Five Maps I’ve Always Loved

They don’t explain the world entirely, but they inspire and motivate me. [The Rude Awakening] April 14, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Five Maps I’ve Always Loved - In honor of the new Indiana Jones trailer, let’s look at maps. - Good cartography lends dimensions and boundaries to history. - Old maps mean old memories of journeys gone by. [Over 62 And Collect Social Security? Take Action Immediately!]( [James Altucher]( [If you’re over the age of 62 and currently collect Social Security, you need to prepare now](. Because Biden has given our country the worst inflation in decades – and many warn things will only get worse from here. Worse yet, the Social Security check you receive now may not keep pace with inflation… [Which is why, if you don’t act now, you could fall behind in the months ahead](. Is your retirement at immediate risk? [Click here now to get the simple, step-by-step actions to survive inflation](. [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Happy Friday from sunny but freezing Northern Italy! I’m drinking my latte macchiato - the largest coffee my friend Fabrizio sells at his cafe Civico Cinque - while pondering why a 21-year-old would post top-secret information online. I’m also wondering how a 21-year-old got within 100 clicks of top-secret information. But my civilian self, far removed from the US, isn’t the best person to comment on this matter. So on Monday, my good friend and colleague Byron King will write the Rude on this very subject. I’ve seen the rough draft, and it’s a doozy! But since it’s Friday, I thought I’d close the week with something a bit lighter than the usual goings-on. Next week will mark my second anniversary of writing the Rude. Writing for you has been a privilege, and I’ll continue to do it until Matt Insley shows me the door. Because you know so much about me, you may remember what a huge Indiana Jones fan I am. (Well, at least the first three movies, anyway!) You may also remember that my love of maps almost certainly came from those scenes when Indy was flying transcontinentally. [Nerdrotic]( (real name: Gary Buechler) shares my love of all things Indy, the next installment of the franchise notwithstanding. I laughed and thought about the good old days when I watched [his video showing the new Indy trailer](. I wanted to remember what maps I loved the most and had the most impact on me. I limited myself to five maps to ensure I couldn’t wander too much. So here are my five favorite maps… and why. The United States of America [SJN] Credit: [Geology.com]( “As an expatriate, how dare you?” As a kid growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s, there was nothing more beautiful than this map. It was on the weather forecast every night. It outlined America’s invincibility, mainly the oceans to the east and west and the bowing and scraping neighbors to the north and south. But the sheer size of the place is what blew me away. I remember asking my mother if I could take a gap year between high school and college to cycle across the country. “You’re going straight to college!” she screamed. Years later, I dated a girl from New Zealand who had done precisely that: cycled the entire 3,000 miles across. She said it was the adventure of her life. She also practically sang about how lovely Americans are. When she’d ask if she could set up a tent in a field to sleep for the night, nearly every American invited her to stay in their spare bedroom for the night… free of charge. That’s the America I want back! The USSR [pub] Credit: [vidiani.com]( Ah, the old enemy. This was another map I’d stare at in the 1980s, wondering what it was all about. Why were the Soviets bad? Why didn’t they want to be friends? As an American, I had everything I could want. A good home and family, a good school, good friends, and lots of toys. How could you not want that? And above all, if my country is so big, how friggin’ big was the USSR? Eleven time zones? What does that even mean? Things have changed since then, but the line between good and evil is blurred. It certainly didn’t feel that way back then. [America’s #1 Gold Expert Issues Urgent Buy Alert]( [Click here to learn more]( For the first time in a decade, gold is once again red-hot. - Global demand for gold soared 18% in 2022 to its highest level in over a decade. - Central banks bought a record 1,136 tons of gold in 2022, worth around $70 billion. - And M&A has begun to pick up in the gold mining sector at a significant pace. But you must hurry. The price of gold has just climbed past $2,000 an ounce. And America’s #1 gold expert says this is only the beginning of a much larger move. [To see just how high gold could run in the coming years – and how you can prepare today, even if you’ve never bought any gold before – click here now](. [Click Here To Learn More]( The Roman Empire [pub] Credit: [rodiagnusdei.wordpress.com]( The Roman Empire interests so many people to this day, and not just for its parallels to the American one today. I look at this map and see ancient power, a shared culture that exists to the day, good food, and warm weather. My happy place on planet Earth is from Tangier, up the Spanish Coast, through the South of France, down the Italian peninsula to Palermo, and through to Tunis. There are so many Roman ruins along that route; it’s astounding. Just scratch the surface of this part of Europe, and you’ll find Rome underneath. But my overarching question was always this: how could they march so far in sandals? The Hanseatic League [SJN] Credit: [r/MapPorn]( The Hanseatic League is one of history's most fantastic clubs. It was a commercial and defensive confederation of Northern Europe merchant guilds and market towns. The League dominated Baltic maritime trade for three centuries along the Northern Europe coasts in the late 1100s. It started to diminish in importance after 1450. The League protected the guilds' interests and privileges in their cities and countries and along the merchants' trade routes. