Total System Freedom: System newsletters

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Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Moscow, Russia 2017 | 35mm film

Control Your Day

Shernon Hague — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 04:49:38 GMT

I tend to be very hard on myself if I waste time during the day.

If I decide to ride my motorcycle to a destination far away but realise it would have been much easier and more productive if I took a taxi and completed some tasks on my laptop during the commute, I might be a bit annoyed at myself for making this decision.

When you control your own time and you are not an employee of a company— it requires the implementation of disciplined mindfulness, cost-benefit analysis, experimentation and implementing self-imposed rules to structure your day and ensure you are making progress.

You will find yourself becoming hyper-aware of how you spend your time, and of time spent that you may be wasting.

Even if you have the financial means to spend your days however you feel, which could be living every day as a leisure day— chances are, you are going to want to feel productive in some way and have some kind of project you want to work on.

You may have heard this rhetoric from successful entrepreneurs that have built wealth— they get very bored of sitting on a beach and sipping cocktails after about three weeks.

Speaking as a man, I understand that we are generally viewed as useless and relatively disposable unless we are actively producing something for society. Whether it be building things by contributing labour or providing goods and services.

This reality is perfectly fine, males are hard-wired to produce and it is why skyscrapers exist, but perhaps this concept is not broadly understood or accepted.

Therefore, it is essential to implement a vision for your life, even if you are retired and financially self-sufficient.

You need purpose in your life. With that comes the need to control your day in a way thats moves you toward your vision— whatever that may be.

The Balance Of Leisure And Work

Maintaining an optimal balance of leisure and work seems to be an eternal battle.

As a free person with agency who controls your own time, you will be constantly analysing and adjusting how you spend the hours of your day.

You need both meaningful rest and you need to combat entropy by moving forward on a project or task that will get you closer to achieving your entrepreneurial or creative goals.

How you balance these two things will determine your level of contentment and progress.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember as you progress through your day and journey of self-actualisation is to be aware of your being, character and virtue.

Develop a personal code of ethics, distinguish between what is right and wrong and as you progress through your day you will have a higher chance on having a positive effect on the people you encounter.

So how do you go about your day?

You can check out the book Daily Rituals to get an idea of how famously productive artists went about their day.

You need to incorporate work and rest throughout your day. How and when you do that will be different for everyone.

Meaningful rest is where your mind can enter the default mode network and ideas have the ability to manifest.

Your daily work hours will be where you turn these ideas into reality. Usually via building projects and completing mechanical or creative tasks.

If you are still an employee of a business, it is helpful to be mindful of this psychological transition you will have to make when you eventually become a master of your own time.

If you miss the ‘busyness’ of being an employee you will need to channel that energy into creating a lifestyle and daily routine that will serve a new vision for your life and society.

A vision that ideally you create for yourself— rather than one that has been influenced by external forces and expectations.

There is nothing inherently wrong with being an employee with a specialised skill set. You just have to realise that mainstream educational and governmental institutions want you to be this way.

You will increase your options in life if you pursue the path of a renaissance man or woman and develop broad knowledge and skills.

As you progress through your day, be conscious of how you dress and how you want to present yourself. Show respect to the people around you— aspire to be present and elegant in discourse and movement.

Structure And Elements

Work hours can include learning, building and creating.

Think of learning as acquiring the information needed to complete mechanical tasks for a project (building), and to fuel the act of creativity (writing, composing music, creating visual art, developing products, design).

You can segment these three elements into work blocks and you can track your time spent working on each if it helps.

If you need to write to fulfil your entrepreneurial goals, try allocating a certain amount of time in the morning or afternoon dedicated solely to the action of writing.

Prepare your favourite coffee, get comfortable and orient your life logistically so that it removes friction from being able to write freely and creatively.

Write at home, a cafe or a co-working space but give yourself enough time to make progress.

Set aside time during the day to complete mechanical tasks such as building a business website for a specific project or administrative tasks.

A focussed learning block can include tasks such as completing a course or reading specific material that will help you move toward a goal.

If you need a break during your work day and if you suffer from falling into social media doom-scrolling black holes— try going for a walk.

Before going to sleep at night, you can write a journal entry in a physical notebook to analyse how you spend your time during the day and how you could improve it the next day.

Outline the tasks that you want to complete the following day.

This will help organise thoughts in your brain and allow it to discover solutions to problems during your sleep, thereby better preparing you for the next day.

Somehow this process just works and I have experienced immense benefit from it.

When you work toward a goal, you will be feel disappointment with yourself and enter a malaise if you veer off course.

Recognise this as psychological entropy doing its thing. Take the time to re-align and re-focus with purposeful rest.

The Art Of Rest

You only have so much energy during your day.

Once you have completed your work tasks for the day, allow yourself to rest and replenish your creative energy.

Attempt to fill the remainder of your day with aligned restful activities.

This could be listening to an album of music, consuming interesting content, reading a book, enjoying a nice meal, playing tennis, enjoying a nice alcoholic drink, enjoying a cigar with friends or going for a walk.

Whatever floats your boat.

Some of your restful activities should allow your mind to enter the default mode network. A large scale brain network— active when one is not focused on the outside world.

In this state your brain is at wakeful rest and you can enter a state of contemplation and idea generation.

Sleep well and hopefully you will wake up excited and motivated to experience the day ahead.

Embrace

If you have the opportunity to live an international lifestyle and control your day, you can choose to learn, build and create.

You can direct energy into becoming a renaissance man or woman— a man that knows a lot about many things and can also do many things, has a broad range of experiences and has cultivated a moral basis for their life.

You will need to embrace constant experimentation and experiencing failure if you decide to adopt this lifestyle.

But hey, if you are an older person that is satisfied with your life and achievements, why not just live every day as leisure day.

The choice is yours and that is the beauty of it.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Kyoto, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

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Leaving Your Home Country- How To Choose Your Optimal Geographical Location

Shernon Hague — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 05:24:12 GMT

Let’s face it, if you are reading this from a Western country your country has most likely turned into a communo-fascist hell-hole or is already on the slippery slope towards it.

Harsh words that I wish weren’t true. Western civilisation has been great and has created much prosperity for many, so it is incredibly sad to witness what has happened.

The increase in coercion, violence and extortion coming from the state has been steadily increasing.

If you don’t think this is true, consider that in one legacy Western country 12,000+ individuals are arrested annually and many imprisoned because of a post they made on a social media platform. This has happened in a country where the king goes by the name of Charles.

Let that that sink in for a couple of minutes.

This publication has its own bias towards valuing personal freedom and if you enjoy these letters I can assume you likely have similar values.

Which means you have a problem where that living in your Western country has become untenable and imminently dangerous to your wellbeing.

I advocate for going where you are treated best.

As your environment directly determines your quality of life.

Humans are goal striving beings.

Setting goals gives an individual focus and purpose.

Without goals entropy wreaks havoc.

If you can increase the rate of progress towards your goals away from your home country then it makes logical sense to explore a path that enables you to do so. It will only get harder to do this in the West.

But what country is the best country for you to re-locate to? It is a very big decision that requires careful consideration of multiple factors.

As someone who has managed to remove myself from one of these Western countries and have improved my life in the process, I will attempt to pass on what I have learned.

There are several important elements that you need to consider in making your decision which I will cover in this letter.

This prescription is targeted to the person who wants to establish a base or multiple bases internationally, as opposed to someone who wants to be a fully fledged digital nomad— to travel the world on short-term tourist visas.

You Need To Create Cash Flow

The most important thing that you need is location independent cash flow that will cover basic living expenses and allow you to re-locate.

I won’t go over business models or how to generate income through investments and trading in this letter, but I want to emphasise its importance. $2000 USD per month will currently afford you a high quality of life in South-East Asia.

You can get by on $1000 USD and you will still live pretty well. You will eat healthy good food and you will be able to rent a secure and comfortable abode, but luxuries will be limited.

These numbers will change in time due to consumer price fluctuation.

You need to do the math and currency conversions for your destination of choice.

Being able to generate enough income to live on through investment returns should be the goal in my opinion.

Entrepreneurship should be prioritised as opposed to being an employee.

You should ideally not be reliant on any state pension scheme that pays you in constantly devaluing fiat currency— paid to you by broke governments that rely on increased extortion to ensure future payments.

There is real risk that these payments could stop getting paid to you at any moment, or that you find that what they pay you will buy you less and less in time.

This is the concept of real versus nominal returns, where if the rate of consumer price increases are larger than the increase in your pension payments— you will lose purchasing power.

You need to take radical personal responsibility when it comes to entrepreneurship, investing and self-actualisation— you need to develop confidence in your ability to build your wealth and become self-sufficient.

Your self-education on these topics and the implementation of action steps is vital.

Check out the book ‘The Preparation’ if you are a beginner on this journey.

Visa, Residency or Citizenship Acquisition

Before you choose a country you need to make sure that you are able to live there long-term before proceeding and doing further research.

Each country has their own options for long-term stays that you need to be able to meet the qualifications for to apply.

You need either a long-term visa, permanent residency or citizenship.

Any visa that gives you a path to citizenship is great.

Some visas will require you deposit money in a local bank account or buy local real estate so you need to consider the cost involved.

You can also be more nomadic and stay in three different countries within a year to avoid triggering tax obligations, which seem to generally be triggered when you stay in one country for more than 180 days per year.

Optimise For Personal Freedom

You want to choose a country where religion and political structure ideally have zero to minimal effect on how you desire to live your life.

For me, there are only two real guidelines or natural laws that need to exist within a society to create harmony and prosperity. This philosophy I learned and adopted from Doug Casey.

Do all that you say you are going to do (fulfil contracts and obligations).
Do not aggress against other people or their property.

If you can live in a country where its laws are minimised towards maintaining these two ethical principles you will have more personal freedom.

Although in this world you will have to compromise— you will have to choose from countries that have varying political structures— monarchism, totalitarian communism, communo-fascism, democratic republics, crony-capitalism/socialism and so forth.

Individuals within these types of structures will attempt to control and manage the capitalist exchange of goods and services in a fashion that suits their agenda to varying degrees.

More free-market capitalism is optimal.

Zero to minimal taxation is optimal.

I would personally choose to live under a benevolent monarchy over a corrupt democracy. As royals do not not need to promise ‘free’ stuff to the populace as they don’t need your vote.

This can go horribly wrong of course as benevolence may turn into malevolence.

You will need to choose wisely which type of political structure you live within.

This is my recommendation, although in the spirit of Total System Freedom it is completely up to the individual when considering the level of personal freedom that you desire.

Optimise For A Respectful Culture

I personally value respect very highly.

My tolerance for disrespect is very low and I will always attempt to remove myself from environments that I deem to be disrespectful.

Having experienced life in Thailand for a while now I have experienced the hugely positive effect of living within an ancient culture that prioritises respect.

The energy that it creates fuels all aspects of life here. Including making it very safe and high trust.

I feel welcome in Thailand as a foreigner and I do not feel welcome in my home country as a citizen.

If you live within a respectful culture, it feeds everything in your day to day life and it improves it.

Choosing Your Country

This is mostly a subjective decision of personal preference but there are universal factors that make some countries more optimal for every individual. Such as being somewhere where the chances of being forcefully conscripted to fight in a war is low.

If you hold your wealth in precious metals or in a relatively strong fiat currency, I recommend going to a country where the purchasing power of your currency increases relative to the cost of living when exchanged for the local currency.

This is called ‘geo-arbitrage’ and it will increase your quality of life and reduce stress more than anything else.

Geo-arbitrage is ideal for someone still building their wealth but if you have already built your wealth then you can simply choose a location based on access to visas, personal freedom, culture, access to goods and services, climate and lifestyle.

If you want to live off-grid in the countryside, choose a country where you can own land, grow food and keep animals.

If you want to live by the beach, river, lake or mountains consider access to amenities, infrastructure and the climate.

If you like cities, consider choosing a city with the following attributes.

High quality transportation infrastructure
Vibrant energy and vibrant nightlife, ‘has a buzz’.
You find potential local romantic partners attractive, friendly and respectful
You have access to a large variety of high quality goods and services
Low relative pollution
Preferential weather
You feel free and safe when you are there

I have lived off-grid, by the beach and in the heart of major cities. I currently choose to live in a major city because of the increased access to goods and services.

The following countries are countries that I think represent good opportunities in the future.

Countries that could possibly withstand a global economic shitstorm, hyperinflation, world wars and prolonged recession and will probably come out of it ok.

Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, U.A.E, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama and Cayman Islands.

I am not an expert in this space but these are countries that I personally think could be good options and that give me a good energy. I have only visited four of these countries at this point.

Choosing a country with a relatively young population which can fuel GDP growth is a major factor that you may want to consider.

Cambodia is an example of a country that has had recent consistent increases in GDP per capita.

It is worth noting that economic and debt problems are a global problem, this means that there are not many good options generally and you will have to compromise in some way.

Europe is the continent that I would avoid at all costs. Problems including large debt, constraints on access to energy, decreasing safety and increasing animosity between citizens and politicians seem to be problems that will only get worse in the near future.

This is not personal advice but it could be a good starting point for you to research options if you don’t have much of an idea of where you want to go.

Obtaining multiple residencies and citizenships in order to diversify geographical and political risk, is preferential and essential if you have the capital available to obtain them.

Financial Structures & Protection

When you leave your country it is good to prepare yourself to become a non-tax resident if you do not plan to return.

This involves things like selling properties and eventually closing bank accounts and brokerage accounts.

Consider the process of renouncing your citizenship of your home country if it helps you. You need to hold an alternative citizenship if you decide to do so.

It is common for Americans to renounce citizenship as you are taxed as a citizen regardless of anywhere you live in the world.

Open multiple bank accounts and brokerage accounts in multiple countries to reduce banking risk and increase access to different markets for investment.

If you have a business or hold assets, consider zero or low tax countries that will allow you to register a business or set up a holding company or a trust. Registering a company may also give you the ability to obtain a visa to stay in the country long term.

