Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network

It's been a long wait but Bob Hoye turned bullish on gold in November. According to economic historian Bob, it's merely following the path that it's followed many times in the past. He still believes that the dollar will continue to be the best looking cow in the slaughter house. A lot of people went into the market as pigs and are going to come out as sausages. 

Daniel Greenfield believes that the problem with Millennials is that they just won't grow up. They're leaving the home later, marrying later and have children even later than any generation before it. That's why they're so attracted to an attractive moron like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Adds credence to never trusting anyone with a hyphen in the last name. But grow up they must and the crash will help them do that just fine. Get ready for the Millennials to grow up really fast. And watch what happens when they try to impeach President Trump. It's the Dems Obamacare. 

There have been warnings for decades and now it's finally coming to pass. Pretty soon, interest on the public debt will become the largest line item on the federal budget. It's going to slow down economic growth and require dramatic restructuring of your government and the services it provides. Jeff is looking forward to limited or no growth for 2019. After that it's anyone's guess. But the future looks bleak. 

Noted federal employment lawyer Jonathan Bell explains that regardless of what we may think of federal employees, they're people and they will suffer from the shutdown. Now there's a lawsuit that's been brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act to aid them. The law, which may cover federal government employees provides that employees cannot be forced to work in the absence of being paid a salary. Will it work? That remains to be seen. 

The elite rulers of our country can’t seem to get enough endless wars. They seem to thrive upon them. So many political and military leaders want Afghanistan to continue forever, with no end game or goal in site. Same with our involvement in Syria. But President Trump has had enough. He’s brining the troops back home and letting the chips fall where they may. No more nation building and endless quagmires. And Gerald sees more limitations coming for the Pentagon’s endless budget filled with corruption and waste. He sees the economy headed south because it just can’t take higher interest rates. And some thoughts on gold and silver. Perhaps they’re coming out of their enforced doldrums. 

It’s no secret that the nation’s healthcare system is loaded with criminal behavior and government rip-offs. And hospitals are perhaps the biggest culprit. They routinely charge $100 for two aspirin and there are government sanctioned middlemen who take in billions and legally pay kickbacks to hospital employees. But there’s big change coming. As of January 1, 2019, hospitals will be required to publish their price lists and justify their prices. Dr. George believes this could be a major step in an otherwise unaccountable system. 

According to Ned Schmidt gold was the best performing asset for 2018. Everything else was heading up until market realities asserted themselves. He believes that precious metals will become the logical choice for many newbies in the coming year. If that happens, who knows where the price could go. But this sector has become a dumping ground for broken hearts and broken dreams since 2011, so we'll believe it all when we see it. He's also got some pretty good info on ag commodities and stocks. After all, even if the world as we know it ends, people still have to eat. 

It's no secret that gold has been rallying for the past couple of weeks, coming in just in time for Eric Hadik's Q4 rally. For a while it looked unlikely, but the yellow metal looks like it's heading back towards $1300 and silver has broken $15. Eric is looking forward to a very rocky year ahead for 2019 where traders in many different markets, from stocks to oil to ag, will do best. That means volatility and much back and forth. Are you ready to succeed in 2019?

It's been a long time coming, but at long last the stock markets are heading downward. What seemed like an impossibility just a few short months ago has now become a stark new reality. Danielle believes that it could keep on tumbling until it reverts to the mean. Pity all the poor individual investors who've been searching for a higher yield. They could be wiped out in the process. A lesson that needs to be learned yet again. 

John and I have been warning you for years that the 2008-09 crash never really ended. While the stock market and asset prices went into a major bull market when the Fed started quantitative easing, this was never a pathway to long term success. We sacrificed major profits along the way. But the debt kept increasing at an increasing rate. Here we are at the end of 2018 and things appear to be coming apart at the seams. The DOW has gone down bigly and notwithstanding today's rally, will probably continue to do so. And if it manages to recover, so what, nothing has changed. The question is what to do next and John has some very strong ideas about that. 

