the best way to prepare for financial uncertainty
DESCRIPTION
How to make money when everyone else is loosing the farm! Retired or not!TRANSCRIPT
The Best Way to Handle Retirement During Uncertain
Times
If you feel uncertain about what will happen to your nest egg, then you need
to put it into a vehicle that has more certain
performance.
Every market is driven by supply and demand.
What makes a market uncertain is the fact that those supply and demand
forces are uncertain.
While the stock market performs well when
averaged over 100 years, there were massive
crashes and booms strung throughout that history.
If you are young, then you can afford to ride the
waves as they go up and down.
If you are nearing or in retirement now, then you
can’t afford to find yourself in another
recession with another 8 year recovery.
With less than one third of the stock market owned by individuals, we are at
the mercy to the whims of how the big players
behave. I don’t pretend to understand their agenda.
And I also don’t pretend that the stock market is a truly free market that is
not manipulated.
It might not be illegally manipulated, but when big
corporations own two thirds of the market, they
can surely create their own supply and demands
forces at will.
So what other options are there?
A market actually does exist where the supply and demand forces are always
very certain.
The stability of the supply and demand forces in this market are so strong, they
create immense wealth over time with little
volatility.
The largest private corporation in the entire
world actually started as a home business back in
1865.
They have grown so large, they don’t dwarf their
competitors, they have completely eliminated
them.
This company is also so large, they intentionally
stay off of our radar. Once I knew how much power they had over my life, I
despised them.
But I am not here to bash this international
corporate monster. I am here to show you how they got so wealthy.
Why am I taking the time to do this? Because we all
can now leverage the stable yet powerful forces
of the same market to create our own wealth.
The company’s name is Cargill.
The market they leveraged is food.
The opportunity is now yours with a new
instrument called bulk food holdings.
Let’s first look at the stable and powerful
performance of the food market.
It has the same two forces as every other market:
1. Supply2. Demand
Prices go up when demand is higher than supply.
Prices go down when supply is higher than
demand.
In the food market, demand is higher than supply, virtually all the
time.
Let me start by explaining that the bulk food market is an international market, so
supply and demand is not only coming from domestic
pressure
This fact even further exacerbates the pressures that constantly push prices
up.
Let’s look at what drives demand:
1. Population2. Eating Habits
3. The Nature of Necessity
1. Population: The steady growth of population directly affects the
steadily growing demand for food.
Year World Population
% change
US Population
% change
1950 2,557,628,654 151,868,000
1960 3,042,828,380 19% 179,979,000 19%
1970 3,712,338,708 22% 203,984,000 13%
1980 4,450,929,761 20% 227,224,681 11%
1990 5,287,869,228 19% 249,622,814 10%
2000 6,090,319,399 15% 282,162,411 13%
2010 6,866,054,281 13% 309,326,225 10%
2. Eating habits:When the US economy
goes into deep recession, people still find the money to eat well, go out to eat,
and watch movies.
When other investments are tanking (because
consumers are just not buying any more cars, for example) The demand for
food actually increases
Consumers alleviate the stress of the economy by eating
more, and they also horde and save food out of fear. Both behaviors create a stronger
demand in economic downturns.
3. The Nature of Necessity:It’s just a simple fact that
everyone needs to eat every day.
If you just think about it, this is one of the most ideal forces that could
drive a market.
All other industries have consumers with erratic
behaviors. All of them. And most industries have manufacturers and
distributors with changing performance.
From real estate, to technology, to clothing, to
automobiles, to oil and gas. Demand simply
changes based on many different factors.
Now let’s look at what drives supply.
1. Land2. Harvest Yields/ Failures3. Reserves (the BIG one)
1. Land
The data on the land shows that even though
supply is steadily growing, the arable land in the US
is not.
Arable land per capita is the amount of farm land available for each person in a country. It is shrinking all over the
world at an alarming rate.
India is one of the largest exporters of rice in the world, this 45% drop in
arable land has significantly contributed to
the huge jump in rice prices.
Some people have accused the arable land per capita data to
be only a reflection of increased population.
Here are the actual harvested acres in the US per the USDA.
Acreage of US Principle Crops
Year Harvested Acres
% Change
1950 336,437 1960 315,818 -6.1%1970 283,096 -10.4%1980 340,103 20.1%1990 307,768 -9.5%2000 307,955 0.1%2010 304,646 -1.1%2013 303,755 -0.3%
Amount of farm land has mostly gone down while demand has been
steadily rising.
