Terry Savage - The Savage Truth on Money

Cover design: Wiley
Cover image: John Reilly Photography, Chicago, IL

2020 by Terry Savage Productions, Ltd.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ISBN 978-1-119-64544-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-119-64530-6 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-119-64548-1 (ePub)

For Harry

A simple Savage Truth opened the first edition of The Savage Truth on Money: If it were that easy to be wealthy, wed all be rich.

Its a lesson that each generation must learn for itselfwhether its a belief that home prices can never decline, that stock prices wont drop, or that student loan debt will assure financial success. Every unrealistic expectation includes a nugget of factbut the most basic fact is that you cannot ignore the truth.

Today, technology is a good example. Yes, blockchain will definitely change the world, bringing speed, security, and efficiency to global transactions. But Bitcoin and other cyber-currencies are unlikely to make you rich overnight. Or marijuana may be legalized, but most cannabis stocks will likely provide wealth that goes up in smoke.

Every generation finds its own easy ways to get richor live as if it were rich. At one time, it seemed simple to make a fortune in the stock market. That was before the 1929 stock market crash, or the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000.

Then it seemed easy to get rich in real estate, not only on your own home, but by buying and flipping new homes and condos. And if you didnt invest your way to easy wealth, you could always borrow your way to richesliving beyond your means via home equity loans and credit card offerings. That unrealistic hope crashed in the financial crisis of 2008.

Sadly, every generation learns its own lessons about unrealistic expectations the hard way.

Its an old SavageTruth: The lessons that cost the most, teach the most.

At the peak, there is unrealistic optimism. Then, dreams and illusions are shattered, and a sense of pessimism abounds. The Savage Truth is that neither extreme is correct, but we are always carried to extremes by our own belief that what is current will continue into the future. Thats why we need to understand the basic Truths about money, markets, and human emotions.

Truths dont change like fashion or emotions. The Savage Truths you could have learned in the first edition of this book have not been dented by the market volatility or economic boom or recession. Thats not to say you could have avoided all the negative impacts of the past decades. But those who were unable or unwilling to see the basic Truths found that their personal finances took a much larger hit than those who had more perspective and more discipline.

The first edition of The Savage Truth on Money was written before the dot-com bubble burst. The second edition came out after the global financial collapse and the mortgage crisis, which shook our faith in financial institutions and our own financial future.

We are entering a new cycle. Since the last edition of The Savage Truth Americas national debt has grown from $14 trillion to $22 trillion! Its a number that is impossible for the human mind to conceive and will likely be almost impossible to repay. (If you want to know the real dimensions of our debt, which includes earned promises to future Social Security and Medicare recipients, go to www.TruthinAccounting.org. The number keeps relentlessly ticking higher, and is more than $118 trillion at this writing.)

Global belief in the strength of America is based not only on our economic and military might. It is rooted in a global acceptance of the U.S. dollar as the medium of exchange.

That strength helped us lead the world out of the global crisis in the first decade of this century. And now, despite attempts to withdraw or set barriers, we are inextricably linked to the rest of the world through global trade interdependency. There are few places to hide. So you must remain alert when thinking about what to do with your money.

That doesnt mean you have to be an economic expert or a daily market trader to manage your money successfully. Quite the contrary; The Savage Truth on Money is designed to help you create a financial plan for your futureusing all the resources of technology, the best people in the financial planning industry, and your own good judgment based on sound principles and basic Truths.

Understanding these Savage Truths wont change the economy. That is a function of political power and human nature. But knowledge and perspective can change your financial future and allow you to be successful, or at least to survive, the changing times in which we live.

These Truths are even more relevant today. Context may change, but principles remain the same. Weve become more accustomed to technology, more used to instantaneous access to financial information, and more accepting of the fact that every day brings a new financial decision. But human nature has not changed, especially when it comes to money.