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and operated their own armies for mutual protection and aid. I can see a system like this rise again in the age of decentralization. The South China Sea [SJN] Credit: [nationsonline.org]( Growing up, I had little interest in Asia. Even when I left England to move there, it was only supposed to be for two years. Then things happened. Pam and I were married at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 2011. Six years later, Micah was born in Hong Kong. We hid from the government-mandated private-sector shutdown in the Philippines from October 2018 until March 2022. So much of my life happened here, even I can’t believe it. But I lived here for thirteen years, so that’s to be expected. Between Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Angkor Wat and its impressive temples, Bangkok, Taipei, Manila, and Jakarta, I’ve had much fun. The only two countries on the above map I haven’t been to are Laos and Brunei. I’m sure one day I’ll remedy that. Wrap Up Today’s is a lighter Rude, for sure. But maps help get us our ball bearings and may take us places we’ve been before. They may inspire us to see places we haven’t seen yet. Maps also help us understand why things are the way they are. Geography plays a significant role in how the world works and how nation-states relate to each other. It’s one of those subjects that schools must teach more often, and we as adults ought to embrace it. Have a wonderful weekend! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening In Case You Missed It… Will The Almighty Dollar Disappear? [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Good Morning Reader, Happy Thursday from Northern Italy! Most economists agree that there’s an inverse relationship between women’s literacy and birth rates. Economists concluded that the more women read (and are educated), the less they want children. I’ve always thought that conclusion didn’t match reality. I believe that the more women can do the math, the less children they want (for lifestyle reasons). That is, numeracy, rather than literacy, drives the decision-making. There are loads of examples of career women who can afford – and have – more children. Sara Blakely, Victoria Beckham and Amy Coney Barrett come to mind. But this column isn’t about demographics. It’s about innumeracy, which we’ll define as incompetence with numbers. It’s what I think society’s big problem is. But instead of whining about the causes, symptoms, and cures of innumeracy, I’m going to give you a few rules of thumb. You can use them to see if your decision-making changes. For my part, these simple equations and rules gave me a target. Specifically, I knew how far ahead or behind I was, and how far I had to go to reach my goal. I won’t bombard you today, as I think the fewer and the simpler, the better. So let’s start with five simple rules to see if they change how you think. [America’s #1 Gold Expert Issues Urgent Buy Alert]( [Click here to learn more]( For the first time in a decade, gold is once again red-hot. - Global demand for gold soared 18% in 2022 to its highest level in over a decade. - Central banks bought a record 1,136 tons of gold in 2022, worth around $70 billion. - And M&A has begun to pick up in the gold mining sector at a significant pace. But you must hurry. The price of gold has just climbed past $2,000 an ounce. And America’s #1 gold expert says this is only the beginning of a much larger move. [To see just how high gold could run in the coming years – and how you can prepare today, even if you’ve never bought any gold before – click here now](. [Click Here To Learn More]( The Rule of 72 The Rule of 72 is one you’ve probably heard of. And you might be wondering why I’d even include such a rule. Well, let me first state the rule and then we’ll talk about how to use it. For most people, the Rule of 72 tells them how long it will take to double their money if it’s invested at a constant rate of return. For example, if you’re earning 10% per year on your portfolio, it’ll take 72/10, or 7.2 years to double your portfolio. If you wanted to back out the math, let’s assume you had a $100,000 portfolio. $100,000.00 x (1 + 0.10) ^ 7.2 = $198,622 The Rule of 72 isn’t perfect. But near enough is good enough in this case. If you’ve got a superstar financial advisor earning you 20% per year, then it’ll only take 3.6 years to double your portfolio. Now, let’s use this rule to look at