Live Frugally & Stack The Cash

I suppose I'm a born contrarian - practicing a 19th century system of medicine that is widely ridiculed as my day job for example!

What are my financial predictions for next year? What assets are going to fly & which are going to burn? Obviously, I have no idea! You'll hear a lot of guff (does that translate into US English?) over the next few weeks. Financial pundits LOVE to make predictions for the coming year, it's tradition; and traditionally they get it totally wrong!

So my alternative financial angle is - I've no idea & neither does anyone else. UK property prices might fall (but I've been predicting this for 20 years & been dead wrong !), stock prices might fall (they are over-valued by historical standards), Bond prices might fall (they've had a 30 year bull market), Bitcoin might collapse when the US & Chinese governments outlaw the currency, Italy's & Germany's banks might collapse sending the Euro plunging. And on & on & on. I don't know, you don't know, they don't know. So what's a boy to do if he wishes to accumulate some capital? Live frugally & stack the cash of course!

Rather than try to predict, we can design a resilient financial position. Zero debt, a high saving rate, regular amounts going in to other assets such as stocks (using a Vanguard World Index fund with extremely low fees, or similar), Bitcoins, equity crowd funding, gold etc. This way you'll 'keep your powder dry' in a volatile world, you'll not be exposed to any financial risks & able to react to situations.

For example... a US frigate fires a warning shot at a Chinese aircraft carrier in the South China Sea, China retaliates & shoots down a US drone spying on a naval base near Taiwan....things are very tense, what happens to stocks? They PLUNGE in value (apart from Boeing et al)... hundreds of billions wiped off. You might be brave at this moment & buy a big chunk of an index fund. Three months later everything is calm again, the stocks rebound reaching new all-time-highs & you've made a nice profit. Only your frugal living & high savings rate allowed you to take advantage of that situation.