Editor’s note: With financial markets going haywire on a daily basis over Trump’s bi-polar policies, it’s time to bring in a true geopolitical expert to make sense of what’s really going on. And there’s no name bigger than today’s guest.
I’m Jim Rickards.
Fat Tail Investment Research invited me to share some insights on how to navigate and thrive in today’s chaotic markets.
And that’s something I don’t take lightly—because I’ve lived through chaos myself.
I’ve suffered two major financial setbacks in my life…
And I’m determined to pass on the lessons I learned from them — giving you the tools you need to achieve lasting peace of mind.
Because what happens to your money doesn’t just affect you, as I learned first-hand when I was 12 years old.
My father’s business collapsed. Then he was forced to declare bankruptcy. The bank foreclosed on our home and car. We had to move far away into my grandmother’s small cottage.
I slept on a porch that was badly insulated and quite cold in the winter. We had no money, no new clothes and went without food on some nights.
Luckily, I was smart enough to realise that education was my way out of poverty.
So I studied hard and got good grades, eventually attending Johns Hopkins University. Then I entered a joint program with the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington — earning an M.A. in International Economics.
Next came a degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia, followed by my first job as an international tax counsel for a major bank.
That job sent me around the world, gaining insights into foreign banking policies and practices…
As my experience and knowledge grew, I looked for new opportunities — becoming a regular fixture in Washington, DC.
In 1994, I decided to take my Wall Street and Washington experience to the hedge fund world… joining a company called Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM).
LTCM was huge, with ties to just about every bank and financial institution in the world.
Then its trading strategies went catastrophically wrong. It collapsed… threatening to take the global economy down with it.
Now, I was just a lawyer for LTCM, so I had nothing to do with the company’s trades. But like many, I had trusted the managers with my money…
Still, I worked tirelessly to negotiate LTCM’s bankruptcy. When it was all over, we had prevented a worldwide financial meltdown.
But I was out of a job — and 92% of my wealth had disappeared.
My search to understand what LTCM’s fund managers had done wrong led me to “complexity theory”… a branch of physics that uses limited information to predict complicated events.
So, I partnered with top names in the field to see if complexity theory could be used to predict capital markets, too.
My work eventually caught the attention of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
After the September 11 attacks, the CIA wanted to know if unusual stock market activity could predict terrorists’ next moves.
My experience in international finance and work with complexity theory made me a natural choice for the project.
That’s how I ended up as part of the team that pioneered a discipline called MARKINT, or market intelligence. It was a brand-new way of figuring out what was happening behind closed doors around the world.
But even today, I remain one of the few financial analysts applying complexity theory and MARKINT to forecast market behaviour.
That’s why no one else is warning you about the financial avalanches and hidden opportunities I see ahead.
You won’t hear about them from Wall Street. But you can hear about them from me.
Because my job isn’t just to analyse the system—it’s to help people like you navigate it. To make sure you and your loved ones are never blindsided by forces you don’t understand, as I was, twice.
And as long as I have a voice, you’ll have a guide.
So, keep an eye on your inbox. This week, I’m sending you one of the biggest opportunities I’ve ever uncovered – and you don’t want to miss it.
All the best,
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Jim Rickards,
Strategist, Strategic Intelligence Australia
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