CONOR RICHARDSON, CPA, is the founder of MillennialMoneyMakeover.com, where he helps Millennials master essential money matters. Richardson began his career in New York City, working in finance and accounting and running his own businesses. Richardson's business experience ranges from working with early-stage startups to publicly traded companies. He has been featured in Fox Business, The Washington Post, and more. Richardson received his Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the University of Georgia and earned a Master of Accounting and Professional Consultancy from Villanova University. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Tax expert Jeff Socha says make sure you get a head start on preparing your taxes this month. The new year is upon us. Make it a good one and spend the rest of this year preparing for tax time. 

2018 was the first year under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the largest revamping of tax law in decades, which was passed last December. The new rules stressed out many Americans, some of whom did not know if it would benefit or harm them come Tax Day. (The new tax law kept the seven federal tax brackets, but lowered rates for six of them, for 2018 to 2025).

Without proper preparation, taxpayers might be in for a bad surprise. They could possibly owe more in taxes than they thought — unaware of that liability until the deadline — or they could miss potential ways to get a higher deduction and therefore, risk paying more than necessary. 

See: How the new tax law affects every age — from babies to boomers

Here are five things you can do between now and Dec. 31 to prepare:

Calculate your tax liabilities

The new tax law increased many Americans’ paychecks, but that came with consequences. More than 30 million taxpayers could owe the government money next year, according to a Government Accountability Office report. More than one fifth of Americans (21%) could be “underwithheld,” meaning that their employers haven’t taken enough money out of their paychecks to cover their taxes. 

It’s too late for Americans to make any meaningful changes to their paycheck withholding amounts for the coming Tax Day in April 2019, said Christina Taylor, senior manager of tax operations at Credit Karma. But there are two tasks they can do now to help themselves: estimate how much they’ll owe in taxes next year using the Internal Revenue Service’s W4 calculator, and adjust their allowances for the following year. 

Workers choose how much money they want withheld from their paychecks to cover taxes — the lower the number of allowances, the more money that gets withheld (whereas the higher the number of allowances, the less money withheld, which means a larger paycheck but also a bigger potential tax bill).

By inputting a few factors, such as income, taxes already withheld and the number of allowances, the IRS calculator will estimate how much you owe in federal taxes. If the amount is a lot higher than you thought it would be, you could start putting aside money now to cover the taxes you’ll owe in April. Workers may want to adjust their allowances now so they can start fresh in 2019, and lessen their tax liabilities for the following year if they were underwithheld. 

It's no secret that the Deep State has it in for Author and Commentator Dr. Jerome Corsi. But unlike most, he's fighting back. He's suing Special Counsel Inspector Robert Clouseau Mueller in court for his numerous treacherous misdeeds. Everyone is going to have to take a stand. No one is safe from the tentacles of the Deep State. 

Todd Bubba Horwitz joined us for a discussion of the coming Fed Rate Hike and what we can expect. Shortly after the interview the Fed raised overnight rates by 25 basis points and we saw the long bond rate fall and the stock market suffer continued major losses. We also saw gold fall slightly and then rebound over $20 on Thursday. Is this anyway to run an economy? Central bankers are running out of options and that can only mean increased volatility and major economic disruptions ahead. But Bubba gives you several ways to process from this inevitable scenario. 

As expected the Fed increased rates a quarter of a percent. They might be reconsidering future rate increases, subject to economic forecasts ahead. The economy is firing on all cylinders, at least for now. The question is whether the economy will keep expanding into the coming year and has for nearly 40 quarters. Clearly, we could be near the end of the cycle, but when will the party end? Higher rates are certainly having an impact, how bad will it be? Now it's wait and see. 

Next we looked at oil. And Ed believes it could be headed lower. The three major producers are all producing at record levels. The OPEC supply cuts haven't seemed to have much affect. Shale has survived and production has only increased. Longer term it looks like more of the same. 