2. Harvest Yields/ Failures
I will show you a chart of the actual harvest of 5 bulk foods over the past
23 years. Take a look at the total increase at the bottom. With
population growing about 1% a year a 23 year crop yield increase should be
at least 23%
Year Beans % Oats % Potatoes % Rice % Wheat % Corn %1990 32,379 357,654 402,110 156,088 2,729,778 73,075 1991 33,765 4.3% 243,851 -31.8% 417,622 3.9% 159,367 2.1% 1,980,139 -27.5% 74,962 2.6%1992 22,615 -33.0% 294,229 20.7% 425,367 1.9% 179,658 12.7% 2,466,798 24.6% 78,146 4.2%1993 21,862 -3.3% 206,731 -29.7% 430,349 1.2% 156,110 -13.1% 2,396,440 -2.9% 69,756 -10.7%1994 28,950 32.4% 228,844 10.7% 469,425 9.1% 197,779 26.7% 2,320,981 -3.1% 78,231 12.1%1995 30,689 6.0% 161,094 -29.6% 445,099 -5.2% 173,871 -12.1% 2,182,708 -6.0% 70,531 -9.8%1996 27,912 -9.0% 153,245 -4.9% 499,254 12.2% 171,599 -1.3% 2,277,388 4.3% 78,251 10.9%1997 29,370 5.2% 167,246 9.1% 467,091 -6.4% 182,992 6.6% 2,481,466 9.0% 78,725 0.6%1998 30,418 3.6% 165,768 -0.9% 475,667 1.8% 184,443 0.8% 2,547,321 2.7% 78,502 -0.3%1999 33,146 9.0% 145,628 -12.1% 478,093 0.5% 206,027 11.7% 2,295,560 -9.9% 76,524 -2.5%2000 26,543 -19.9% 149,165 2.4% 513,544 7.4% 190,872 -7.4% 2,228,160 -2.9% 78,522 2.6%2001 19,610 -26.1% 117,602 -21.2% 437,673 -14.8% 215,270 12.8% 1,947,453 -12.6% 74,910 -4.6%2002 30,312 54.6% 116,002 -1.4% 458,171 4.7% 210,960 -2.0% 1,605,878 -17.5% 76,452 2.1%2003 22,492 -25.8% 144,383 24.5% 458,199 0.0% 199,897 -5.2% 2,344,415 46.0% 77,527 1.4%2004 17,743 -21.1% 115,695 -19.9% 455,806 -0.5% 232,362 16.2% 2,156,790 -8.0% 79,732 2.8%2005 26,576 49.8% 114,859 -0.7% 423,788 -7.0% 222,833 -4.1% 2,103,325 -2.5% 81,047 1.6%2006 24,155 -9.1% 93,522 -18.6% 440,698 4.0% 194,585 -12.7% 1,808,416 -14.0% 77,125 -4.8%2007 25,586 5.9% 90,430 -3.3% 444,875 0.9% 198,388 2.0% 2,051,088 13.4% 92,580 20.0%2008 25,558 -0.1% 89,135 -1.4% 415,055 -6.7% 203,733 2.7% 2,499,164 21.8% 84,535 -8.7%2009 25,427 -0.5% 93,081 4.4% 432,601 4.2% 219,850 7.9% 2,218,061 -11.2% 85,095 0.7%2010 31,801 25.1% 81,190 -12.8% 404,273 -6.5% 243,104 10.6% 2,206,916 -0.5% 87,013 2.3%2011 19,890 -37.5% 53,649 -33.9% 429,647 6.3% 184,941 -23.9% 1,999,347 -9.4% 89,924 3.3%2012 31,925 60.5% 64,024 19.3% 462,766 7.7% 199,543 7.9% 2,266,027 13.3% 94,754 5.4%2013 24,486 -23.3% 65,879 2.9% 437,483 -5.5% 189,886 -4.8% 2,129,695 -6.0% 93,924 -0.9%
23 Yr Change -24.4%
-81.6% 8.8% 21.7% -22.0%
28.5%
You can see in some years all the crops did poorly when there was widespread drought, and
sometimes only one crop would fail due to blight, or a regional
problem.
This data shows you the dramatic disconnect between harvest yields and demand for
food.
Farmers are just not able to produce enough to keep up.