Consider storing precious metals in international vaults and open multi-currency accounts that provide debit cards and good exchange rates such as Wise.

Consider obtaining travel health insurance in the case of medical issues arising. Medical care may be affordable enough in some countries where you can just pay out of pocket when you need to.

Some Western countries have already entered into ‘tax scavenge mode’, in where they are so broke that their only option is to come after more and more of your hard earned capital.

They will not hesitate to increase and invent new taxes to extract more from you, so you need to position accordingly.

If you need help, there are many companies that can help you with obtaining residencies, citizenships and setting up companies and financial structures in your country of choice.

Take Action

If you have been thinking about escaping your Western country agency is required more than anything.

Set required goals and complete tasks that will move you towards your goal.

Design your days so you can move with speed, flow and efficiency.

Analyse everything that you do during your day.

Determine that if you were to keep doing a particular thing, is it going to move you towards your goal of leaving or keep you where you already are?

Do you want to remain in an indebted Western country and deal with a probable global debt based collapse of fiat currencies, assets and living standards?

Or do you want to go where you are treated best?

Choose wisely my friends.

I hope this letter has been of some help.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Tokyo, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

A New Approach To Materialism

Shernon Hague — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 05:45:40 GMT

Material possessions are extremely important.

If you have the view that strategically acquiring material possessions is a positive thing, you are on the right path.

If you have a negative view of acquiring physical possessions, then I hope this letter will offer another perspective.

I will preface this letter by saying that the cultural materialism I advocate for is for those who desire to live a nomadic entrepreneurial lifestyle.

This is the lifestyle that I advocate for in the Total System Freedom community.

It is not written for people that are happy to be anchored to one physical location, are happy to be an employee in a job they don’t like or are not looking to self-actualise, although the ideas can be applicable to anyone.

In this letter, I reference materialism in a cultural context relating to material possessions. Rather than the philosophical or scientific contexts of the term, which are quite different.

Perhaps the concept of ‘buying things’ is somewhat common sense and doesn’t need to be talked about.

If you adopt a purposeful and conscious approach to ‘buying things’ that aligns with your vision for your life, then I believe it is quite a different concept that should be explored in-depth.

In this letter I will take an uncommon approach and offer a unique perspective.

Mindset

The journey starts with assessing your mindset and how it has been shaped.

The portrayal of ‘materialism’ in mainstream society is generally negative.

The connection people have to the word conjures images of someone buying consumer products in order to make themselves feel better, or to try and elevate their status.

Status is important but If you routinely buy things for a dopamine hit to numb pain, this is bad.

If you use materialism to achieve your goals and move you towards your vision, this is good.

As a matter of priority and importance, you should develop a clear vision for your life before you begin the journey of mindfully curating your material possessions and personal effects.

When you set clear goals in life, your mind will now be programmed to notice anything that will aid you in achieving these goals.

If you set a new goal to become an entrepreneur, you will walk past an Apple store and notice the elegant computers, tablets and smartphones with a fresh lens.

If you were to own one, you can now envision the productivity gains and increased speed at which you can build out your business, produce content and self-educate.

Your mind will re-orient and your computer won’t be seen as an entertainment device, but rather as a productivity tool.

If you set the goal of becoming a nomadic entrepreneur, you will now see all the crap you may have acquired over the years as a problem.

Your mind is a programmable goal-striving machine.

A cybernetic system that you need to be aware of.

Be aware of its existence as a system and of the inputs that you feed it.

By setting clear goals and developing a vision for your life, a newly developed approach to materialism will produce better outcomes for you spiritually and financially.

If you adopt an aligned approach to the curation of your physical possessions, your quality of life and personal freedom will increase.

Our possessions can greatly improve the quality of our lives and we should embrace it.

Being able to purchase a wide variety of these goods is a direct indicator of a prosperous society.

The more goods you can buy the better.

I am very happy that Steve Jobs the founder of Apple did what he did.

I can write this letter on one of his computers, which is an incredible piece of technology that was born from the material world and from materialistic pursuits.

It was born from the entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to improve the world, which is great thing.

Become A Modern Renaissance Man

In this rapidly changing world, you need to become a modern international renaissance man.

You need to become a deep generalist, embrace skill and knowledge acquisition and develop a foundational economic understanding of the world.

This applies to women also, the word ‘man’ in this context can be understood as shorthand for the word ‘human’.

To become this man, the possessions you acquire will play a vital role in how you navigate and move about in the world.

They can make you money, protect your body, allow you to communicate freely, allow you to travel and can be tools of self expression, artistry and creativity.

Focus on aesthetics, design and functionality.

Focus on minimalism in physicality and design.

Focus on modularity as viewing your items as interchangeable and interconnected will help with packing efficiency and speed.

This will afford you more time to pursue your goals.

Create two goals to strive for when acquiring possessions. Quality and minimalism.

Perhaps you could call it ‘minimal aesthetic quality materialism’.

Strike a balance between seeking the highest quality and between acquiring the least amount of possessions that take up the least amount of space in your carriers, luggage and your abode.

You want to make travelling as easy as possible.

In the future world, being able to travel freely and move quickly grants you the ability to escape any unpleasant situations in your current location in a timely manner.

For example, owning a motorcycle enables you to not rely on others for transport, you can cross land borders more easily, and in contrast to owning a car it gives you the ability to put your motorcycle on a train or boat if roads are blocked.

A motorcycle will afford you optionality and increase your personal freedom, as you will use it for leisure, day to day commuting and as a freedom tool.

This is the mental approach that you need to adopt.

Optimise you carry-on luggage for air travel so you have everything you need in your carry-on.

This eliminates the counter-party risk of having checked luggage.

When you have checked luggage there can be problems. It may not make the transfer to a connecting flight, it might be delayed or it may be lost altogether.

Embrace the idea of paying more for quality and for new items where you know the history of the item.

Take pride in the ownership of the possessions that you have carefully researched, selected and curated.

Create a maintenance routine to keep your possessions in the best condition. For example cleaning your laptop, tablets and smartphone with rubbing alcohol and a microfibre cloth or applying leather conditioning to your leather luggage.

Recommend quality products that you own to people you know, so the business that improved your life will also benefit in a virtuous economic circle that will improve quality of life of others.

When ridding yourself of material possessions, consider the return on investment of the time taken to sell the items versus the time you would save by just throwing them out.

The International Escape Briefcase

This is a fun one.

Earlier this year there was an earthquake in Bangkok where I live.

I missed the earthquake by one day. I was in Vietnam and I was due to travel back to Bangkok the day after the earthquake.

Many people had a very frightening experience as they were running down the stairwells of their tall condominium complexes thinking the building may collapse at any moment.

In these situations you don’t have time, so preparing a briefcase of important effects beforehand to grab quickly would help.

In this briefcase include your passport/s, birth certificate, other important documents, precious metals and jewellery (more gold than silver is ideal as silver can get heavy), multiple stacks of currencies in cash for desirable nearby countries, physical maps, small toiletry kit, additional set of every day carry items (EDC - flashlight, compass, watch, earphones, pen, notebook, charger, backup phone, backup tablet, backup laptop).

Anything that could set you up in a neighbouring country quickly and efficiently.

It is very spy movie so have some fun with it and be creative.

Personal Effects & Carrier Optimisation

Have two sets of particular items.

One for home and one for being on the road.

This would include toiletries, coffee kits, device chargers, cables, electronic accessories and computers.

If you decide you want to travel to a new place after having your morning coffee, you can quickly pack your carrier and get out the door quickly.

You won’t have to pack up your bathroom or your chargers and cables as everything will be packed already. Just add your clothes and you are good to go.

If you have the means, owning a desktop computer for your home and a laptop for travel is ideal.

This approach vastly reduces the time you spend packing and allows for quicker spontaneous travel.

I recommend MUJI pen cases for storing your electronic accessories as they have many different compartments that seem to fit everything perfectly.

Think modular as your multiple storage packs will fit much better into your carriers if they are all the same size.

When choosing your personal effects and carriers it is very much up to personal preference.

Use this as an opportunity to indulge your materialistic desires and express your personal style and aesthetic preference.

Your personal effects and everyday carry items should be minimal with a focus on design, aesthetics and functionality.

These items include smartphones, wallets, watches, lighters, flashlights, pens, notepads and multi tools.

Your carriers include backpacks, duffel bags, wheeled luggage, shoulder bags and camera bags.

I personally like leather backpacks, duffel bags, shoulder bags and luggage from a company called Trip machine as it can be attached to my motorcycle.

Think about multiple use cases and scenarios for the carriers that you buy.

Is it weather resistant or can I protect it from rain? Can it be attached to a motorcycle?

I suggest considering roll top backpacks instead of zipped backpacks because zips constantly break.

There are endless features to consider so assess what items you have at the moment and consider if you can improve on what you already have.

Type ‘everyday carry’ into the Youtube search bar and go down the rabbit hole of EDC optimisation.

There are many great creators there that review great products and make recommendations.

When it comes to clothes you can adopt the same approach of considering aesthetics, design and functionality while adopting a ‘minimal aesthetic quality materialism’ frame.

Categories Of Possessions

You want to keep this simple.

Electronics
Carriers
EDC
Toiletries
Clothes
Passions/Hobbies

Create a checklist

I have created a personal checklist of personal possessions that is tailored for a nomadic entrepreneurial lifestyle. You can download it here if you are interested and want some inspiration.

Otherwise it is a good idea to create your own and tick off the boxes as you acquire items.

Take action

It takes a long time to research and buy things. Too long if you are a busy entrepreneur.

Try and be efficient with your research and decision making.

Adopt a buy, hold and maintain mentality.

Acquire quality products that could last forever.

Adopt a mindset of ‘minimal aesthetic quality materialism’.

Enjoy the feel good hormone cocktail that gets triggered when you buy cool stuff.

Thankyou for reading, see you in the next issue.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Shibuya- Tokyo, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

To continue reading, read the previous newsletter below.

De-Risk And Protect Yourself In The Brave New World

Shernon Hague — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 04:39:39 GMT

The concept of maintaining security and privacy in our lives is becoming increasingly relevant and important.

The world is currently experiencing immense technological change and it pays to be aware of what is happening in the world around us.

Software, computers and the internet have been integrated into our everyday lives and have transformed society over the last twenty five years.

The progress has been staggering and recently we have witnessed the power of artificial intelligence based systems rapidly improve.

This progress has been beneficial, but of course there are negative outcomes that can occur as a result of this progress.

If you have been able to curate your use of the internet, software and social media for positive outcomes you have done very well.

If you have routinely let yourself get carried away with doom scrolling and purposeless application usage for leisure, it is never too late to stop the doom loop.

If you have been careless with what personal information you share and the way you approach security and privacy you can change that now.

With more of our lives spent increasingly online and in front of screens, we need to be conscious of our usage and take control.

Digital environment checklist—

Create a goal for how you want to use the internet. For entrepreneurship and leisure. If your usage doesn't align with your goal, stop doing what you are doing and re-align.
Be mindful of what type of personal information that you share online.
Optimise the stack of applications you use.
Optimise security and privacy online to protect and reduce risk.

A mindful approach to how you curate and control your digital environment will help you sleep better and will reduce risk as we navigate an unpredictable future.

Online Security And Privacy

There are two main external risk factors here.

There is risk of cyber theft and financial fraud being perpetrated against you, and risk of malicious attacks from the state.

You need to protect yourself against these malicious actors.

The following is an example of an attack from the state.

A few years ago citizens of a particular ‘developed’ Western country had their bank accounts frozen, which means they couldn't access their funds in their bank.

This was done by top down decree from the state.

Private banking institutions were forced to accept this decree via the means of extortion.

If you had only one domestic bank account and possessed no physical cash, gold, silver or cryptocurrency, you now had a major problem.

These actions were carried out against non-violent protestors and their supporters.

A key to becoming a prosperous person is recognising that the state is not your friend and they do not exist to help you.

The state exists to serve itself.

Even if they hand out 'free' goodies for you such as cash and benefits, it is to serve their goals not yours.

Which means in reality, one would do best to consider the benefits of protecting oneself against bad actors in every segment of society.

This includes individuals and the state.

If you do or say something that is completely ethical but does not serve state interests, you should expect that your bank account may be frozen or you may end up in jail.

This is happening in Western countries such as England now.

If you want to avoid potential pain like this, you need to implement 'pre-emptive protection' and diversify your financial risk according to the probable scenarios that could occur.

Cyber Theft

We as a generation have generally resigned ourselves to the fact that media and information about our lives on the internet can be accessible by anyone.

We willingly give up our personal information and bank card details to companies, trusting that they will keep the information private.

There is always a risk that your information will be leaked, hacked or used for cyber crime.

A scam was attempted on me a few years ago.

The scammers attained control of an official phone number that my bank used to send text messages to me.

The bank had previously sent legitimate text messages to me using this number relating to a banking service that I had utilised.

The scammer stated that there had been an unauthorised withdrawal from my account and for me to call a phone number.

I called the number thinking it was legitimate and the scammer with a posh English accent proceeded to try and get me to transfer funds to a ‘new’ account in order to ‘protect’ my accounts.

I didn’t transfer any funds but many people were duped by this scam and lost money.

Our bank card information, passwords, user identification, names, birthdates, passport information, email addresses and physical addresses are all stored within companies whose services we utilise.

Your user activity within these companies can be tracked and stored. This data is valuable to data brokers and companies such as marketing firms and insurance companies.

You need to be aware and mindful of how your information can be used by others to your detriment.

If you consider yourself vulnerable, then there are things that you can do to reduce risk.

Risk Reduction Action Steps

The first action that I recommend and what may seem drastic, is that you consider not keeping any currency in the digital financial ecosystem that you aren’t willing to lose.

This includes any traditional bank and even cryptocurrency.

The less currency you risk storing in one bank account, the more protected you will be.

