we all know this means you’re in the wrong room. 

Believer or not, your circle, your surroundings, and your relationships affect which level you will achieve success financially. 

It’s as simple as the law of the lid—you will never be able to get to a place you have never been without proper guidance. This is why it’s important to seek financial knowledge and have mentors. 

Think about it…when you were in school you had teachers; if you played sports, you had coaches. If you were blessed enough to have the right guidance, they poured into you and provided you with some of life’s most important ingredients, shaping how you see the world. 

But throughout all the guidance and instruction the one thing that most lacked was financial instruction for the way one should view money. 

So, if you subscribe to conventional wisdom you will go to school to get a good job, get married, have children, and squirrel away money for college for the children and your retirement. 

Chances are you or your circle were never taught to build multiple streams of income, so everyone most likely subscribes to the hours-for-dollar concept, which simply means you get paid an hourly wage for a task or job. 

If you want to make more money you have to throw more hours at it, but what happens when you are elderly and no longer at a stage where you are healthy enough to do so?

The promises of social security and the lack of investment knowledge or experience put you at odds of creating the retirement you want or leaving a legacy of slim to none. 

So, breaking away from the pack means rewiring your mind and the way to perceive your two most important commodities—the money you generate and the value of your time.

When it comes to your hard-earned dollars you must think of each dollar you earn as an individual person that has an earning potential. So, if you have a thousand dollars you have 1,000 individual money soldiers that are ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice to fight for a profit. 

Each dollar you generate should be measured, weighed, and attached to some sort of investment vehicle. 

For this to work you have to divorce yourself from bad influences and the materialism that enslaves your money and keeps it locked in the perception of value but in reality has no true value at all. 

Gucci, Prada, and Mercedes don’t increase in value or increase our personal value for that matter. We have just been brainwashed to think that by buying into these brands we are purchasing a lifestyle, and although we can’t truly afford it, we subscribe to the thought process that it’s better to fake it until we make it. 

I will challenge you with the thought that looking like a million bucks ain’t the same as having a million and unfortunately spending on an image and standing in line overnight for an iPhone is a grand theft and waste of time. 

Most of your earning years should be spent compounding the money you’ve earned with interest-paying investments. As referenced in my first book, “Who’s Your Daddy,” I am more partial to stocks than real estate because I have absolutely no interest in being a landlord, but they are both great investment vehicles. 

If you look at the historic value of the investment real estate averages—approximately 3% a year on your money as opposed to stocks at approximately 10% a year. In any case, it’s important that you look at your dollars as you’re recruiting a team of soldiers that will climb a wall or worry so you don’t have to. 

This way you will be able to enjoy the moments and not miss life living by the minutes dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum. For me there is nothing more important than fellowship and family so be careful not to fall to life’s distractions. 

Get your money a job so you can spend time around the people you love. For some, success is having great health and a loving family.

NO SUCH THING AS A STUPID BILLIONAIRE…

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a stupid billionaire, specifically Donald J. Trump. Now before you start grinding your teeth hear me out. By no means am I a fan, I am just a realist. 

Typically, the next generation squanders the money, but apparently, Donald has multiplied his fortune. Now I’m sure the emotional naysayers who continually miss the point—this isn’t political this is common sense and empirical fact.

They will point out that Donald Trump received money from his father Fred Trump. This argument speaks to the poverty mindset and reveals that their family had no succession plan. Shouldn’t a father and provider leave a head-start for their family and children?

The next argument will be that he filed for bankruptcy six times. While this is correct, they were all Chapter 11 bankruptcies, which are known as restructuring bankruptcies and in this case, they were filed to restructure debt.

To be clear, Chapter 11 will allow a company to stay in business while whiping away most of its debt, which is a business move most wouldn’t comprehend because he is playing above most people’s pay grade.

A bankruptcy court ultimately approves the corporate budget and plans to repay the remaining debt, and the shareholders lose much of their equity.

In July 1991, Trump filed bankruptcy on the Taj Mahal six months after opening due to the fact he defaulted on his bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin.

Trump manipulated the system six times apparently because even though he filed bankruptcy for his casino banks, investors allowed him to do it by funding him after each failure. 

So, if that’s not using the banking and investment community to his advantage, what is?  Trump filed for bankruptcy for the Trump Plaza Hotel in 1992, again—restructuring debt. A third time with the Trump Hotel and Casino Resorts in 2004 after accruing 1.8 billion in debt.

A fourth, fifth, and sixth time in 2009 with the Trump Plaza Casino, Trump Entertainment Resorts, and Trump Marina. While most would say this is a gross mismanagement of business finances, I would say he used the corporate system. 

He has since divested himself from all casinos and still owns a significant real estate portfolio today.

 His portfolio includes:

• Trump International Hotel DC

• Trump National Doral Hotel Miami 

• Trump International Hotel and Tower New York City (Trump Tower) 

• Mar-a-largo Palm Beach

 And 4 golf courses:

• Trump National Golf Club (Bedminster, New Jersey): A high-end golf club that has hosted major golf tournaments.

• Trump National Golf Club (Los Angeles, California): Another luxury golf course with club amenities.

• Trump Turnberry (Scotland): A well-known golf resort featuring championship courses.

• Trump International Golf Club (Palm Beach, Florida): A premier golf club located near Mar-a-Lago.

He also has an interest in various commercial properties through partnerships and investments. And while public perception is that he is a bad businessman he has never filed for bankruptcy personally. And by no means am I glorifying his achievements, I am simply stating a fact. There is no such thing as a stupid billionaire.

How else could you have manipulated Wall Street and the retail investors to value Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (DJT), a company that does 3.6 million dollars a year in revenue at a 4.46 billion dollar market cap, which is insanely overvalued?

While some may say he manipulates the system to get what he wants, I would say he is reading from the book of guidelines that allows this behavior, which is both genius and manipulative at the same time. 

As sporadic and psychotic as he may seem his mind is on his money. He created a Trump coin, again moving the decimal point for all his Trump fanboys. 

And lastly, his biggest feat was convincing the people to storm the capital and then convincing everyone that they didn’t see it came to Election Day, going down as a diabolical genius. 

If that’s a stupid person, then those who consider themselves smart need to take notes because he used every political muscle to keep his party under his thumb and they followed his marching orders in lockstep.

And while many disagree with his character, they can’t dispute his billion-dollar net worth. 

Quick Links…

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 Thank you for reading, we appreciate your feedback—sharing is caring

 Kevin Davis, Founder of Investment Dojo and Author of The C.R.E.A.M. Report