Which bring us to the third force on the supply:
3. Reserves
These are extra food stores that are not consumed but saved for
later when a future harvest is low.
Going back as far as recorded history, we have read about civilizations storing up their
food for their own security. It is basic wisdom to store up like
the ants.
What does the US do with that ancient wisdom?
Our government completely ignores it!
The modern concept of Strategic Food Reserves was first
proposed in the 30’s, then further established by president Roosevelt. Then, in 2007 the US government has basically sold off its entire food reserves with
the ending of the 2002 Farm bill.
The logic was that since our food is sourced from around
the world we would be able to rely on other nations as our
grain reserves.
The problem with this strategy is that Cargill, our international food giant, has been shaping the landscape so that each
region “monocrops” the land with the crop it is best suited to
grow. So each region has it’s specialty.
In a perfect world, having a region specialize in one crop makes the price go down and yields go up.
But, if a drought or blight hits that region, there are no other regions growing the same crop and that
one crop supply world-wide suffers drastically.
Here is how Cargill puts it:"There is a mistaken belief that the greatest agricultural need in the developing world is to develop the capacity to grow food for local consumption. That is misguided. . . Countries should produce what they produce best, and trade.”
-Whitney MacMillan Chairman of Cargill 1995
So in 2007, all grain reserves were consumed. And the US
government has yet to reestablish any.
Then, serendipitously, during the crash of 2008, our Cargill,
who privately owns its own massive grain reserves, shows a huge profit while everyone
else drowns.
Here’s an except from an LA Times article:
“Cargill, the largest private company in the world, began its business in 1865—
with a grain silo. Today it is believed that Cargill's global network of silos store more grain than any other private company…
But no one knows for sure because, like the Chinese, Cargill executives keep the
amount of grain they buy, sell and store a secret. In 2008, Cargill parlayed its
immense wheat holdings into an 86% jump in profits on global commodities
exchanges…
Such windfalls during times of panic, price hike and scarcity are not surprising:
Since the days of food shortages in ancient Greece and Rome, spikes in the price of bread encourage grain bankers
to hoard, not bring more grain to market.”
-LA Times 2012
Here is a link to the whole article:
How to fight a food crisis,by: Frederick Kaufman
Not only was Cargill immensely profitable during economic upheaval, but they built their world-wide empire
on food.
To understand how big and powerful this empire (that started with a single grain
silo) truly is- They are the only western company to own an
entire port in China (Yangjiang).
They do business in 172 countries and employ over
80,000 people.
Unlike publicly traded companies, they built their wealth without the massive
capitalization that share holders provide.
They just consistently worked in a market that performed
year after year, decade after decade, without any major
setbacks.
They understood something that the modern investor
doesn’t.
The power of owning food.
Let me re-iterate a simple fact that you MUST understand:
The demand for ALL other products and services in
America will ebb and flow with the economy, except FOOD.
Now that you are more familiar with how the food market works let’s look at
price history.
The World BankThis is the World Bank’s data on food prices
world-wide since 2000.
Yearly Price Increase of Food Eaten at HomeThis chart is from Northwestern University. The way you
read it is by looking at where the line is for any given year, if the line is above zero, then prices increased by that
percentage over the previous year’s prices.
Yearly Price Increase of Food Eaten at HomeNotice 2002 is the only flat year (the yearly increase is
near zero). The red line is the 20 year average. It’s right there with inflation, around 3%. Food prices have just NOT
gone down over 20 years according to Northwestern University.
Let’s go back even further to 1970’s:
From the USDA
Let me explain this chart. Every year the price of food goes up. The green bar is the average rate of increase over the 10 year decade. 8% is extremely
high for the 70s, because if 8% is the average, some years saw huge hikes, in fact a couple years
were over 20%!
Notice this leading statement
They want you to see this:(because they feel like it’s their job to keep food
affordable)
They also are showing you a chart that visually goes down, yet the actual price of food has been
going up- every year. Anything above 0% means it increased in price from the previous year.
But look at the years down here on the last bar, we are only 40% through the decade at this point!
There is plenty of room in the next 6 years to see this:
What would cause this to happen? Well in the very same article, they describe what happened in the
70s which made the prices soar.