There are two risk factors here. Bank failure (the bank going bankrupt) and cyber theft.

Banks implement cyber security protocols, which are great and any good bank should do this. These include encryption, multi factor authentication, SSL certificates, firewalls, intrusion detections systems and anti-fraud systems.

But there is still counter-party risk, as these protocols can fail or not be implemented correctly due to human error.

The reality is if you aren’t holding physical bank notes, precious metals, commodities or another physical form of money, you are introducing an element of counter-party risk that should not be ignored.

It is up to the individual to assess the risk of a counter-party (bank) failing.

You should conduct your own risk/benefit analysis to determine whether it is a good idea to use the service and to what extent if you do.

Any free individual should be doing this in every aspect of their lives.

If you have been reading my work for a while, you would know my views on ‘the state’.

If a politician says ‘Your money in the banks is 100% safe’, you need to realise the probability that they are lying is high.

Therefore, I would emphasise the importance of applying your own critical thinking and risk/benefit analysis in this very important domain of personal finance.

The best person to do this is always you.

To determine bank failure risk, you can look at your banks financial health in terms of assets and liabilities. LLM software such as Grok is fantastic for this.

You should also check if they have a history of de-banking individuals based on arbitrary or political reasons.

Observe loan default risk. Consider what would happen to your bank if borrowers started defaulting on loans, like back in 2008. Consider the risk of the types of securities the bank holds (treasury bonds, mortgage backed securities, derivatives etc).

Observe the mainstream media, incentivised actors and their rhetoric.

Compare how their rhetoric differs from events occurring in reality.

The reality is that your bank may fail just like any business can fail, or your bank account may get frozen or hacked at any time.

All of these things have occurred in the past.

You need to determine whether you are happy to take on the added risk of using digital banking services in order to receive the benefits they provide.

Don’t get me wrong— the benefits of using digital banking services are tremendous. Transferring currency instantaneously is great, so it is up to you as an individual as to how you approach this.

You can de-risk in digital banking by reducing the amount of capital you store in banks.

You can diversify capital across multiple domestic and international banks legally; so if one bank goes down you will still have access to funds in another bank.

You can also hold cash in an online brokerage account. I personally use Interactive Brokers.

Brokerage companies hold cash reserves in a custodial bank account, but the custodial banks are less likely to bail-in money from a brokerage if they fail, and the accounts have better insurance protections.

If your brokerage fails your assets may get transferred to another brokerage and you will be able to access them. Or you may lose them.

You can also purchase stock of a company and hold shares, but your ownership of shares is registered and stored digitally which carries risk.

Your stock is also priced in a fiat currency that is subject to debasement.

To avoid digital bail-in risk of shares if a brokerage firm goes under, it is best practice to acquire the physical stock certificate from your broker.

You will have to return the stock certificate when you sell the stock but it offers better protection than owning the stock digitally.

There will be fees to do this and some companies and brokerages may not provide this service anymore.

You can also use hard physical assets as savings vehicles.

Gold, silver, platinum, copper, jewellery, whisky, cigars, classic cars, classic guitars. Take your pick, it just needs to exist in the physical world and have intrinsic value.

You might be thinking real estate as well but with real estate there is always the possibility of the state taking it away from you. They can do this either directly or through increased taxation which could force you to sell.

If you stockpile physical currency (e.g U.S dollar banknotes) it will be subject to monetary debasement.

You need to consider whether you are happy to lose the purchasing power of your physical currency at the rate that consumer prices increase.

You also need to consider that the CPI number that your government provides is likely to be a false representation of the prices that you pay for goods and services in your everyday life.

Complete a risk assessment of your digital banking situation and make the necessary changes if you want to de-risk.

If you are confident that your funds or assets will not be lost in the digital banking ecosystem then you can sit tight and do nothing.

Online Data Protection - Passwords

Let us move to online data protection.

The easiest thing you can do today is to use unique, strong passwords for every different online service that you use.

At least 16 characters— mixing numbers, letters and symbols is best.

Hackers can obtain usernames and passwords from a data breach. They can then use that information to attempt to login to different online accounts that you have, such as your online banking.

They can then proceed to drain funds from your account.

Start with making sure your most important accounts such as banking, brokerage and email have strong unique passwords.

Then proceed down the chain in order of importance, down to the accounts that present the least financial risk, such as forums and message boards.

To make this process easier you can generate and store unique strong passwords and login information by using a secure encrypted password manager tool.

I can personally recommend Proton pass (I am not affiliated).

It is a great application that is incredibly useful and has not let me down.

You can store all types of login information, categorise them and attach notes and files. There is also a chrome extension that you can use to autofill passwords securely on your browser when logging in to online accounts.

I also use other Proton applications that prioritise privacy. These are Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar and Proton Authenticator as part of the Proton Business Suite package that Proton offers.

I find it to be incredible value and I recommend Proton for security and privacy minded entrepreneurs.

There are other companies that offer encrypted password management that I haven’t used, so please perform your own due diligence when choosing software.

Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Adding two factor authentication to your sensitive accounts adds another layer of security which can prevent hackers from accessing your accounts. Even if they have managed to attain your password.

One needs to physically have the linked authenticator app on a device to be able to receive the correct code.

The service you are using (e.g banking) will generate a secret key that is shared between the service and your authenticator app.

You enter this secret key into the authenticator app during setup to link your service.

When you attempt to login to the service the 2FA app will generate a time-based code using a time-based one time password protocol (TOTP).

You enter this newly generated code to allow you to login to your service.

Adding 2FA will add time to your login process, but it will add security.

There is always a possibility that you can lose your phone, so it is important to backup your 2FA secret keys and TOTP backup codes securely.

Your service will provide the secret key and backup codes that you can download or copy.

You can store them by writing them down somewhere physically or by storing them using online encrypted storage like Proton Drive or Apple ICloud.

Strong passwords and two factor authentication are the most important security protocols to implement, but there are more protocols needed to optimise your security.

VPN (virtual private network)

Use a VPN when connected to any WIFI and cellular networks.

VPN’s will encrypt your internet traffic and mask your IP address, making it harder for hackers or websites to track your online activity.

You should install the VPN on all your devices. Your phone, computers and tablets. Connect the VPN at all times and keep them updated for the highest security.

I have been using Surfshark which has been great, but I also have Proton VPN which I plan to switch to and use as my main VPN soon.

Proton VPN has an additional feature called ‘Netshield’ which blocks ad’s, trackers, and malicious websites.

Additional Security Protocols

For additional security you can use antivirus software which will detect and remove malware. There are free options and paid options.

Paid options provide more robust protection against things like ransomware.

Keep your software, apps and devices updated. Outdated software is a common entry point for malware.

Use privacy focussed browsers such as Brave.

Use privacy focussed search engines such as Duck Duck Go.

Disable cookies if possible.

Use an encrypted email service such as Proton Mail.

Proton Mail uses zero-access encryption, so even Proton Mail can’t access your email.

Consider using email aliases for less sensitive online accounts to reduce the chance of exposure of your primary email.

An email alias is a randomly generated email address which will forward email to your main email account. Proton Pass offers email alias generation.

Use encrypted communication tools like Signal for messaging.

Use services like Delete Me to regularly remove your data from data brokers.

Simplify to fortify.

Optimise your tech tool stack by using the best suitable applications available.

Delete accounts for sub-optimal or unused tools that you have created accounts for.

Consider creating a new email address to start from scratch, then slowly change account email details to your new email address.

Again, I highly recommend Proton Business Suite for security and privacy focussed entrepreneurs.

It contains a suite of high-quality applications which simplifies your workflow and is actually fun to use.

Proceed With Awareness And Caution

The only person who can protect yourself is you.

Embrace 'pre-emptive protection' and radical personal responsibility when it comes to protecting your hard earned wealth and personal information.

Assess your risk and make the changes.

Undergoing this process can be very time consuming, so write down your security and privacy goals and create tasks to incrementally complete daily.

You will eventually create a more secure future and a more fun digital experience for yourself.

In this process you will reclaim mental bandwidth and control, eliminate related stress and get a better nights sleep.

Make de-risking your life a priority.

I have personally much progress to make on this journey. My next step will be acquiring an antivirus software.

I always thought that Apple Macs didn’t get viruses but apparently this is not the case.

Much still to learn.

Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you.

See you in the next newsletter.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Frankfurt, Germany. 2008 | 35mm film

The Macro Case For Silver

Shernon Hague — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 04:06:26 GMT

If you are new to concept of investing in silver bullion, you may be thinking that silver is just a shiny metal that is used in industry. Iphones, computers, jewellery, electric cars and silver tableware amongst others.

Perhaps your mother or grandmother owned some silver jewellery and that is the image that comes to mind when you think of it.

Silver is used in these industries and is very important to them, but silver is also used as money.

Like gold, silver has been used as money for around 6000 years, it has a dual function in society as a monetary metal and an industrial metal.

If you are born after 1970 chances are you won't have experienced silver coins being used in everyday transactions as a monetary metal. This contributes to the lack of awareness of silvers utility as a form of money in the current era.

I am currently 40 years old. The last silver coin in circulation in my home country was phased out 15 years before I was born in 1969.

It was a 50 cent piece and it contained 80% silver and 20% copper. It contained 0.342 troy ounces of silver which would be worth $19.83 AUD today. That is 39 times its face value.

This increase in value can also be used as a relative measure of fiat currency debasement. The silver content remains the same, it just takes more fiat currency to buy it.

Australian 1966 50 cent piece

It was introduced in 1966 and production was stopped in 1969 after its intrinsic value in Australian dollars exceeded its face value in just three short years.

In the U.S.A silver coins were phased out and no longer in circulation by 1971 and globally silver coins were no longer in circulation by 1980.

Gold is primarily a monetary metal because it is very expensive to use in industry. Gold is used in many industries, but for industries that require a metal for its electrical conductivity and durability, silver is the preferred choice.

Silver is the most conductive of all metals and is highly malleable and ductile, which makes it great for small electronics applications that need a strong durable metal to conduct electricity.

Below is a list of industries that utilise silver and what percentage is used in that industry:

Industrial Applications - 50-55% - Electronics, Solar Energy, Automotive, Brazing and Soldering.
Jewellery - 20-25%
Silverware and Decorative Items - 5-10%
Coins and Bullion (Investment) - 10-15%
Photography - 2-5%
Medical Applications - 1-3%
Other (Miscellaneous) - 2-5% - Includes uses in mirrors (due to silver’s reflectivity), batteries and catalysts in chemical production.

For silver to be used as money it would require it to have intrinsic value to create stability.

The industries above need silver for its intrinsic physical and chemical properties, this creates demand and therefore gives silver its intrinsic value.

Silver also satisfies the properties that are required for use as money; which are divisibility, portability, durability, fungibility, scarcity, acceptability and stability.

In my opinion, recent technological creations such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have extrinsic value because of their transfer mechanism and blockchain network, but the tokens themselves do not have any intrinsic value. Which makes them not ideal to use as money.

Great technology and code, but the coins themselves have no intrinsic value.

Gold and silver have stood the test of time for use as money.

As naturally occurring elements they cannot be replicated or created out of thin air.

Which is why they have been used as money for thousands of years.

Check out these very cool Aeginetan sea turtle silver coins that were produced in 550 BCE in the Island of Aegina, Greece. These coins were close to 95-98% pure silver.

Aegina was a major maritime power and these coins were used heavily in the mediterranean.

The Aeginetan sea turtle silver coin - Aegina, Greece 550BC

In comparison to gold, silver is more abundant in the earths crust and it can tarnish when exposed to sulfur compounds. Which when exposed, can form a black silver sulfide layer on the metal.

Gold is denser, does not tarnish or corrode and is slightly more malleable and ductile.

These slight differences make gold the king of monetary metals due to its indestructible nature and increased scarcity. Silver comes in second place.

If you were to pay for goods or services in gold or silver, silver would be more suited to everyday transactions and barter, while gold would be better suited for wealth preservation and larger purchases.

While not many people transact directly in gold and silver anymore, I believe more people will over the next 20 years. Either directly through coins and bars or indirectly through a convertible note or token.

These notes or tokens could be a gold or silver-backed government issued paper or digital currency, cryptocurrencies that are redeemable in physical metal, or gold and silver redeemable certificates that are issued via private gold vaults and exchanges.

If a country stores gold or silver within another country in the form of a repository, they can exchange the metals for goods and services without having to move it.

They can simply re-allocate it to the new owner and change ownership.

This is ideal if a country wishes to avoid accepting an unwanted currency and trade directly in gold or silver.

China has taken steps to do this in 2025 as the Shanghai Gold Exchange announced that it will be establishing a warehouse inside Hong Kong.

It may not be as beautiful or sexy as gold depending on your aesthetic preferences, but silvers utility in industry and as money can not be denied.

Macro, Inflation and Industrial Demand

Currently global debt is 315 trillion USD, with a debt to GDP ratio of 333%.

This is completely wild.

Indebted governments do not intend to let their existing bonds mature and 'pay off' the debt. They rely on 'rolling over' the debt by issuing new bonds to pay off the holders of the old bonds.

To use an analogy, If you maxed out your credit card and then applied for a new credit card to pay off the old credit card, then repeat the process, this is essentially the same thing as how governments operate.

Assuming you can always get a new credit card.

The difference is that governments have the keys to the money printer and can create currency to pay its debts and stimulate the bond market, while the individual will encounter violent force and jail time if they did exactly the same thing.

One rule for thee, one rule for me.

To reduce their overall debt burden, governments can try to grow their economies to increase GDP and therefore reduce the debt to GDP ratio.

This is the most travelled path which avoids politically unpalatable austerity measures that they think will lose them votes.

One method they use to achieve this is by setting very low interest rates to stimulate borrowing and capital investment.

This effectively reduces interest payments on newly rolled over treasury bonds and the government is happy because they now don't have to pay as much interest.

The central banks can print more currency and buy bonds to keep bonds yields low. This also helps to keep the treasury funded.

