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If we cut and we do it
too early, that can spur more inflation,

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which is going to drive prices back
up. If we raise, that's

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going to obliterate markets. Because we
saw what happened in twenty twenty two,

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and so it's like one of those
things that they were smart. I think

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they just all retire. Right now, you're listening to Carrie Letz's Financial Survival

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Network, where you get valuable information. You just can't find anywhere else to

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thrive in today's trying times. You
need the Financial Survival Network now more than

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ever. Go to Financial Survivalnetwork dot
com and get your free newsletter and gift.

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Financial Survival Network now more than ever. And welcome you are listening to

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watching the Financial Survival Network. I'm
your host, Carrie Lutz. Well,

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they were in the last day of
February. Just got some important numbers out

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from the Fed, the PCEE personal
consumption expenditures and let's talk with our good

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friend Eddie Gifford find out what that
number is telling us. Now, Eddie,

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welcome back. Thank you for having
me getting Carrie. Yeah, I

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mean we kind of had a foreshadowing
because last month CPI and PPI were harder

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than expected, so everyone revised the
print for this and so everything ended up

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coming in in alignment today. The
issue that we have with that is when

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you look at core PCE, it's
at point four percent. Now, if

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we were to annualize or extrapolate that
out, then that would mean four point

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eight percent over the course of a
year. And keep in mind the defense

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target is two percent. So what
it's telling us right now, you know,

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and we don't know, is this
a blip? Is CPI PPI prit

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and the pc pray is that a
blip? Or is inflation starting to come

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back? And you know, the
interesting thing is that personal incomes went up,

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but spending went down. So I
think that even the concealer is kind

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of like uncertain right now. And
I do not envy the FED right now,

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Carrie, do not envy them at
all. Yeah, Well, they're

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kind of a ton between a rock
and a hard place. What do you

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think they're going to do? They're
already kind of pulling back on the interest

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rate cuts and there seems to be
suffering the result of it. Right Yeah,

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I think that what they're going to
try to do for as long as

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possible is absolutely nothing. They're in
this little like got the box, like,

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well, you know, we already
know how things are doing at the

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current rates. If we cut and
we do it too early, that can

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spur more inflation, which is going
to drive prices back up. If we

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raise, that's going to obliterate markets
because we saw what happened in twenty twenty

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two, and so it's like one
of those things that they were smart.

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I think they just all retire right
now. Hey, they did a pretty

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good job of getting getting where we're
at. But definitely the market as usual,

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well, the market doesn't like uncertainty, and so at least if they

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do nothing, then you know they're
they're not like making the market uncertain and

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read it in either direction. But
it does put us in a scenario where

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we probably see some sideways action for
a while until we kind of know what's

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happening. I think that the AI
run up is kind of like shitting exhaustion

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right now. So you know,
there's probably another sectors that may take the

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lead there, we just don't know
which ones yet. Uh. And you

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know we're heading the march, and
historically things tend to break in march,

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so there's that. So there's definitely
a lot of stuff to be worried of

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the fact that the backstop FED put
in place last March is expiring this March,

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so that'll be interesting to see if
that affects the regional banks and the

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baking sector in general. Right.
So, I mean it seems like,

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you know, we're just getting like
half the story here. You know that

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they're just telling us one thing,
but we're really they're really not being honest

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with the American public, are they. Well, I mean, you just

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look at the way that CPI is
calculating. It's calculated differently than it was

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the last time that we sought the
saw these types of bouts of inflation that

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the numbers would be much higher.
They still calculated it the way they did

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in the seventies. So you know, right there, I think that the

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American public understands that, you know, things aren't only four percent more expensive.

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You know, there are a lot
more expensive than that. And the

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other thing they keep telling us is
that inflation is coming down. That's a

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lie. Inflation is slowing. You
know, it stacks on top of each

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other. So yeah, maybe it's
slowing, maybe it's only four percent over

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the last twelve months, but we
got to stack that on top of like

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ten and twenty and then we got
compound interest, and so people are paying

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thirty to forty percent more than they
were three years ago. We're the same

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stuff, and I think that's starting
to hit the pocketbook. I think that

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we're hitting the credit limits for a
lot of people. You know, Unfortunately,

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we don't have an unlimited amount of
credit like the United States government does.

