Is The Future Facebook?

As the Government prepares to announce what our immediate future is going to look like I thought I would share with you my thoughts on what our short to medium term lives may look like.

But first, the news! The news that you may see on TV but probably not…

A survey from the Institute for Supply Management [ISM] has painted a grim picture of the US economy; factory output has dropped to 2009 levels. The ISM Purchasing Managers’ Index has fallen to levels not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Employment in US factories is now at it lowest level since 1948. When economists start to use the word “miracle” – ie a miracle is needed to prevent the US recession becoming the Great Depression II you know things are bad.

This matters as the US is the world’s economic powerhouse and a country we are hoping to do a post BREXIT [aah – remember the happy days of BREXIT..?] trade deal.

Talking of BREXIT, our friends in the Euro Zone are in bad shape; the European Central Bank [ECB] President Christine Lagarde told the press

“The Euro area is facing an economic contraction of a magnitude and speed that are unprecedented in peacetime”

The longer this goes on the greater the pressure that – not just the ECB – but ALL central banks are under.

Car sales – or lack of – were in the news this morning; this years sales are 97% down on last year and this is naturally contributing to the oil price collapse as demand has fallen off a cliff.

Regular readers know of my feelings towards the media; owned by the 1% of the world’s wealthiest, it is the news NOT covered which supports my position. However when there is an opportunity to big up the system then this is grabbed with both hands.

The Express last Sunday, in its “money” pages carried a story concerning investors looking for “safe havens” as their pension funds go off the same cliff as the oil price. The author of the article blames COVID-19 for the 15% wipe out experienced by the average fund. Though I’m sure it’s a lot more than 15% the writer goes on to talk about PRODUCTS – solutions which are provided by INSURANCE COMPANIES.

Quotes from leading financial advisers follow regarding specialist Investment Trusts – 4 in particular which are designed to protect investors during times like these. All four have lost money and interestingly the numbers quoted are before investment fees – which are higher due to the perceived extra protection. Further, complex investment products are then covered and supported by an IFA who helpfully comments that demand has been growing…

The final pitch – take independent financial advice to ensure PRODUCTS are right for you…

I am sure, when you come to check your own losses you will see that there is no discount on your fees.

Here’s the really big revelation – you don’t need PRODUCTS to achieve your objectives. These products, first and foremost make a profit for the financial services industry. There is another way.

As promised – the positive bit now!

Do you remember what you were doing in August 2009? You might have been one of a relatively few people who bought a new currency at $0.03. You may have splashed out around £85 [$100] and secured 3,333 of these new “coins”. If you’d held on to them, today – with a value of $8,876 – you would be worth $29,586,666.

If, like me, you resisted the temptation in 2009 [and since] then the following might be of interest.

Before I start, this is something your financial adviser will try desperately to talk you out of. That’s the first good thing!

Facebook – love or hate the company, with 2.3 billion users worldwide I doubt they care too much! They have had a bad run of negative PR it is true and the authorities at large do not trust this massive organisation. I suspect they never will – especially now.

Though it has been delayed – for reasons I’ll give another time –  Facebook will launch its own unit of value, its own digital or crypto currency later this year. WHY?

Over one third of the world’s population are denied basic banking facilities. Imagine that. Think of the profit money transfer services make when “assisting” this huge number of unfortunate people. Facebook will target these people – around 2 billion – and provide digital financial services including their own digital currency LIBRA.

What the 1% are anxious about is the crash course 2.3 billion people are about to start in this digital medium which will expose the serious problems of traditional banking and “fiat” currency. This is a subject on its own for a future post but for now I will say this.

Bitcoin launched in the ashes of the last financial crash and is one of 5,000 digital currencies today. It launched at 3c against the $. No one knew what crypto currency was in 2009. Today, millions of people know about it, hold it and spend it.

LIBRA will launch in late 2020 and be priced similarly to Bitcoin at its genesis. Imagine what the demand of potentially 2.3 billion people will do to its price. The only thing that affects the value of crypto currency is demand. Can you see why financial advisers hate it?

Watch this space.