This process (quantitative easing or QE) will cause currency supply inflation and inevitably rising prices, which can reduce the debt burden on governments in the short-term by collecting more in taxes nominally.

If bond yields and consumer prices do not rise significantly they can keep this game going for a long time.

But…

It can get to a point where prices are rising so fast that citizens can lose faith in their currencies and their government.

Treasury bonds are denominated in the currencies that are rapidly losing value and nobody will want to buy these depreciating asset instruments from governments.

Think of the German hyperinflation between 1921-1923 among many other historical hyperinflations. Germany was the worlds third largest economy in 1913 and was considered highly advanced at the time.

Post-war debt was a large contributing factor to the hyperinflation.

By 1923 their Papiermark currency was worthless. The Reichsmark was later introduced with a gold backing to bring trust to the currency.

Debt based collapse.

As history suggests, in this situation people seek safety as increased capital flows into gold, silver and hard assets to protect from a depreciating currency.

I would argue we are in the process of a similar collapse already as we have witnessed the gold price rise 42.18% over the last year.

Silver has risen 43.47% in the last year with a big jump recently.

The numbers can not be ignored, although the mainstream media will do their best to ignore it as the price action signals fiat currency devaluation.

Currently the silver bullion market is in a prolonged deficit, with industrial and investment demand outstripping a constrained and inelastic supply.

Silver is a relatively small market when compared to other metals such as gold, copper, iron and aluminium. This means that an increase in demand will create larger price moves compared to an equivalent increase in demand in the gold market which is around 8 times larger.

How To Buy Silver

I personally like 1 troy ounce pure silver coins from reputable mints around the world. They are recognisable, very high quality and beautiful.

The five most popular silver 1oz coins globally are the American Silver Eagle, the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, the British Silver Britannia, the Austrian Silver Philharmonic and the South African Silver Krugerrand. They are highly liquid and recognised.

An honourable mention would be the Australian 1oz Silver Kangaroo coin from the Perth Mint. I have the 2020 version of this coin and they are very impressive and beautiful. This coin also contains a microscropic engraved letter as a security feature to help detect against counterfeits.

Silver bars are available for usually a slightly lower premium, but they are not as beautiful as silver coins in my opinion and have less collector value.

SIlver coins can have a legal tender face value if issued from a government mint and are usually available with a maximum silver content of 1 ounce.

It is up to personal preference which you choose.

It is always better to hold physical silver as there is no counter-party risk involved if you choose to store it yourself.

You must also be aware that it is very heavy in large amounts. A 250oz monster box may challenge some people to lift.

If you are interested in buying gold and silver and storing it via secure vaults, I can recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation in the Cayman Islands. I use these services and have had a great experience working with them.

Vaulting your metal adds a layer of counter-party risk, but I would argue that the risk is very low in the best companies and it is a very convenient solution especially if you travel.

Consider the reputation of these services and consider the location. It would be beneficial to choose a location where the risk of a government stealing your metal is minimal.

These companies allow for you to withdraw your allocated gold in-person or via shipment at any time along with providing many other services.

Opportunity

We are currently in a period where ownership of silver bullion could present a fantastic opportunity to preserve your purchasing power, acquire a useful commodity and acquire real money in a world of failing fiat currencies.

It has stood the test of time for 6000 years and will continue to do so.

The silver futures market where the spot price is largely derived from, routinely experiences large, sudden and aggressive sell-offs by the big players that drives the price down.

This could be for various reasons and it has been highly effective at keeping the price at resistance levels.

The phenomenon has been given a moniker, 'Mister Slammy'.

If this breaks and Mister Slammy fails to keep the price down, the silver price could be unleashed.

Happy investing.

Thankyou for reading.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Naoshima Island, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

The Philosophy Of Personal Freedom

Shernon Hague — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 08:40:19 GMT

The year is 2025 and the world is going through a shared change.

We as a global society are running into new problems that we haven't experienced in our lifetimes.

The financial system is breaking and fiat currencies are approaching the end of their life cycle (they all go to zero eventually).

Artificial intelligence and computing technology is advancing rapidly.

Global birth rates are falling as less and less men and women get together to produce offspring.

If your job can be replaced by a robot or software, it will be.

If you are an employee in one of these replaceable jobs, you need to realise that as tough as it may be, getting fired will be a great thing.

It will give you more time to allocate your labour more productively as an employee or more preferably as an entrepreneur.

Luckily, you are living in a time where the internet has vastly reduced the barrier of entry to become an entrepreneur.

It has never been easier to share your unique perspective and aptitudes with the world, generate attention and profit from that attention.

If you get fired, your previous employer will become more productive and can distribute increased profits to shareholders or employees. They can also spend it growing their business and increasing the quality of their product, which creates a better experience for the consumer.

In the West you have been conditioned to become an employee to serve specific interest groups.

Your surrounding culture and the state controlled education system has been engineered to support this goal, a goal which is not optimal for many people.

Right now, and in the next couple of decades you are going to need to re-orient your life in order to adapt to this rapid change.

Maximising and prioritising personal freedom, de-risking and creating optionality in your life, is now vitally more important than the majority realise.

A significant number of people tend to outsource their critical thinking to other people and state interests. This creates a sense of comfort in their lives, but I would argue that it is a failure to address reality as it is, which leads to a negative long-term outcome for everyone that chooses that path.

If you are in the small percentage of people who embrace independent thinking or would like to join this group, you can use this attribute to your advantage by developing a macro thesis relating to the state of the world and its future trajectory, then take appropriate action to safeguard your future.

The more personal freedom you have in your life, the easier it will be to navigate the world and become future proof.

Increased choice equals increased freedom and you are going to need it.

You will be able to re-orient your life in any direction at any time, and it buys the time you need to experiment with entrepreneurship and acquire the requisite failures needed to succeed if you choose that path.

You will be more free to allocate your surplus capital effectively.

You will benefit from increased personal freedom in your day to day life, whilst enjoying life in your optimal geographical location.

If you see this as a worthy goal, you can create a holistic framework for this pursuit of personal freedom to serve as a personal constitution.

Your strategy will evolve and improve as your mind grapples with it, and your experience through action informs it.

The Elements

The combination of the following elements will give you the best chance to increase your personal freedom, have full control of your life and reverse psychic entropy.

To create a life that prioritises purpose, meaning and mastery.

Entrepreneurship - Be useful. Build an audience to generate attention and monetise it through products or services. You can now do this for free or very low cost by utilising the internet and adopting the one-person business model. Build new skills and utilise existing skills.
Investing - Grow and protect your wealth. First develop a foundational economic understanding of the world as it exists in reality (not in politicians reality). Then use your understanding to develop a macro thesis and invest your capital effectively. Remember, that It is the goal of the state to make sure that you do not understand how to do this effectively.
Freedom in the physical world - Choose a geographical location where its ruling state applies the least amount of unprovoked coercion, violence and extortion to your life. This will allow your freedom of thought to flourish in a productive manner.
Freedom in the psychological world - Set clear goals and develop a vision for the life you want. As a detractor, create an anti-vision of the life you do not want. Setting goals and working towards them is the single most important thing that you can do to reverse unavoidable psychic entropy. You are utilising your freedom of thought to eliminate unnecessary anxiety from your life. Distractions that inhibit progress will disappear from your life as your mind re-orients itself to serve your vision.

The benefits of taking this path and combining these elements will be psychological, spiritual, financial and physical.

Add or subtract from these principles as you choose, but they can be used as a solid foundation.

The Morality and Ethics of Personal Freedom

There is also a deeper issue that is generally not given much thought by people in the West.

This is the concept of morality and ethics and the individual values that are derived from grappling with these concepts.

If you hold a particular value, and the society that surrounds you has crossed an ethical line in the sand that goes against your value, this is a serious problem.

It reflects the dominant morality of the society that surrounds you.

It may affect you directly or indirectly but it will most likely enter your conscious thought regardless.

The effect can be immensely destructive to your personal wellbeing, and history suggests that you will be in the minority affected.

Re-locating to a country that aligns more with your personal ethics, will increase your freedom in the physical world and will allow your freedom of thought to flourish.

This re-locating process will give you more mental bandwidth to work towards your goals more effectively.

Do not underestimate the power of changing your environment.

Increase your freedom from state intervention in your life and your life will improve, whether you currently realise it or not.

Of course, there will be tradeoffs as no country is perfect.

I would suggest optimising for the most freedom in your day to day living, as how you feel at any given moment during the day is the most important consideration.

I personally chose the beautiful country of Thailand to base myself for the time being. The improvement to all aspects of my life has been monumental.

I will briefly discuss the anatomy of the state, as it is relevant.

The use of coercion, violence and extortion as antagonistic forces are inherent in the constitution of the state.

It is how they maintain their existence and power by being the best at executing these acts. They consequently hold a monopoly on power and control.

I personally do not believe in the moral justification of unprovoked violence, coercion and extortion directed towards any individual, perpetrated by another.

So I want to avoid it happening to me.

As a matter of ethics; in my opinion the state in its existence could only ethically exist to protect a sovereign individual against coercion, violence and extortion.

Hypothetically, to be ethical in a practical sense, the state would only exist to monitor a police force and court system that would protect the individual against coercion within the country, and also a military to protect from coercion outside of the country.

That is it.

The state could not ethically be involved in anything else.

Of course as we have witnessed throughout history they usually end up being the unprovoked perpetrators of these acts for a variety of reasons.

A dilemma then arises; can a coercive state be trusted to carry out these protective functions of society ethically?

Perhaps a free, voluntary society would have better outcomes.

If you reduce the level of unprovoked coercion, violence and extortion directed towards yourself, you will live a life of increased freedom.

Crazy right?

The problem is that many people you are surrounded by support these unethical acts being perpetrated against you.

It is the unfortunate truth and you need to realise this.

The intricacies of what constitutes good and evil are different for each individual of course, and it leads to violent conflict as the records of historical events detail.

Regardless of where you sit on the spectrum of good and evil, a society and geographical location that allows you more personal freedom will provide you more opportunities.

Even if it may be uncomfortable for you, depending on the type of person you are.

Most people prefer outsourcing their risk/benefit analysis to the state.

I much prefer to do my own, as it suits my personality type.

In my life, I have decided to actively reduce the impact of these destructive forces and create more personal freedom for myself.

The benefits have been financial, psychological, spiritual and physical.

Not in a small way but in a hugely transformative, big way.

The path forward in this rapidly changing world lies in high-agency, purpose, critical thinking, deep generalism and polymathic pursuits.

If you can develop a vision for your life around the core concept of 'maximum personal freedom', set requisite goals and take decisive action, your life will be better for it.

It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

You need to open your mind up enough to spot opportunities that will allow you to progress.

You need access to the resources that will allow you to capitalise on these opportunities.

You need the right amount of agency to act without permission, and the belief that you can solve the problems you currently face.

Thank-you for reading.

I hope this letter provided you with some food for thought.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

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Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Naoshima Island, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

Guide To Dividend Investing

Shernon Hague — Mon, 19 May 2025 09:27:15 GMT

If you are interested in participating in the stock market, you are most likely interested in the receiving the highest return possible on your invested capital.

You may also be interested in why you weren't taught this stuff in school.

But that is for another newsletter, where I will go deep on the future of education….

You buy ownership in great cash-flowing companies that improve the world with the hope of making money.

If the stock goes up in price, you can sell it and collect a profit. You can also buy a company that is willing to pay you a regular dividend.

These are the two ways you can make money in the stock market.

You can also buy and sell options contracts that are tied to the underlying stocks with the hope of generating a return.

The three main styles of investing are growth investing, value investing and dividend investing. You can blend these styles of investing to suit your personal taste, goals, risk appetite and macro-economic outlook.

You can then implement further strategies.

You can invest by market capitalisation, which involves selecting companies based on the size of their 'market cap' (the total value of all of their shares that are in circulation).

You can be an active day trader or swing trader hoping to beat the market short term, by buying low and selling high. Or you can buy and hold passively for the long term via index funds, index ETF's or mutual funds.

You can be sector specific or diversify across different industries.

Sounds great, we buy stocks and make lots of money right?

If the economy is healthy this makes sense.

If the economy is not healthy there is more risk.

We are entering a period of immense change when it comes to how the monetary system is structured.

Gold is shooting higher fast, which indicates a lack of faith in currencies.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes have been very volatile, experiencing large drawdowns but they have recovered to remain positive over the last year.

Reducing risk may be an optimal approach in the near future. Hence in this issue I will explore the investment style of dividend stock investing, which can be a safer way to approach investing in stocks.

Investing in hyped-up growth stocks and meme-coins is great if you have managed to make money, but this approach may not work out so well in the near future if there is a global recession and a monetary system restructure.

In times of uncertainty investors will flee to safety, and the bond market may not provide that safety anymore as it has traditionally done.

Government bonds pay you a fixed return in a particular currency. If that currency is losing it's purchasing power at 8% per year (due to price increases) and you are getting paid 4% on your bond payment, that means you have a -4% real return.

Your currency is losing 4% of its value in purchasing power every year, which is not good.

Companies that build the foundation of societies along with the ultimate safe haven of gold, may become the desired place of safety as capital flees the highly valued technology sector and into more defensive assets.

Sectors such as mining, energy, and consumer staples could benefit.

Especially if the stocks are cheap.

High-quality companies in these foundational industries, that will pay you a regular dividend, could represent a great investment and passive income opportunity moving into the future.

Unfortunately, a lot of private wealth may be lost in periods like this where the monetary system is reset and re-aligned.

Portfolio capital will be re-allocated to go where it is treated best, and allocation percentages in certain unloved industries may revert to a long term mean or increase substantially.

If there is a market crash, the market may recover to previous highs but how long will it take?

For example, the Japanese stock market crashed in the early nineties. It took Japan's Nikkei index around 30 years to recover to its previous 1989 all time high.

Will the USD still be the worlds reserve currency a year from now?