“Considering the U.S. economy as a whole, inflation for consumer goods, including food, was abnormally high almost across the board starting in 1973. This coincides with a major depreciation
of the U.S. dollar that took place in the early 1970s and raised the cost of imported goods. At the
same time, a sharp rise in fuel and energy prices resulted from global shortages in supply, which had ripple effects throughout the economy and
took many years to abate.”-USDA Article on Food Prices on April 07, 2014
Here’s the Link to see for yourself:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2014-april/food-prices%E2%80%94taking-the-long-term-view.aspx#.U2hc-4FdX84
Have we been facing a depreciating dollar like they did
in the 70s?
Read an except from the summary of a congressional report:
The Depreciating Dollar: Economic Effects and Policy Response
Craig K. Elwell Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy
February 23, 2012
“A depreciating currency could affect several aspects of U.S. economic
performance. Possible effects include increased net exports, decreased
international purchasing power, rising commodity prices, and upward pressure on interest rates; if the trend is sustained, the
United states may also experience a reduction of external debt,
possible undermining of the dollar’s reserve currency status, and an elevated risk of a
dollar crisis.”
“To give Congress the economic context in which to view the dollar’s recent and
prospective movement, this report analyzes the evolution of the exchange rate since its peak in 2002. It examines several factors
that are likely to influence the dollar’s medium-term path, what effects a
depreciating dollar could have on the economy, and how alternative policy measures that could be taken by the
Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the 112th Congress might influence the dollar’s
path.”
Does that strike your core as it does mine?
Is this not exactly what we are all bracing ourselves for?
Is this not the exact scenario that is unfolding before our very
eyes?
Is Cargill going to be the only one with the foresight to cash in
on another multi-billion dollar windfall decade?
When massive drought plagues our nation, is Cargill going to be
the only one with answers?
I see a future for our nation where the American people
have their own grain reserves?
Is not right now, the perfect time to get out of the stock
market? At the top, and diversify whatever portion you
deem wise, and shift gears going into this next season of a
changing economy?
The US is in great transition. We are being pulled down from
being the international power house to being an international
house mate.
Many of us have seen this coming for a long time. And the
necessary ingredient of this shift is the weakening of the
dollar.
And you just heard, straight from both the USDA and a congressional report, what
happens to food prices when the dollar goes down.
Here’s the USDA’s quote again:
“Considering the U.S. economy as a whole, inflation for consumer goods, including food, was abnormally high almost across the board starting in 1973. This coincides with a major depreciation
of the U.S. dollar that took place in the early 1970s and raised the cost of imported goods. At the
same time, a sharp rise in fuel and energy prices resulted from global shortages in supply, which had ripple effects throughout the economy and
took many years to abate.”-USDA Article on Food Prices on April 07, 2014
Okay, Okay, now what if the dollar doesn’t take a nose dive?
I could be wrong about what is coming around the corner. And if I am wrong, I’m going to show you how a “business as usual”
picture looks for the food market.
Here’s what the USDA says in another article:
“For most of the last two decades, prices at both supermarkets and
restaurants may have moved up and down on a monthly basis, but these swings tended to smooth out into
modest yearly increases. As a result, the all-food Consumer Price Index (CPI) followed a fairly predictable pattern of about 2-3 percent inflation each year
from 1990 through 2005.”
“However, since 2006, a series of interrelated factors—including spikes in
prices for food commodities and energy, major weather events, shocks to global commodity markets, and the
U.S. economic recession and subsequent recovery—have resulted in
annual changes in the all-food CPI.”
“Food prices have also been rising faster than in earlier years, and food price inflation has easily outpaced
price inflation for many other types of goods. Among major consumer
spending categories, only prices for transportation, which include a number of energy price measures, and medical
care have risen faster than food prices.”
Here is the article online:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013-august/price-inflation-for-food-outpacing-many-other-spending-categories.aspx#.U2heRoFdX84
Now let’s look at some shocking data from China. Because the bulk food
market is international, and the supply and demand forces come from world-
wide importers and exporters.
This is the World Bank’s data on food inflation in China from 2010. Again, everything over zero means the price went up that percentage from
the last year.
Bulk foods are comprised of
commodities in the vegetable and
bean categories.
Let’s get a bigger picture of what their prices have been doing over the decades.
This data teaches us some very powerful concepts.
Again, the blue line is showing inflation. Everything about that dotted “0% CPI” means the
price is increasing by that percentage from the last year.
China obviously experiences significantly higher food inflation than the US. The demand simply
drives prices through the roof!
