I use to give out investment advice to people.  I thought because I made some decent money in the markets in the 90′s, I knew what I was doing and talking about. I now know I knew nothing.  ;)  

I do still read a lot though.  And I love to read financial blogs for bits and pieces of sage wisdom.   I came across this quote from Barry Ritholtz of “The Big Picture” finance blog today:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/quote-of-the-day-on-markets/

“It is the markets’ job to reallocate money from the ignorant to the intelligent, from the lazy to the hard working and studious; from the naive to the educated, and from the speculator to the investor.”

And then this rebuttal in the comments section of the same blog from somebody with a handle of “Tom K”:

“It is the governments’ job to reallocate money from the reponsible to the irresponsible, from the hard working and studious to the lazy; from the prudent to the greedy, and from the self-sufficient to the dependent.”

If you are a student or follower of global capital markets both of these quotes are insanely brilliant and comically mad at the same time.  We have found ourselves in “no mans land” as our economy has ground to a halt and our system of govt has continued to make mistake after mistake in trying to help solve the matter.  Where we go from here is merely conjecture and speculation.  

What I do know is that NOBODY TRULY KNOWS and if you believe otherwise, it’s likely you are being duped in one way or another for that person’s or company’s financial gain.  

The Muscle Couple’s financial advice for 2009 is thus:

• Be conservative with your money especially your retirement accounts.
• Make sure you have enough to survive unemployed for 4 months.  
• Reduce your expenses.
• Build your personal Brand online and off
• Prepare for a job search before you are laid off(Resume-Strategy-References)
• Try to save double what you normally save every month
• If you are going to invest, make sure you own some precious metals(Index Funds and actual Silver and Gold Coins or Bouillion)
• Learn about Options Trading(No Capital Gains Taxes)
• Have a Survivalist Creedo in the event of further economic instability(Reserves of Water-Protein Powder and Canned Goods, Firearm with Extra Ammunition)

If you do the majority of those things, you will best insulate yourself.

Much more from the Muscle Couple to come.  Lots of exciting stuff happening.

MIHWCS