I don't want to be a bag holder and I don't think you do either.

This is the global macro game of investing we are playing….

Introduction to dividend investing

Dividend stocks are shares of companies that pay out a portion of their profits to shareholders as cash payments or with shares of the company.

These payments (called dividends) are typically distributed quarterly, although some companies will pay them monthly or annually.

You collect passive income just from owning the stock.

In contrast, when buying a stock that doesn't pay a dividend you are relying on stock price appreciation or future dividend payments to generate a return on investment.

You can also choose to reinvest your dividends collected by buying more shares in order to compound your returns. This is called dividend reinvesting.

You may also generate a return from potential stock price appreciation.

The attraction to dividend paying stocks is the higher potential return when compared to comparable lower risk options, such as bank deposit interest payments or treasury bond coupon payments.

The trade-off is that there is more risk investing in dividend stocks as the stock price may fall, whereas this can not happen with bank deposits.

The price of a treasury bond may fall, but If you hold a treasury bond to maturity you will you receive your principal investment back in full.

You will only receive the current market price for your dividend paying stock if you decide to sell at any given moment, the price could be higher or lower than what you paid.

This is why dividends stocks would suit a long-term buy and hold strategy, to collect income in order to protect against consumer price increases and to compound your returns if you reinvest the dividend.

Sector discovery

You will need to assess the current state of the economy, interest rate levels and the current macro-economic environment when determining which sector to invest in.

You can ask yourself some questions.

What are the chances of a recession happening in the future?

Where are interest rates likely to go in the future?

For example, banks traditionally do better in high interest rate environments because they will make more money on loans. Growth companies with high debt levels may not do so well.

In a recession, banks may not do so well due to defaults. Investors may prefer to own companies with strong cash-flow and low debt in defensive sectors such as consumer staples and essential services.

A total system and currency collapse may lead you towards only hard assets— precious metals, precious metals miners, commodities, real estate and energy.

Nothing is certain though.

This is where understanding the current state of the economy and having a thesis on where it may head in the future will be extremely valuable.

As a matter of importance relating to self-actualisation and self-education; I recommend developing your own foundational economic understanding of the world before allocating any of your hard earned capital.

Learning how capital flows within an economy and how it is affected by market intervention and price controls, will help you determine the sector you invest in and let you better assess the potential of your dividend paying stock.

How to calculate opportunities

Lets say I am Australian and I want to invest $10,000 AUD. That is equivalent to $6405 USD currently.

The company Frontline (Ticker: FRO) is an oil tanker company which I am looking at buying. It is currently trading at $17.11 USD per share on the New York Stock Exchange.

I go onto the Trading View website and see that the dividend yield TTM (trailing twelve months) for this stock is 10.37%, which is a pretty good return.

TTM means that the company paid out 10.37% of dividends in the last twelve months relative to its current share price of $17.11.

I can do a quick calculation to figure out the dollar amount that I will be paid annually based on the current stock price.

Investment capital: $6,405
Dividend yield (TTM): 10.37%

Annual Dividend Income = 6,405 × 0.1037 (percentage expressed in decimal terms) = $664.20 per year in annual dividend income, $166 as a quarterly dividend payment.

If the stock price remains the same and the dividend payouts remain the same, this is technically what I will receive over the next year.

Dividend payouts can change so I am very interested to know what the last dividend payout per share was.

I go on to trading view and see that the last quarterly dividend payment was $0.20 per share, down from $0.37 per share from exactly one year prior.

To do some calculations, I need to figure out how many shares I can buy at the current stock price.

To get this figure I do the following calculation: $6405 (invested capital) / $17.11 (price per share) = 374 shares.

I can buy 374 shares with $6405 at the current share price of $17.11.

So if this quarterly payment of $0.20 per share was to repeat itself on the next quarterly payment date I would receive $74.80.

374 (total shares) x $0.20 (quarterly dividend per share) = $74.80 quarterly dividend payment, $299.20 per annum.

This is much less than the $166 quarterly dividend payment, $664.20 per annum amount that I calculated earlier from the dividend yield TTM (10.37%).

It would mean the annualised dividend yield would be 4.67% as compared to 10.37% if this payment were to repeat over the next year.

Dividend yield % = Annual dividend per share / price per share x 100

0.80 (0.20 × 4 quarters) / 17.11 (price per share) × 100 = 4.67%

I conducted some research and it indicated that oil tanker spot prices are cyclical due to demand factors such as higher seasonal demand for oil due to heating in winter.

These factors can explain why their dividend payouts change over the course of a year.

Higher demand creates higher tanker spot prices, which creates more income for the company.

I now have to consider if the dividend payout per share is likely to stay the same, increase or decrease over the next 12 months after considering all these factors and more, such as the dividend payout ratio.

Assessing the sustainability of the dividend

In my situation, I have observed that the quarterly dividend payout per share has decreased and I want to figure out why.

It decreased from $0.62 to $0.20 over the last six months.

The first thing I should look at is the dividend payout ratio, which was 87.6% for the year of 2024. This is a relatively high ratio.

The dividend payout ratio is the ratio of the dividend payout as compared to the total earnings of the company.

Dividend payout ratio = (Dividends per Share / Earnings per Share).

Generally speaking in between 60-80% is safe and greater than 100% is unsustainable, as the company is paying out more than it earns.

We need to discover if this ratio is sustainable and also assess the general financial health of the company.

Artificial Intelligence is incredibly useful for this task.

I used the Deepseek LLM for this and it did a frighteningly good job.

These are some questions you can ask your favourite AI:

Does it have a good free cash flow to dividend payout ratio?

Does it have low debt to equity ratio? (Too much debt means your dividends could get cut).

Does it have good earnings growth?

What is the forward earnings per share estimate?

Can you give me a detailed analysis of the debt levels of the company?

In my case with Frontline, I have observed that the dividend payout ratio was 87.6% for the year of 2024.

I consider this to be fairly high, in 2023 it was even higher at 97.33%

The free cash flow to dividend payout ratio is 89%, meaning Frontline pays most of its earnings in dividends.

Having noted these figures I then prompted Deepseek with this question:

'I noticed that the dividend payout ratio for the company 'Frontline', ticker: FRO, is very high. Is the companies goal to reward their investors with a high dividend? Can they sustain this dividend payout ratio when considering their projected earnings growth? Please give me a detailed analysis'.

The answer it provided was incredibly precise and informative.

The future definitely belongs to AI and the people who can utilise it. If you like, you can check out the one-person business model to learn more about what I believe to be the future of work.

I undertook some further analysis and asked Deepseek about earnings, debt levels, interest payment on debt levels and asset levels.

I can see that the earnings growth and earnings per share is good.

Debt to asset ratios are low— meaning that they can pay off their debt easily if they sell their assets.

Their earnings covers their interest payments on debt easily.

If demand for oil and tankers stays stable and tanker spot rates remain at current rates, I make the assessment that this is a good dividend paying stock to own. It comes with a high dividend yield on capital invested and potential upside in the stock price.

It seems the company is intent on rewarding its shareholders with a nice dividend payout which is common in the shipping industry.

It does not seem to be a company with high debt levels, that tries to lure in investors with the bait of a high dividend yield.

This situation is called a 'dividend trap' which you need to be careful to avoid.

Dividend growth history | Aristocrats and kings

There are some companies that have a long history of consistent dividend payout increases. They are referred to in financial parlance as Dividend Aristocrats and Dividend Kings.

Dividend Aristocrats are S&P 500 stocks with 25+ years of dividend increases.

Dividend Kings are stocks with 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases.

These are companies with a consistent growth history and are usually healthy and profitable companies that represent a relatively safe investment.

Think of companies like Coca-cola, Exxon Mobil and Altria.

In summation

Dividend paying stocks present an attractive investment opportunity in the future world we are moving into.

The highest global debt levels in history and potential monetary system restructure means the environment could move from a risk-on to risk-off environment. Debt levels, money printing and consumer price increases may lead investors to avoid bonds and move into 'safer' investments.

Great care must be taken when choosing which sector to buy.

The global macro environment is changing and your macro thesis must align with your investment strategy.

I will be personally looking to buy some great companies that pay dividends very soon, adding to my portfolio of precious metals and energy stocks. I will continue trading options but will reduce my allocation percentage as they are mostly in volatile technology stocks. I will sacrifice the healthy options premium in order to reduce risk.

Remember to consider that your dividend payout is not guaranteed and that companies may change or remove the dividend payout at any time, so it is important to analyse the company carefully.

The stock price may rise or fall during your period of ownership, this favours a long term buy and hold strategy instead of a short term buy and sell strategy.

Consider reinvesting dividends to compound returns and diversifying into different companies.

Avoid yield traps where bad companies will pay extremely high yields to lure in investors.

Take note of the ex-dividend date, which is the final date that you must buy the stock before, in order to be eligible for the next dividend payment.

The closer you buy to this date the faster you will receive your first dividend payout, which means more return on capital invested.

You will receive your dividend payment directly into your cash account on your brokerage platform.

I personally use Interactive Brokers and find them to be a great and reliable brokerage platform. They also have access to the highest quantity of markets around the world, which is very important if you desire to invest outside of your home country.

I am an amateur investor so please don't take this as professional advice, however, I hope that detailing my thought process and decision making process will be of value to people who hold a similar level of market knowledge.

Best of luck in your dividend investing journey.

Thanks for reading.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Nara, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

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Gold As Freedom

Shernon Hague — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 10:23:38 GMT

When it comes to wealth preservation and growth, nothing strikes me as more important right now than being educated on the role of gold in society. The role in the past, present and future.

‘The money of kings’.

‘Gods money’.

'Natures currency'.

‘He who has the gold, makes the rules’.

‘Gold is money, everything else is credit’.

These quotes are commonly heard in the sound money community but have yet to permeate the vernacular of modern mainstream society.

Todays currencies are not redeemable for gold as they were in the past. Two generations have past since the U.S removed the last remaining gold standard in 1971. The U.S dollar was backed by gold at $35 per ounce and other countries were pegged to the dollar as it was the reserve currency.

The removal of gold backing in 1971 effectively ended the global gold standard.

Now the concept of gold as money has been mostly memory-holed by the establishment.

Famously, former U.S federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was asked whether or not he thought gold was money. He said ‘No, it’s a precious metal’.

This memory-holing is for good reason.

The establishment players that holds a monopoly on coercion, extortion and violence within a country, do not want the citizenry to be aware of how gold ownership could benefit them.

If the citizenry is educated on gold, they might begin to prefer owning it as a store of value over their state enforced fiat currencies.

Currencies that they can print and enforce usage at their will.

In the past Western central banks have printed trillions of currency units into existence, usually in suitably branded ‘emergency situations’.

They use these funds to buy treasury bonds from commercial banks (debt securities that you can purchase and receive interest in return) then the treasury uses these funds to spend currency into the economy.

The term used for this process is called 'quantitative easing'.

They do this to keep bond yields low and the availability of credit high. They like it when consumers keep buying things, even if it means sacrificing a necessary healthy recession.

Commercial banks can take comfort knowing that the central banks will buy their bonds when the going gets rough, which in turn distorts market interest rates and dynamics.

It simply isn't a free market.

They carry out this money supply inflation without a commensurate increase in goods and services available, and it causes consumer prices to rise.

Debt increases with the expectations of future generations to pay it back.

This reduces the real purchasing power and wealth of the average person.

This situation could change soon, the current U.S administration is making changes and it could bring about a once in a lifetime change to the monetary system.

It seems the Donald Trump administration in the U.S has plans to intervene in the system. To create a new global monetary agreement, attempt to balance the books of the treasury and reduce the 36.6 trillion dollar treasury debt.

They have already started this process with the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has started to eliminate spending and fraud.

They aim to increase domestic manufacturing which we have seen with the recent implementation and pause of import tariffs, which has resulted in large market volatility.

It seems the revaluation of U.S gold bullion reserves to market prices is included in these plans, alongside monetising other U.S assets such as natural resources.

There is a possibility that gold may be re-introduced into the system to back the currency.

If their plan works it will change how the United States dollar is treated by the rest of the world, although the size of the debt problem could prove an insurmountable obstacle.

Their goal is to make American exports competitive again and to create a sustainable future for America.

Take the pain now and avoid inevitable disaster in the future.

The changes, if carried out will affect everyone’s lives globally.

There is enough evidence now to see that a global restructuring of the monetary system is their end goal.

Everyone may go through hard times in this period, but holding certain assets may reduce the hard times for some.

Gold is money and wealth protection that has done its job well for thousands of years.

It could shine very brightly over the next decade.

The Shoe Shine Boy

Consider this hypothetical scenario.

There may come a time in the near future when you go to get a haircut and your long time hairdresser starts mentioning how he is thinking about buying gold.

This surprises you, you notice that you have never heard him talk about gold or investing in the previous three years you have been seeing him.

He has finally noticed that things aren’t adding up. His purchasing power is reducing every year and he can’t seem to save any money.

He learnt about the concept of gold ownership from a friend, he became intrigued and subsequently became enlightened on the role of gold through self-education.

He learnt that the scarce, shiny metal that reminded him of his grandmas gold jewellery collection, may provide the only real risk-free protection from currency debasement and financial counter-party risk.

This hypothetical occurrence taking place would be a sign that the narrative is changing.

You notice the general populace all of a sudden wants to own gold and the price in fiat currency is increasing. This would indicate demand is rising and devaluation of fiat currency in terms of gold is increasing.

You preferably want to own gold before this situation happens.

Purchases of gold by retail investors are very low currently, central banks are doing the buying.

The time will inevitably come when this changes, but we are not quite there yet.

The Properties Of Money

I am not an expert on gold, although I know enough to understand the importance of why it has been used as the most reliable form of money for thousands of years.

Money needs to have certain properties for people to voluntarily use it in everyday trade and transactions.