This chart is communicating the correlation between the population demand for food and the
sharp price spikes.
Farms are not factories, they can’t just make more food.
Every single year they always produce as much as they
possibly can. So an increase in demand will always brings an
increase in price, not an increase in product.
Food truly is the most worthy low-risk,
investment available.
Demand will never go away.
Supply will constantly fall short.
Wouldn’t it be great to put your money into such a
secure position?
I’ll tell you how you can now join others who are
investing a portion of their retirement in bulk food.
Not “betting” on commodity future
contracts.
Not buying an electronically based share in food companies or food
related industries, or a fund based on a food
index.
But literally buying, holding, and selling the actual, physical, food.
-By the ton.
Let’s look at honey.
There is a nation-wide trend away from
processed sugars, driving the demand for honey to
all-time highs.
At the same time, there is an unrelated shortage of
honey, that cannot be remedied for many years
to come.
“Global demand for honey constantly exceeds supply,
and with bee colonies mysteriously disappearing in
the US and Europe, pure honey is becoming a valuable – and expensive - commodity.”
-the BBC
Did you know that people who bought $100,000 of bulk raw honey two years
ago, have $171,000 worth of honey today?
Here are the current values of investments in different bulk foods if they were purchased
with $100,000 back in August 2011.
Yellow Corn $121,000Red Lentils $131,000
Pinto Beans $225,000White Rice $157,000Red Wheat $129,000
White Wheat$126,000
Why am I showing growth from August 2011?
Because there simply was no method for the general
public to buy, hold, and sell bulk food before
August 2011.
In August 2011, our very unique company was
created.
We areBulk Food International.
We hold dry bulk foods that will last 30-100 years,
oils which last 10-30 years, and honey which
has an indefinite shelf life.
We process them for very long storage, and keep
them in a secure climate-controlled underground
facility, a half-mile into the earth.
With our business model you physically own the bulk food you purchase and we store it for you.
Or we can ship it to you for your personal use.
You can even purchase this food with a tax-deferred retirement
account.
As with other assets, you can also will your holdings to your
children upon your death.
If we ever found ourselves in another great
depression, your family would never have step
foot in a soup line.
Our average client owns about 30 tons of bulk food.
That’s about $30,000 of tax-deferred retirement funds taken out of the
stock market and used to buy food.
That’s roughly 20 years of food for a couple
Never in history has a $30,000 retirement
account provided that kind of security!
Another demand is the “prepper” community that
is growing at an astonishing rate.
Yahoo Finance says there are 3.7 million preppers.
If each of these 3.7 million spent $3,000 on food, that’s an $11.1 billion demand of emergency
food.
Besides the fact that fresh food tastes much better, preppers are switching
from freeze dried food to bulk foods because of
these reasons:
What’s the average cost for a 2,000 calorie day?
Can my food stash appreciate in value?
Can I purchase food with a retirement account?
Can I sell my food decades later if nothing happens?
How much nutrition is lost during the preservation process?
Does the food have value in my estate when I die?
BulkFood$2.79
Yes
Yes
Yes
Minimal
Yes
Freeze Dried$18.99
No
No
No
Up to 80%
No
By investing just a portion of your funds in bulk food,
you secure your future regardless of the coming
events.
If the future holds nothing disastrous for our nation or world, then you simply enjoy the steady increase
of food prices.
If a major event occurred or social conditions arose that
strangled the food supply and drove prices through the roof,
then the stock market probably crashed, and society is desperate for
financial security,
especially those of a retired age who cannot
afford to wait for a 10 year recovery period.
But you won’t have to spend a dime on
groceries, AND you can sell your food for huge
profits, AND you can give freely to those in need.
Those who invest in bulk food come out on top.
Way on top.
Either way.
Isn’t it amazing how it is now possible to have that much security for yourself,
and for your family?
Every single person with a retirement account, needs
to buy bulk food with at least a portion of their
portfolio.
Feel good about the condition of your nest egg.
And enjoy the fact,
that at ANY time…
You can reach into that nest,
and eat that egg.
If you ever found yourself hungry.
Here’s a picture of my nest egg, securely stored
for decades to come.
Here are my reasons for needing that nest egg.
Watch this short video to see our facility.
Visit our website for more information:
www.bulkfoodinternational.com
This is the end of the presentation, if you haven’t yet read this article from the LA Times,
please read it now:
How to fight a food crisis