Author and publisher John Truman Wolfe says get ready for more trouble in the banking sector. Derivatives will help lead the next disaster. And the big banks are by no means insulated. Citibank just reported a $180 loan loss to an Asian hedge fund. And this could just be the beginning. Unsound loans to weak borrowers is an ongoing pattern. Nothing ever really changes. 

Our good friend The Gold and Oil Guy Chris joined us for a look at major markets. He says we'll know very shortly whether we're in a bear market. A couple more trading sessions should point the way. Gold is looking pretty good, but it's not going to be straight up for it like in the past. Volatility is the key. Oil is heading down perhaps as low as $40 per barrel. Natgas looks like it has peaked, but beware of rough weather ahead. Finally, he sees a light at the end of the Bitcoin tunnel. It could be bottoming out and getting ready for another advance. 

Heather Wagenhals thinks this could be the merriest of Christmas for the online scammers. Their latest scheme is to redirect potential marks to sites that appear to be legitimate shopping sites. The unsuspecting victim believes they're placing an actual order, but in reality they're divulging their credit card info and personal information. It's a two-for-one scam. They going to get charged and the fraudster can then market their personal data. Nice work if you can get it. 

And of course the usual charitable scams are taking place at light speed. Taking advantage of people's generosity, money gets sent to a fraudulent charity, leaving the donor with no recourse whatsoever. And these are just a few examples of the massive frauds taking place. Beware!

Egypt has decided to join the modern world. According to Mark Campbell, of our sponsor Aton Resources, mining reform is coming very soon to the country. For over 50 years, Egypt has been a socialist playground. Now the authorities have turned the corner and they're on the verge of passing highly favorable laws to help the mining industry grow and prosper. And that is great news for Aton Resources, who's Rodruin Project is on the cusp of something major. Check the company's site to see what's happening. 

For the past few months Stock Markets have been hellish. But Nick Santiago isn't discouraged. While we've seen a fairly major correction, it's not necessarily proof that we're in a new bear market. Nick's optimistic that the China Trade War will be worked out. He's been bearish on oil for quite a while, and he called for lower prices. Now it's under $50 per barrel and he's thinking it could go lower still. Right now he's taking the contrarian view of the home builders and believes they'll be bouncing back. A lot of other surprising calls made by Nick and worth taking a look at. 

Life can be a roll coaster. One moment you're on top of the world and the next you're down, for no particular reason. Especially these days, you just never know. According to Matt Bertram, the downs are a great opportunity for growth and that's exactly what he's done. He's been successful in a number of different industries and perhaps that's why he's become so skilled at bouncing back. And we certainly can from his experience. You should take a look at his recent Brand Mania Book.

Despite the recent stock market decline and other negative economic indicators, Gerald believes that the recent volatility will clear up and it will be full steam ahead. In addition, the House has been purged of 49 Never Trumpers which will be great for the 2020 election. Combine that with the fact that the wheels are coming off the Mueller Investigation and it could well be ending soon. Don't worry about Ocasio-Cortez and Beto. Much worry about nothing. 

Now it's the hedge funds. They were prime beneficiaries of an re-inflationary Fed. Their access to a near endless source of virtually interest free funds has made their business model a near certain winner. Now with interest rates on the rise, hedge funds are closing up shop all over. And what about those interest rates? Looks like December will either be the last rate hike or perhaps it won't happen at all, which could be a windfall to precious metals and miners. We'll just have to see what's next.

It's no secret that Inspector Clouseau Meuller's probe has been misguided from the get go. Now it's becoming more obvious by the day. His latest refusal to turn over documents demanded by District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan is shocking. Prosecutors defy court orders at their own peril and Judge Sullivan is not one to be trifled with. Also have a listen James's Christmas Album. And while we're on the subject of Christmas, it's time to wish one and all A Merry, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.