inflation… something Sleepy Joe doesn’t want you to do. Historically, central banks have tried to keep interest rates around 2%. That meant a currency lost half its purchasing power in 72/2 or 36 years. You’d barely notice the loss in purchasing power, as it’d take so long to rear its ugly head. You’d probably go to the grocery store and wonder why eggs are “suddenly” double what they used to cost in 1983. We’ve all done something like that, haven’t we? But with inflation hitting 10% as it recently has, a currency loses half its value in only 72/10 or 7.2 years. Realistically speaking, let’s say Chairman Pow comes out and says, “We’d love rates to go back down to 2%, but that’s just not realistic. We’re now happy with a 4% target.” In that case, the dollar would lose half its purchasing power in 72/4 or 18 years. If you think eggs are expensive now, just you wait until 2041! The Rule of 72 is not only a great way to look at returns, but also at purchasing power erosion. Net Worth Indicator This is a great targeting mechanism, and one I’ve regrettably only just found. It’s from The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. Multiply your age times your realized pretax annual household income from all sources except inheritances. Divide by ten. This, less any inherited wealth, is what your net worth should be. If you hit this number, you’re an AAW, or average accumulator of wealth. According to the authors, to be considered a PAW, or prodigious accumulator of wealth, you “should” have at least twice this number. What I like about this indicator is that it’s simple to calculate. And it gives you a target. Full disclosure, I’m a UAW, which is an under-accumulator of wealth. But I won’t use this number to feel bad. What I choose to do is to think bigger and get better results. If you’re unhappy with what this number tells you, I suggest you do the same. The 50-30-20 Rule Tweaked This is a great way to allocate your monthly paycheck. And it’s super-simple: - 50% of your income goes to paying your “needs.” These include rent or mortgage payments, car payments, groceries, insurance, health care, minimum debt payment, and utilities. - 30% of your income goes to paying down your debt. Once that’s done, this becomes discretionary entertainment expenses.* - 20% of your income goes to future investment. *In the original formulation, 30% go to your “wants.” That’s fine, but I think paying down your debt to zero takes priority. I couldn’t believe how fast my debt disappeared. It took about six to twelve months. But it was gone and gone for good. I’ve run a monthly credit card balance maybe once or twice in the last twenty years. And it’s thanks to this little system. 3x Rule for Buying a House Another one I love and that would keep many a rich people out of trouble, let alone those of lesser means. Never spend more than three times your gross annual income on a house. I’m in the process of buying a house right now and I’m well within this rule. My down payment is ready and won’t empty my account, and my monthly payments are easily manageable. Far too many people only calculate what their monthly payments would be at the current rate of their mortgage. But if you’ve got an adjustable-rate mortgage, that could easily end in tears. There’s no need to overpay for a McMansion. The Normal Distribution (Bell Curve) Finally, we get to simple probabilities. [chart] Again, this is just a rule of thumb. Nothing in finance is “normal.” But this can help you distinguish investing realism from fantasy. Let’s do an example. Let’s say Stock ABC has earned on average 10% per year. But it’s accomplished that with a standard deviation around that 5% average of 2%. If we assume normal returns – a dangerous thing in finance, but we do it all the time – then ABC has a 68% chance of returning between 3% and 7%. It has a 95.6% chance of returning between 1% and 9%. And it has a 99.7% chance of returning between -1% and 11%. Here’s the thing, though: it certainly can crash far below a -1% return. And it may moonshot 45% on the FDA approving its new drug. But the probability of either of those scenarios happening is very low. Knowing this distribution is incredibly important for setting your expectations as an investor, and for also gauging what the market thinks of your potential investment. If you can adjust your thinking to being more probabilistic, you’ll be shocked at how different the world looks. Wrap Up The absolute last thing I wanted to do was to patronize you. But I also don’t want to assume you know things you may not know. So I hope, at the very worst, this was just a refresher of things you may have put on the backburner. But if there is a lot of new material here, I can’t encourage enough to deploy this new knowledge as early and as often as you can. If this is the sort of thing you’d like to see more of, please let me know [here](mailto:feedback@dailyreckoning.com). And if you found this the least bit unhelpful, do let me know that as well. Have a wonderful rest of your week! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Contributing Editor, The Morning Reckoning feedback@dailyreckoning.com [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. 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