Grant Williams: Rumors of War and Whiplash as the Old Paradigm Ends

Tom welcomes a new and yet well-known guest, Grant Williams, to the show. Grant discusses how being flexible in mindset is important as in the world of social media, people can be quite dogmatic. Admitting your mistakes is key, as everyone is just trying to figure out the future. He is quite cautious about giving actionable advice because people may not understand how he came to his conclusions. Helping people come to their own decisions is better than simply telling people what to do. Jim Cramer is an example of someone who spews nonsense and provides generally bad advice every day. Everyone and everything today is at risk in these volatile times. People need to be aware. Things are changing and government's may intervene in ways that benefit them at your expense. There are plenty of pensions around the West that are carefully re-evaluating their risks given what happened in the United Kingdom. Many of these are vulnerable because they have taken on more risks to find returns. Grant discusses the importance of having a plan for positioning and exiting in markets, and why it's crucial to avoid emotion. The hubris of Fed officials is remarkable, and the fact they've raised interest rates four times demonstrates just how bad a job they've been doing. Gold is not completely safe from confiscation, but there are always places in the world where it will be used. Bitcoin is likely to be directly competing with Central Bank Digital Currencies at some point, and that may entail additional risks. Time Stamp References:0:00 - Introduction1:36 - Transitory Conclusions6:35 - Testing Your Ideas8:20 - Shifting Cycles & Risk14:03 - U.K. Cracks & Confidence19:10 - Dry Powder & Opportunity21:25 - Emotions & Trading26:12 - Confidence in Japan31:28 - Energy Prices & Crisis33:32 - Dollar Divestment38:14 - Existential Lines41:28 - Feds Extreme Hubris43:44 - Japan & Inflation?48:16 - Gold & Hedge Funds52:19 - Fiat Alternatives59:08 - Travel & Spending1:02:05 - Wrap Up Guest Links:Website: https://www.grant-williams.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ttmygh Grant Williams, much to his dismay, has logged over 35 years in finance. During that time, he’s lived and worked in seven major financial centers from London to Sydney, building the kind of network that many others can only dream about. He began his career in the Japanese equity market in the mid-1980s, before a three-year posting to Tokyo ensured he had a ringside seat as the twin bubbles in equities and real estate burst simultaneously and spectacularly at the end of 1989. After a short stint back in London, Grant relocated once again, this time to New York, where he spent 7 years. Subsequent postings have taken him to Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and the Cayman Islands. Currently, he is a senior advisor to Matterhorn Asset Management AG in Switzerland, and a portfolio and strategy advisor to Vulpes Investment Management in Singapore. Back in 2014, Grant’s ambition to bring the most intelligent, engaging, and original people in finance to a wider audience led him to co-found Real Vision, an on-demand internet-based financial media platform. Grant’s twin Real Vision interview series, In Conversation With… and On The Road, raised the bar for financial content – engaging and educating viewers in equal measure and helping them learn the secrets behind a group of extraordinary investors’ success. Long before Real Vision, however, Grant was guiding people around the fringes of finance with his regular newsletter, "Things That Make You Go Hmmm…", a publication which, from humble beginnings as a daily note to a few friends and colleagues, has grown into one of the most widely read financial publications in the world.