They are generally as follows:

1. Divisibility – It must be easily divisible into smaller units to facilitate transactions of different values.

2. Portability – It should be easy to carry and transfer, allowing people to use it conveniently in daily transactions.

3. Durability – Money must withstand wear and tear over time without degrading in value or usability.

4. Fungibility – Each unit must be identical and interchangeable with another unit of the same value, ensuring consistency in trade.

5. Scarcity – It should not be easily counterfeited or excessively available, maintaining its value over time.

6. Acceptability – People must trust and be willing to accept it as a medium of exchange.

7. Stability – Its value should remain relatively stable over time to prevent rapid inflation or deflation that could disrupt economic activity.

These properties ensure that money functions effectively as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value.

Gold is indestructible. It doesn’t tarnish and will always have intrinsic value due to demand in jewellery, electronics, medicine, aerospace technology and many other industries such as design, building and fashion.

It is the most malleable and ductile metal. It can be hammered into extremely thin sheets or drawn into extremely fine wire without breaking.

Fiat currency has no intrinsic value. With the exception that you can set it on fire to keep warm or use as toilet paper, but there are much better products for these purposes.

Fiat currency only exists because of the state mandating its use. They do this by enforcing payment of income taxes in their fiat currency, and using violence as an extortion tool if you do not follow their mandate.

The average life cycle of a fiat currency is around 27 years before devaluation, hyperinflation or replacement occurs.

The British Pound Sterling is the longest lasting fiat currency. It still exists today and has survived for centuries, it has existed since 775 AD but the backing of precious metals was removed in 1931.

Since 1931 it has been significantly devalued.

Most fiat currencies in history have been debased enough to end up with a market value of zero over time.

Any type of commodity can be used as money, even cigarettes which are commonly traded in jails, but gold clearly is king when it comes to having the highest qualities required for use as money.

Silver is a close second as it holds many of the same qualities as gold, but that is for another newsletter.

The Spiritual Allure Of Gold

If you have never held pure gold in your hand, I suggest you do what you can to be able to be able to experience it.

Perhaps you have a friend that has some, or you could start off with buying a single one ounce pure gold coin such as an Australian Kangaroo, a Canadian Maple Leaf, a South African Krugerrand or an American Eagle.

It needs to be done to fully understand its value.

You may marvel at the beauty, allure and weight. You may suddenly realise on a spiritual level its true value and why it has been so sought after for thousands of years.

It could also give you the conviction you need in your future gold investment strategy.

Gold fever.

The Mar-A-Lago Accord.

Matt Smith from Doug Caseys Crisis Investing Newsletter has recently written a great piece titled ‘Get ready for Trumps monetary reset’. I highly recommend you go and read it as it outlines the thesis of Trump’s future 'Mar-A-Lago Accord' in greater detail.

Trump wants a weaker dollar to make American exports more competitive.

A strong U.S dollar as the world’s reserve currency means Americans can buy things cheaply from overseas, but it also means there is less demand for American goods as they are too expensive relative to other sources.

This results in trade deficits.

This paradox is commonly referred to as Triffins dilemma.

Dr. Stephen Miran who is President Trump’s nominee for chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, wrote a paper in November 2024 titled "A User's Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System."

It is a detailed paper that outlines his vision for global trade.

Ultimately, they want to bring jobs and productive capacity back to America.

They want to make American made products more competitive for export and encourage overseas companies to setup manufacturing operations in America.

They want to achieve this through a dollar devaluation.

They also want to create a U.S sovereign wealth fund, and monetise existing U.S assets including gold. They want to do this in order to keep America strong during a dollar devaluation.

If they achieve the goal of dollar devaluation, it means that it will take more U.S dollars to buy one ounce of gold.

Dollar lower, gold higher.

Gold may be re-introduced again to back the currency in some way, in order to establish trust in the U.S dollar.

They could do this through direct backing of the currency. For example 1/20th of an ounce of gold redeemable for a fixed price in USD as it was before 1933, or through gold-backed treasury bonds.

Existing and new treasury bonds may be paid out in U.S dollars or the equivalent market price in gold which would stabilise the dollar.

Current market rates would price 1/20th of an ounce of gold at $151 USD, but that would not back the amount of dollars in circulation.

To gain an understanding of the size of the U.S money supply in relation to gold one needs to consider the amount of currency in circulation.

In order to back M0 money supply the price of gold would need to be around $20,000 USD per ounce.

M0 money supply is the most liquid form of money. It includes physical currency in circulation (coins and paper money) and bank reserves held at the Federal Reserve.

It does not include bank deposits or other financial assets.

If you were to revalue gold using M1 and M2 money supply figures which includes savings deposits, the price would need to be a lot higher.

Trump has already mentioned he wants to go into Fort Knox to audit the gold. The last official audit was completed in 1953 and it was only a partial audit.

This transitional period may result in a difficult period financially for everyone. Everyone may be a loser in the coming years but history has shown that one who holds gold will inevitably lose less.

How To Buy Gold

I personally like 1 troy ounce pure gold coins from reputable mints around the world. They are recognisable, very high quality and beautiful.

Consider that some gold coins incorporate other metals into the coin to make it more durable and resistant to scratches, as pure 0.9999 rated, 24 carat gold is relatively soft.

For example the American Gold Eagle contains copper and silver and the South African Krugerrand contains copper. They both weigh 1.09 troy ounce.

They both contain 1 troy ounce of gold, but are slightly heavier than a pure gold coin such as the Canadian Maple Leaf due to the extra metal used.

The five most popular gold coins globally are the American Gold Eagle, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the South African Krugerrand, the Austrian Gold Philharmonic and the Australian Gold Kangaroo. They are highly liquid and recognised.

Gold bars are available for usually a slightly lower premium, but they are not as beautiful as gold coins in my opinion and have less collector value.

Gold coins can have a legal tender face value and are usually available with a maximum gold content of 1 ounce.

Gold bars are available with a higher gold content, such as a 1 kilogram gold bar. You would pay less premium above spot price than you would if you were to buy the same amount of gold in 1 ounce gold coins.

It is up to personal preference which you choose.

It is always better to hold physical gold as there is no counter-party risk involved if you choose to store it yourself.

There are products available such as the Dirty Man Safe which you can use to store and protect your gold underground.

There are various global gold vaulting services available where you can buy and store your gold. To use these services would introduce counter-party and geographical risk, albeit very low.

Consider the reputation of these services and consider the location. It would be beneficial to choose a location where the risk of a government stealing your gold is minimal.

These services allow for you to withdraw your allocated gold in-person or via shipment at any time.

You can also gain exposure to physical gold via gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded physical gold trusts and gold mining stocks.

Investment in these instruments introduces considerable counter-party risk. The service may promise delivery of gold upon request, but one must consider default as a real possibility and risk.

There is a saying in the gold community, 'If you don't hold it, you don't own it'. This is generally a principle that should be adhered to.

You can buy physical gold directly from reputable mints around the world or from bullion dealers.

Here is a list of reputable mints that produce high quality gold coins and bars.

In Summation

In the interest of increasing personal freedom in ones life, preserving wealth, growing wealth and getting a good nights sleep, gold ownership is revealing itself to newly interested individuals as an intelligent allocation of capital.

It is the only financial asset that is not some else's liability.

If you hold an asset within a company, brokerage or exchange, they are liable to return your asset when you ask for it, or pay you if you sell it. The risk of default is real.

This risk is not present when holding physical gold.

Gold is money.

It has been used as money for 6000 years and will continue to be used as money into the future.

Happy investing.

-Shernon Hague

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Kyoto, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

The One Person Business Model

Shernon Hague — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 05:05:32 GMT

You may now be aware of the recent advances in artificial intelligence technology. Chat GPT, Grok, Midjourney and now recently Deepseek, have dominated discourse in the AI technology space.

The trend is clear.

As we endeavour to maintain maximum personal freedom in our lives, we must consider the effects artificial intelligence will have on society moving forward.

As the technology gets better it is probable that artificial intelligence will replace the need for human workers in many established positions.

It is happening right now in both white collar and blue collar industries. For example the company Ocado, a UK based online grocery retailer, has created advanced warehouses that utilise 3000+ robots to pick and pack grocery orders, which has significantly reduced labour costs.

I previously worked in logistics and I witnessed the high volume of workers involved. The large scale displacement effect of AI would produce a revolutionary change in the industry.

This is just one industry.

It is happening now everywhere. The probability is that the rate of change will only increase.

All entrepreneurs are incentivised to allocate capital towards the most efficient business processes. If it is cheaper to utilise artificial intelligence to do a task, they will utilise it.

This is a good thing.

If you lose your job it will allow you to redirect your time, energy and labour into an activity that is more productive and beneficial to society. At the same time your former employer will benefit from increased efficiency and productivity.

You can call this process creative destruction. An economic process where the old is constantly being replaced by the new, an essential process in a free, prosperous society.

If you mentally frame this process as a win-win situation it will lead to better outcomes for you, both financially and psychologically.

You may already hold this ideological position as a baseline. If you don't, you need to think about how you can position yourself in the future, in order to benefit from these exponentially unfolding economic and technological changes.

Creativity as the path forward

If many repetitive, programmable and some low-level creative tasks will be taken care of by AI in the future, we need to think about how we can provide value.

What can we provide that artificial intelligence can't?

As a human you have the creative ability to align yourself mentally towards any goal that you want to and move towards it. You can set goals, move forward and then error correct towards new goals if you obtain new information that deems it beneficial to do so.

Conversely artificial intelligence in its present state with its specialised nature, needs to be assigned a goal before it can work towards it.

There is no concept that the next frontier of AI, artificial general intelligence (AGI), can understand that humans cannot.

Therefore, embracing your unique perspective on topics, unique life experience, unique ability to synthesise information and your ability to align yourself towards a specific goal, will allow you to create value in a way that AI cannot.

You, through your perspective and solutions can become your own niche. You can establish a unique point of difference in the vast market of global goods and services available. Hence the recent popularisation of the concept and phrase, 'You are the niche'.

If you take this path by embracing your unique perspective and combining it with entrepreneurship, you can reduce the risk of technological creative destruction taking place in the workforce.

This path can give you the ability to create independent income as you develop the goal of becoming an entrepreneur and move towards it.

How do we achieve this? The way forward is to solve problems for people by utilising your intrinsic creativity as a human and become a deep generalist rather than a specialist.

This would involve working towards having a broad perspective and diverse range of knowledge and skills across various domains. You would be adaptable and be able to move quickly when making business decisions or pivoting.

If you are a writer but know how to edit videos, your ability to pivot to video-based content will involve less friction in the future.

To start this process you can learn multiple skills such as web design, writing, graphic design, marketing, copywriting, sales, audience building, branding, video editing, audio production, data analysis and product development.

You might have noticed these are all skills that can be learnt and performed digitally utilising the information superhighway (internet, communications networks). They are not constrained by geographical location.

This is the lowest cost, lowest friction way of getting started. Once you have made significant progress you could then branch out into the realm of physical products and brick and mortar locations if you desire.

From here, you can then take it one step further and pursue polymathic mastery, which is to go deeper and master several distinct disciplines as a process of evolution from the broad level perspective of a deep generalist.

Use your ability as a human to make connections and create value for people that AI cannot because of its specialised nature.

You most likely have knowledge and a skillset that can be shared with the world. If you don't, you can learn a new skill that can be shared with people that are just one or two steps behind you.

You don't have to be an expert to teach someone, you just need to be a little bit ahead of them.

This is the path forward.

Develop a vision for your life and use your unique creativity to provide the value that will manifest your vision.

This process will require you to think deeply about exactly what you want out of life.

It will be worth the effort.

You Will Encounter Resistance

A problem that you most likely have encountered, is that society will assign you a goal if you don't create one for yourself. The traditional education system, and the state, will be more than happy to do this for you.

Their goal is to produce a worker for their personal benefit.

It is in your best interest to create your own goals, then work towards acquiring the knowledge and skills required to achieve those goals. Not someone else's goals.

Most people lead a slave-like existence where one performs a specialised task for the rest of their life.

You could be in this situation right now, and be unconscious of the fact that it is slowly destroying your life.

I was in this position for many years, but I was very conscious of the fact that it was destroying my life. I had no clear mental path as to how to escape it. It took a complete re-examination and re-organisation of my life to get to where I am today, which is a hugely improved position with clear goals that have been set.

Creative destruction in a psychological sense perhaps.

My advice is to avoid being a slave now and into the future, unless you are very aware of your specialised position in society and are at peace with it. But be aware, if you stray from the pack and choose your own path, there will likely be intense resistance and ridicule from the people around you if they learn what you are doing.

Like crabs trying to pull their crab friend back into the bucket, as the courageous crab tries to escape certain death.

This process will require courage and decisive action.

If you care what people think about how you live your life, you will need to let go of that.

You need to embrace your creativity to become a deep generalist and pursue multi-disciplinary competence.

You must learn how to learn.

The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life. – Naval Ravikant

Become a V2 renaissance man.

Embrace radical personal responsibility, the pursuit of skill acquisition and step into the unknown.

Because no-one else will do it for you and your future prosperity requires it.

The One Person Business Model

The one person business is the model of the future that will give you the ability to create income for yourself, on your own terms by utilising your unique ability to synthesise information.

You start by solving problems in your own life through researching, implementing and testing potential solutions.

You develop a personal system that solves a problem for you.

You build an audience by creating content around this personal system and your interests.

You build a product or service around successful content topics.

This is the one person business in a nutshell.

It will allow you to prosper in the future entrepreneurial landscape and protect you from the threat of AI.

The simple framework:

Niche → Brand → Audience → Newsletter → Free product → Paid product → Landing page → Traffic and sales.

