Alright, the US dollar doesn't seem as dominant as it once was, and with China's economy potentially overtaking ours, I'm worried about investing so heavily in U.S stocks. Is the Dollar on its way out, and should we go heavier in international stocks? What do you think?
Yeah, Joey, this is an interesting one and seems to be commanding a lot of headlines right now. Look, there are conversations around world currency and people pulling out of contracts, and what's going to be the base currency, and all that sort of thing. Here's what makes me nervous about these big seismic shifts that people think could happen. While something could take place and it could have long-term impacts, the amount of time that it takes for that to actually manifest is significant. It takes a long time for that to take place. And you have to ask yourself, "When I'm investing, when I'm going out and buying, what am I making a choice on?" Like, I'm saying, "Okay, I want to go out and work, and I'm going to go trade my time doing my vocation for a few dollars, and then I'm going to take those dollars, and I'm going to go buy a product, use Coca-Cola because that's what Warren Buffett says, and I'm going to exchange some of my dollars for Coca-Cola." Well, that Coca-Cola came to me because someone else is willing to sacrifice their time to be able to put together the recipe and mix the ingredients and make the can and put it all together. And so, really, when I'm investing, I'm saying, "Hey, I think Coca-Cola is going to continue doing that." Now, inside of that equation, at the very highest level, currencies, and that sort of thing, don't come into the equation. We're talking about a really interesting globalized economy in which we live. So, I'd be curious to know your thought on this, Brian, but I worry that too many people right now are putting too much emphasis on it, not recognizing that when you're trying to make these shifts on your portfolio allocation, what are you really shifting away from, and what are you really shifting towards, and is it actually having the impact that you think it's going to have in your portfolio?
Well, I can tell you the current events that Joey's referencing are somewhat alarming when you find out that because of the conflicts that are occurring, you see China and Russia kind of starting to unite on some things. And then you find out that Saudi Arabia was having discussions, which, on anything, you find out that Brazil just signed something with Argentina with China. And then you find out that there was a headline, I didn't read into it to see what was going on, but it was saying that Japan was actually going to break some of the trading stuff to buy fuel from Russia. And you're like, "Whoa, what the heck is going on?" And that stuff is alarming when you see it. But let me bring it back because I always have to say, "Be careful what you think with your emotions because you can get yourself in a lot of trouble." Because Bo knows, I do a fine balance of trying to say, "Is this a concern, and could this concern also be leading to and creating a blind spot in my investment life where I'm letting the news media scare the heck out of me?" The news media does not care about your wallet or your purse or your retirement savings. They're just trying to get your eyes and ears, and they scare the heck out of you.