You can take these steps to start:

Choose three topics that you are interested in.
Create content around that knowledge, then release the content on a platform that suits your topic of interest. For example - Substack is popular for investment newsletters, X is popular for entrepreneurship, Youtube is popular for travel and Pinterest is popular for interior design.
Identify your topics that are performing best and double down on those topics. Pivot and try different topics if you feel it will be beneficial.
Develop a 'brand aesthetic' and consider how you present yourself to the world.
Build your audience through consistent release of content.
Reach out and communicate with like-minded people in your niche.
Write an email newsletter, create a way for your audience to subscribe to your newsletter, then distribute it. You could use a platform like Mailerlite or Substack. By acquiring the email addresses of your audience, it protects you from the risk of being de-platformed from any social media account. If this happens you will still have a way to reach your audience.
Build a small free or paid digital product or service.
Build a large digital product around the same topic. If you see interest and positive results from your small product, this is a positive sign that there will be interest in your larger product which will take more time to create. If there is no interest in the smaller product it may not be worth building the larger product.
Create a landing page where customers can view your products and buy them. Utilise your brand aesthetic here.
Direct audience traffic to your landing page. Provide links in your content or consider paid advertising if suitable for your niche.
Explore different avenues of monetisation such as software as a service, paid subscription newsletters or physical products once you have established an audience and have enough startup capital.

Essentially, you will focus on brand, content and product.

Brand - How you present yourself online.

Content - How you distribute your knowledge to other people.

Product - A personal system that you have tested which will help people solve a problem.

Process Notes

Build while learning. Instead of watching endless tutorials to learn how to build a project, just outline the project and start building it. A project can be a landing page, a budget, an email marketing campaign, a health plan, any task that will move you towards your vision. If you hit a roadblock, research how to perform the specific task that needs to be done and complete it. This will save precious time and ingrain the teachings in your mind.

Stack failures, this is where you learn the most. By failing, knowledge is acquired and new goals and opportunities will reveal themselves. You can now pivot toward these new goals if desired.

If you need time and motivation, you can implement geographical arbitrage by relocating to another country with a lower cost of living. It is a form of tactical stress that will motivate you to get work done. This is the path that I took.

If you don't have the financial means to do this and are currently an employee, you can discipline yourself to set aside the time to complete one hour of highly focussed work per day on your one person business.

Embrace radical self-education.

Buy courses, watch tutorials on Youtube, read books, listen to audiobooks and podcasts, find mentors and read high quality newsletters from creators you respect and gain value from. Do whatever it takes to acquire the knowledge that will move you towards your vision.

If you are doing something that does not sustainably move you towards your vision, this is to be treated as a distraction.

This process will take time. Possibly years so you will need to be ok with this.

Don't quit.

Develop A Foundational Economic Understanding Of The World

I am big on this.

Once you have built an income from your one person business, you can now use your increased learning skills to develop a foundational economic understanding of the world. Once developed, you can then start to invest your excess capital to grow or protect your wealth.

Read books, listen to podcasts, listen to thousands of hours of content from people who you respect and are more knowledgeable than you are.

I can recommend the books ‘Economics in one lesson’, by Henry Hazlitt and ‘Market Wizards’, by Jack D. Schwager as a starting point.

In addition to understanding economics and the mechanics of financial markets, this pursuit will help shape your philosophical core, and inform your views and positions on morality and ethics.

This will also help you in business.

You will be surprised at how an understanding of economics will shape your views of what constitutes good and evil.

Study the mechanics of the financial markets, choose asset classes, become a market participant and wisely invest your newly acquired capital for protection and/or growth as you see fit.

If you would like to know more about the one person business model, I recommend checking out Dan Koe, who writes brilliantly on this topic and also many more related topics.

I have a long way to go with my own one person business and have not reached the goals I aspire to yet. I will continue to document my journey in this newsletter.

Thank you very much for reading.

Best of luck.

-Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Kyoto, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

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Options Trading For Income

Shernon Hague — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:59:18 GMT

The knowledge required to invest and grow your wealth via ownership of assets, securities and commodities is not something that is taught in early traditional schooling.

Unless you pursue a degree in finance, chances are that you will have to educate yourself when it comes to understanding the mechanics of the stock market and investing.

Even if you do pursue a degree in finance at a traditional university, chances are that you will encounter heavy bias in what you are taught.

This can be due to various factors.

One factor is the state intervening in the education market by the means of regulation, subsidies, interest free loan backing, student debt forgiveness and state approved curriculums and agendas designed to serve individual interests.

If you are reading this in 2024 you are in luck.

There is currently mountains of free and paid educational content on the internet that you can utilise to educate yourself.

Content that is free from institutional bias and agendas that are pushed on either you, your children or people you know due to conflict of interest.

Albert Einstein remarked in an address given to the State University of New York in 1936, that the role of the school “must be the training of independently acting and thinking individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problem".

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. It’s a miracle that curiosity survives formal education”. - Albert Einstein

You are on your own when it comes to moving forward and increasing your useful knowledge base in this world.

In my opinion it would be wise to assume radical personal responsibility when it comes to your self-education in the particular fields of economics, finance and investing.

If an activity such as financing useful, prosperity increasing businesses and increasing your wealth is of importance to you, then you will find benefit in learning as much as you can.

When it comes down to it, on a per capita basis the amount of high quality goods and services available to you in a society directly correlates to a higher quality of life. It is possibly the most important indicator of a societies prosperity.

The entrepreneurial spirit that it takes to create these goods and services should be embraced and supported. Unhindered by the state.

The great news for you is that you are lucky enough to be able to self-educate as to the process, and invest in these productive businesses by purchasing shares of a company on a stock exchange.

By participating you are helping to fund the future growth of that company and you could be potentially be paid a dividend for your contribution.

There is always risk involved in these purchases. The risk for the investor is that the market value of your shares could go up or go down due to level of demand on the open market.

There is also counter-party risk to consider. What happens if your brokerage decides to not release your funds to you?

You will need to consider and compare the relative risks of holding your currency in physical form, in a brokerage account or in a traditional bank account.

Options Trading Overview

I have recently been trading stock options contracts through the Interactive Brokers brokerage platform.

Options contracts exist from market demand.

They are a way to address the demand from investors to protect themselves from their shares losing value. They are also a way to achieve profits by speculating in the upside potential of price increases in a particular stock.

You have the potential to produce income by selling ‘insurance’ for stockholders by the means of selling a 'put' option. You can also sell the opportunity for someone to buy a stock that you own for an agreed price by selling a 'call' option.

If you are new to options, you can look at selling puts like you are selling insurance to people who want to protect against the risk of their shares being destroyed by a 'hurricane'.

There is a lot more to know about this process, I will explain a little further but I will save in depth explanations for a future letter.

The process has been very exciting, financially lucrative and a great learning experience.

At this point, and with some applied discipline, It looks as though I will be able to sustainably fund my international lifestyle and pursuit of increased personal freedom mainly through options trading.

It is a fantastic feeling *touch wood.

One that I have been working towards for a long time.

Oh but there is risk. My trading strategy will work if markets continue to exist and if they can continue to rebound after historically reliable stock market crashes.

Market crashes can happen and could happen in the near future, so that is why it could be a good idea to consider risk management with your stock positions. You could consider asset class diversification and hedging your stock market positions.

You could also hold a form of hard money that has been a store of value for over five thousand years.

That money is of course gold….

The Strategy

The options strategy I have been implementing specifically is called ‘The Wheel Strategy’.

It is a strategy where you can collect income (premium) by selling cash secured puts at a specific strike price. At the same time you will be able to buy the stock at a discount if the price falls below the strike price of the contract.

You collect income and you also get to buy the stock at a lower price.

Once you are assigned or ‘put’ the stock, if your contract expires 'in the money' you will then have to buy the stock at the strike price of the contract. From here you can start to sell ‘covered calls’ to begin collecting income on the stock that you now own outright.

Selling a call option gives the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy your shares at the agreed upon strike price of the contract.

If the stock price moves higher above the strike price of your contract, you may get assigned on the call option you have sold, you now have to sell your stock at the strike price. The strike price should ideally be higher than what you bought the stock for originally.

You can repeat the process again by selling puts to enter a new position. The strategy is circular, hence the name 'the wheel strategy'.

There is a lot more to understand in this strategy but this is the general gist of it. Don't worry if this is over your head, in time it will become clear.

95% percent of my trading at this time has been selling puts to collect income.

If you are planning to buy a stock, selling puts to give yourself the opportunity to buy the stock at a cheaper price and collect income at the same time is a win-win situation. You are collecting premium when selling the put and you also gain the opportunity to buy the stock at a discount.

When applying this strategy you may miss out on gains from potential price increases in the stock. If you were to buy the shares outright you may be able to make more money initially.

Although, if you are bullish on the company moving into the future, selling puts to enter a position is a very safe way to generate income and acquire the stock at a price that you are happy with.

In the long run your returns should be higher than just buying the stock directly and holding it.

Opportunity To Increase Personal Freedom

If you are looking to increase personal freedom in your life and live an international lifestyle, options trading is one viable way to do it.

I personally plan to combine options trading, dividend investing, stock speculation, precious metals ownership and my one person creator business to provide income and grow my wealth into the future.

Much the same as with investing, I see it as wise to diversify income streams by working towards having multiple reliable income streams.

There is a fairly steep learning curve to understanding the process of options trading. Although like anything, it can be learned and understood with some dedication, hard work and genuine curiosity.

I personally worked through a paid options course along with my own research and study.

If you are looking for some free resources to get started, I can suggest checking out the ‘Invest with Henry’ YouTube channel, which contains tons of free educational content and courses. Henry also has a paid course available and a great Discord community with weekly group coaching calls that are very helpful.

There is plenty of activity within the community and I have found the input and resources to be extremely helpful.

I can also recommend Interactive Brokers as a trading platform.

To my knowledge they have access to the most international markets (stock exchanges) out of any brokerage. In my opinion they provide a rock solid trading platform with only a few operational software bugs I have experienced here and there.

Keep in mind that you will need level three options trading permissions to be able to sell puts on Interactive Brokers.

Brokerage platforms have certain minimum requirements that need to be met before granting you trading permissions. You may have to do a knowledge test and answer multiple questions regarding personal assets, income and financial liquidity.

Thank you for reading, I hope you have gotten some value from this letter.

Until next time.

Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Naoshima Island, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

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Entrepreneurship Versus Investing

Shernon Hague — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 09:36:06 GMT

If you are like me, you have made a decision in your life to pursue the path of entrepreneurship and to build wealth for yourself. To extricate yourself from a life situation that you are not happy with and to create a sustainable happy future.

We live in a world where if you don’t take things into your own hands and create a vision for your life, society will be more than happy to do that for you.

More worker serfs creates a population that is easier to control, reduces competition and makes it easier to implement and increase taxation.

Perhaps this is why I didn’t get taught personal finance in high school.

If you have managed to build some wealth for yourself, allocating your surplus capital efficiently in order to protect and grow it will become a process that you may want to consider.

Ideally and perhaps obviously you should produce more than you consume and save the difference (tell that to governments who like to produce nothing and also consume more than they receive in taxes).

I recently sold a property. I sold it for a price that was considerably higher than when I bought it 3 years previously.

The profit from this trade has been very beneficial and has opened up many new opportunities for me, but it has also created somewhat of a problem. A good problem to have.

How do I allocate this capital in order to protect it and grow it?

I have heard stories of successful entrepreneurs making good money early on with their business, and then celebrating by going on a big spending spree.

They buy nice cars and even take out loans to buy an expensive property thinking that their business income will continue at this rate forever.

If the demand for their goods and services stops, they have a problem.

If they invested a percentage of their capital or paid a money manager to grow and protect it, they could have been in a much better position financially.

That is if they had chosen their assets and money managers wisely.

This is why I believe developing a foundational economic understanding of the world is so important.

If you happen to acquire some wealth through employment, inheritance, real estate or speculation, having a macro view of the world and markets, and a macro thesis as to what is going to happen in the near to long term future can give you the confidence you need to allocate your capital effectively for gains and protection.

My story is that I knew very little about economics up until the age of 33, this is when I finally decided things had to change.

I relentlessly self-educated in the world of economics, finance and investing. I consumed hundreds of hours of podcast material and read many articles on those topics for years. I can say that I am very glad that I put in the hours doing that.

My hope is that for future generations they will be able to create a foundational economic understanding of the world much earlier in life than I did.

Thanks largely to the internet and the recent growth of decentralised education, this has already started to happen. The knowledge and wisdom required has never been more freely available and accessible.

Once you have developed a foundational understanding of economics, you can then develop a macro thesis relating to the world and markets. A current assessment and a future outlook.

All your major life decisions will be filtered through your views.

This acts as a potentially effective de-risking strategy when it comes to investing your hard earned capital.

You can better assess the probabilities of your investment working out in your favour.

One example would be assessing the probability of where interest rates on government bonds will be at a particular moment in time.

Learn the basic principles of Austrian economic theory and Keynesian economic theory, then decide which leads to better outcomes, knowing that Keynesian economic theory dominates the big Western countries today.

You can even come up with your own economic theories and test them.

If you haven’t started already I can recommend the book ‘Economics in one lesson’, by Henry Hazlitt as a good starting point to begin your journey.

Paid investment Newsletters

I recently purchased two investment newsletters.

They were ‘Crisis Investing’ and ‘Capitalist exploits insider’.

They are great newsletter services. I have very much enjoyed reading the issues and have found them to be hugely beneficial.

Below are the qualities I look for in the authors of investment newsletters:

I respect the author
We share the same macro thesis on the current state of markets and economics
We share similar values relating to morality and ethics
They are much more knowledgeable than me
They are much wealthier than me
They are better connected than me to people who have information that could lead to better investments

If everything seems in alignment, I apply my own version of due diligence then I am happy to try investing in some of the assets that they recommend.

Capitalist Exploits Insider

The Capitalist Exploits Insider newsletter is a great service where the writing topics cover unfiltered macroeconomic and geopolitical analysis, it also includes discussion on five stocks that have come onto the author Chris Macintosh’s radar recently.

Capitalist exploits implements an asymmetric investment strategy which focusses on stocks with a low downside risk but also a high upside potential.

Crisis Investing

As a big fan of Doug Casey and his wisdom I was always going to buy the Crisis Investing newsletter eventually.

Doug Casey, Matt Smith and Lau Vegys write a great newsletter based on stock picks either identified or endorsed by Doug.

The focus is on current and emerging stock opportunities in the precious metals and natural resource sectors.

In the VIP level of the subscription, you also have the opportunity to access private placements and warrants, allowing you to buy into a stock at lower than market prices, then also obtaining a warrant that allows you to purchase the stock at a fixed price in the future.

The subscription also comes with access to ‘The Phyle’ community and is hosted on Substack. Which means you can handily read the newsletters on your smartphone with the Substack app.

The writing provides great insight and also covers Plan ‘B’ and Plan ‘A’ concepts. Ways to de-risk your life and protect your purchasing power moving forward into this rapidly approaching global economic shit-storm.

I highly recommend these newsletters and see them as great value for money.

Entrepreneurship Vs Investing

I am early on in my journey when it comes to entrepreneurship and I have made more money through investing than selling products or services. Which has led me to analyse the amount of time I dedicate to either entrepreneurship or investing.

In terms of obtaining initial capital to invest, it is possible to do that either through being an employee or an entrepreneur. The huge problem lies in the fact that as an employee you have a ceiling on how much you can earn.

Therefore becoming an entrepreneur is the preferred option if you are looking to increase your income by the means of starting a business and scaling a product or service.

I won’t be giving up on entrepreneurship, but the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I am more suited to being an investor rather than being an entrepreneur.

I recently listened to an interview with the successful mining entrepreneur and philanthopist, Frank Giustra.

He believes that not everyone has the ability to be a successful entrepreneur.

Time will tell for me I guess.

For now, giving up is not an option.

Please do your own due diligence when it comes to investing, this is not financial advice. There is always risk with investing.

Thankyou for reading.

Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Kyoto, Japan 2016 | 35mm film

Capitalist Exploits Insider Program $1000 discount link

A Love Letter To Thailand.

Shernon Hague — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 08:12:52 GMT

I have been living in Thailand now for a little over one year. I arrived in June 2023. It was a time in my life that demanded immediate change.

As time passes and cycles of life and economics run their course, society and culture within countries will invariably change.

No matter how hard you cling on to the nostalgia of ‘the good old times’, there may come a time in your life where you suddenly find the environment you are in does not align with your personal ethics, life philosophy or views on morality any longer.

This happened to me.

I came to the realisation that If I wanted to live my life with a clear conscience and stay true to my values, I would have to leave my country in order to develop as a person and work towards my vision.

After spending many days researching different country options and weighing up the pros and cons, I ended up on a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. ‘The land of smiles’, so I’d heard.

It’s true, a smile from a Thai person can light you up for days. It is a real smile that warms the heart.

Something about Thailand excited me. Maybe it was the appealing condo tours I was watching on Youtube, maybe it was the low relative cost of living, maybe it was the friendly attractive girls, I’m not exactly sure but I felt the ‘vibe’.

My luggage didn’t arrive with my flight, but perhaps my excitement caused me to not worry about it too much. After the friendly airline staff helped me out, I took a taxi to my hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 4 at 10pm on a Friday night with only my backpack.

The timing was impeccable.

As you can imagine, landing smack bang in Nana at 10pm on a Friday night somewhat energised me, lol.

I stared wide-eyed out of my taxi as we cruised along towards Sukhumvit while absorbing the surroundings of Bangkok.

Excited, I arrived at my hotel, grabbed some food nearby and settled in for the night.

One of the psychological characteristics I have, is that I feel I am highly attuned to the energy of people and environments.

The ‘vibes’ so to speak. I’m able to sense and assess the energy of an environment and its people, then very quickly determine whether or not it is going to be a positive or negative experience if I were to remain there.

I immediately liked what I felt in Thailand.

I could taste the freedom in the air and I liked it.

As I have heard other foreigners observe in the past, you will likely feel a huge weight magically lift from your shoulders from simply being inside this beautiful country. Anxiety disappears, stress disappears, you feel calm, nothing bothers you.

All good things.

It was a much welcomed positive shock to my being.

I observed over the coming months that Thai people have each others backs. They look out for each other in a way that I haven’t seen in any other culture. It warms the heart and it results in a feeling of safety in your day to day life here.

When you enter one of the thousands of seven eleven’s in Thailand you will hear the familiar ‘Sawat-dii kha cheen kha’. A respectful greeting of “hello, welcome”, as you enter the store.

You expats living in Thailand know this well.

A high level of respect within a culture goes a long way and you might catch yourself smiling a lot more than you are used to.

I had suddenly developed a masculine urge to build things with my bare hands and lift heavy things for people. I put it down to the respectful culture, and perhaps the warm feminine energy emanating from the local female population.

After a couple of days settling in, I begin the grind of building and learning everyday, developing skills and attempting to build a location independent online business.

Relentless self education and project building characterise my life, as I revel in the easy-going day to day life in Thailand and the experience of living in a new country.

Much progress is made toward my goals and developing a clear vision for my life to strive towards.

My material desire largely disappears and I find that I am able to apply intense focus to my entrepreneurial tasks at hand and move steadily towards my vision.

All without having to waste precious mental resources to divert the negative energy that I regularly experienced in my home country.

Digging it so far.

I travel to Chiang Mai to stay there for a month. I date a girl, I visit Doi Suthep, I go to a waterfall and I experience the fantastic night market of never ending vendors within the old city walls.

There is a bit of magic in the air in Chiang Mai I think. Try listening to the track ‘Above Chiangmai’ by Brian Eno and Harold Budd. While listening, close your eyes and watch some video footage of the city on the internet. That will give you a good idea of the experience.

It also happens to be an ambient piano masterpiece.

That song along with ‘Head in the ceiling fan’ by Title Fight have become theme songs for my time in Thailand. Ready for memory recall when I will surely reminisce about my past experiences.

I return to Bangkok and decide to stay there long-term to be able to focus on work.

I recommend Bangkok as the best place to live in Thailand if you are starting an online business or working remotely. The Thai people appreciate convenience, and convenience you will get if you choose to live in the Big Mango.

Just be sure to live within a ten minute walk to a BTS station and a nice cafe or co-working space. Any longer than a ten to fifteen minute walk and you will be sweating balls in this Thailand heat.

If so desired, you will be able to lease a very affordable condominium in Bangkok. One that will most likely include a high quality co-working space, a gym, a pool, multiple creative spaces and unique leisure and recreational spaces.

Incredible bang for buck.

You might not use the facilities that much because you will be hustling, but they are very nice to have.

If you are not a retiree and want to live an entrepreneurial lifestyle, I believe Bangkok is the optimal place to do that within Thailand. Chiang Mai is also great for this but you may find you miss the opportunities and options available in the large metropolis of Bangkok.

For me island life and beach life in places like Phuket and Pattaya present too many distractions if you are looking to get work done. But I definitely have the utmost respect for those that are killing it in business on the islands.

Those guys and gals have some serious focus abilities.

When it comes to the cost of life necessities such as food, shelter and water you can keep the costs very low here if you want to.

It seems to me that Thai people earning a lower-end salary are able to afford comfortable accommodation and also healthy restaurant or street food in Bangkok. This is what I have gathered from my observations anyway.

A low salary in my home country cannot really buy you comfortable accommodation without sharing. Dining out will be a luxury expense, indulged in rarely.

There is something for everyone here.

If you want to live it up and spend big on accommodation and food and leisure, you most definitely can. If you want to spend the bare minimum on these things and just survive comfortably, you most definitely can as well.

The geographical arbitrage of exchanging a stronger currency for the Thai Baht holds immense power.

For me I’ve noticed a three to seven times increase in purchasing power through exchanging Australian dollars for Thai Baht.

Except for Starbucks coffees though. Damn they are expensive. Also technology products, you’re not really going to get the arbitrage there.

The life essentials, yes. You will substantially increase your purchasing power and quality of life if you hold a stronger currency than the Thai Baht.

It may not always be like this. Who knows, perhaps the Thai Baht will be in higher demand in the future and become more like the Singaporean dollar.

High relative future growth in South-East Asian economies seems to be probable in my opinion. Although public and private debt levels can be high, demographics and GDP growth are relatively favourable when compared to economies globally. Just look at recent Cambodian GDP growth per capita figures, they are very positive.

The future looks bright.

I enroll in a Thai language school and attend Thai language classes online two days per week. My teacher is great and I stick it out with her for a full year. I enjoy learning a new language properly for the first time as I observe the high turnover of my classmates.

It makes sense I guess, people need to make cash and perhaps language class isn’t at the top of the priority list.

I walk around different Thai neighbourhoods and see little fat smiling buddha statues and spirit houses that stand proud and remain remarkably unvandalised. A testament to a peaceful and highly respectful culture influenced by buddhist principles.

After a two month stint in Nonthaburi, I leased a condo near Punnawithi BTS station in the Phra Khanong district of East Bangkok.

I stayed at a hotel in the area previously and enjoyed the quieter local vibes when compared to central Sukhumvit. Near this hotel, I randomly discovered the perfect hangout for budding digital entrepreneurs in Bangkok – True Digital Park. This became my second home for the next 8 months in Thailand.

An observation – By far the biggest positive of Thailand for me is that it is incredibly welcoming. You can be yourself, there will be no judgement and you can live your life as you wish.

Live and let live as they say.

In day to day life, I believe people should be able to take on any risk they desire. Even if there is a chance it could be detrimental to them. It is a characteristic of a free society.

A simple unhindered risk/benefit analysis is a beautiful thing. It is one’s own decision.

That is what I want in a society and Thailand lives up to its reputation in this regard.

It is hard to articulate this feeling in words. You just have to come here and experience it, as many foreigners have done and will continue to do.

As I write these words and think about how I have come to love this country, I feel tears welling up in my eyes….

That is how much of an impact your environment can have on you.

My experience is that changing your environment can be hugely transformative and positive.

If living in your home country has become unviable for you, don’t be afraid to go where you are treated best.

Your life could drastically improve.

Much love and gratitude to the people of the kingdom of Thailand, please don’t lose what you have created.

Create, generate and move forward……

Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

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I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.
Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Bangkok, Thailand 2023 | Fujifilm X-S10

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Developing A Vision.... The Philosophy.

Shernon Hague — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 07:51:41 GMT

In this newsletter I would like to talk about developing a vision for your future.

Having no clarity of vision means you are aimlessly stumbling through life and allowing yourself to create the outcomes that society has set for you.

Go to school, work hard, get good grades, get a reliable secure job with decent pay, save money, buy a house with a mortgage, settle down with your girlfriend/boyfriend, get married, chip away at your mortgage for the next 30 years, pay taxes, take a holiday every now and then until you die.

If this doesn’t sound like your ideal life then read on.

If you are living out a vision that society has assigned to you, you need to be aware that it is going to take a complete re-alignment of your current mental framework in order to tear you away from this.

It will take time but don’t be deterred. Once you have developed a vision, the time factor will become a minor consideration.

First you need to develop a strong vision for your future.

You then need to analyse everything you are doing in your life.

Eliminate any activity that doesn’t serve your vision.

Plan your life so that anything you do moves you towards your vision. You can do this by creating a daily schedule of work blocks and constantly iterating.

Everything else is to be treated as a distraction.

This is incredibly important.

As you work towards this vision you will gain immense mental clarity and confidence.

Prior activities and routines that do not serve your goals will disappear from your life and you will not even notice they weren’t there.

Incorporate meaningful rest to let your mind process what you have learnt and let your vision guide you.

Creating Your Vision

Set some time aside to write down exactly what you want out of life. Be very specific.

Your vision will change over time, it will be an iterative process.

You will gain more clarity during your progression and you may pivot.

This is ok, just keep refining.

If you don’t know what niche or content themes to pursue with your business, consider completing an ‘Ikigai’ exercise. You can learn about that here.

Daily Process

If you are carrying out a task or activity that is moving you toward your vision you will feel the positive dopamine hit in anticipation of completing a valuable task.

Your brain will produce dopamine when pursuing your intrinsic goals and reward you.

Learn to trust your instincts and emotions.

When you feel like you are spending your time in a fashion that does not align with your vision, you will start to feel anxious and frustrated.

Take note of these tasks or activities that produce these negative emotions and quickly re-align your focus towards doing a task that moves you towards your vision.

This task or activity when completed or nearing completion, will give you that dopamine hit which signals to you that you have made good use of your time and that you are on the right path.

This is good.

In this process of carrying out our vision we are fighting entropy. Entropy is the tendency for matter in a closed system to tend towards disorder.

We need to develop a system derived from our vision that will allow you to recognise entropy and when to release it.

We may set a work block timer for 90 minutes of deep work.

We may enter a deep work flow state very quickly but at the 80 minute mark we may feel entropy taking hold and we lose our ability to focus and be productive.

At this point we can recognise what is happening in our mind and we can then release entropy by doing something like going for a walk.

Your daily routine will be a process of constant iteration in order to optimise efficiency and productivity.

Stack failures in this process.

Don’t be scared of this.

Remove what doesn’t work and keep testing different methods for improving your routine.

You will develop confidence and anxiety will be vastly reduced.

You will learn to recognise the healthy dopamine signals your brain is giving you when you are successfully moving toward your vision.

Create, generate and move forward

It is up to you as to whether you decide to take control of your life, create your own vision and move towards it. Or work for someone else’s vision that has been assigned to you.

If you choose the former, the process will hopefully create more personal freedom and joy for yourself.

Go forth and create. Good luck….

– Shernon

P.S

If you are interested in supporting my work feel free to check out my products and affiliate partnerships below.

The High Fidelity Podcaster - Professional audio course for podcasters and creators.

Investment programs and newsletters:

Gold and silver bullion purchases and vault storage:

I recommend the services of Bullionstar in Singapore and Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP Cayman) in the Cayman Islands.

Thank-you for your support.

*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.