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And you know, the thing that
scares me about all this is this

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whole like find out hey later thing. Yeah, every time that there's like

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a purchase on your credit card,
like two thousand dollars or more, you

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get this pop up that says,
hey, do you want to pay this

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over the next six months with no
interest? And I just think that like

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all those things will pile up.
I don't know like when it's going to

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crack, but we are in a
situation where the fat is sitting here wondering

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what to do, and on one
side of the fence, inflation comes back

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and they have to start raising.
On the other side of the flats,

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something breaks, and that's why we
see rapid rate cuts. Both of those

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scenarios are no good for markets.
And you know, but at the same

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time, you can't just run away
from the markets. We've had had this

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like historic bull run that we haven't
seen a long time since like two thousands,

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So it's very very biblesque. But
bubbles can grow for and inflate for

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a long time, and so you
know, it's okay to kind of ride

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the waves of the speak, but
you it's got to make sure you got

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some exits in there to protect yourselves
because when this thing turns, it's always

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one of those things where it's slow
and then all of us suddy and it

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accelerates very rapidly to the downside because
of the lack of liquidity. So try

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with cautious and just make sure that
you're staying nimble. All right, So,

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speaking of bubbles, what are you
thinking about cryptocurrencies now? On Bitcoin?

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Well, you know, I wasn't
a believer at first in bitcoin.

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I don't know if if I'm a
believer in holding it yet, but I

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think that if it's not potentially part
of your portfolio, you're making a mistake

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from the standpoint that it's very tradable
and the moves are are you know,

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typically rapid and violate, and so
as I was saying, earlier. If

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we're if we have profit targets and
we have stops, you can make a

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lot of money and you don't have
to be on the whole ruler was to

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ride of the big one hundred percent
up and then the eighty percent down and

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then and then playing that game.
So I think that advisors that it would

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be smart for them to start including
this in portfolio. I think that that,

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you know, investors, I think
that having some of it in the

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portfolio can serve as a good diversia
fire. But I don't think we're at

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a point where we own it.
Get I think that we're still at a

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point where we trade it. Of
course, there are you know, it's

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been opened up to a lot more
investors because of the recent uh SPOT ETF

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approvals. Sure, and everyone keeps
talking about the bitcoin having that's happening in

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the next couple of months, and
and that's uh generally speaking, ben a

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catalyst for bull markets in bitcoin.
So there there there is some merit there

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to at least like trading it within
a portfolio or you know, wrap it

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in, wrapid out pet stuff.
But if you're going to own it,

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I mean it's it's more volatile than
anything you've ever held, So it'll be

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a an emotional you may become an
emotional basket case if you're not used to

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that type of stuff. Well,
it looks clear to me right now.

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It's getting It hit close to sixty
three thousand today as we speaking on February

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twenty ninth, and now it's pulled
back a little, just under sixty two.

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It's obviously going to go into record
territory here. I think there's no

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question about it, is there.
I think there's rusty behind it. I

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think that you know, obviously,
like the print is behind us, and

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we don't really have anything else until
mid March. From an inflationary standpoint,

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especially if the next inflation prey ends
up being like less than expected, you

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know, that's obviously good for technology. But we've seen bitcoin react very favorably

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to decreasing rates and so that and
having and more people getting into it with

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the spat ETFs, it would surprise
me if it doesn't hit new highs.

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But we have been on this almost
vertical trajectory and that's scared all bet Yeah,

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it surely is in parabolic. It's
called parabog for a reason because it

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goes up really fast and then it
goes down the problem exactly, yes,

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and that problem can be a big
problem for your portfolio, if you're on

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the wrong end of the problem,
right, it's correct, all right,

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So precious metals their whole at least, gold is holding pretty steady in that

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two thousand plus range. Yeah,
I think gold is the main thing to

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watch here. You know, everybody
is everybody's talking about bitcoin and you know,

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store of value and all this that
I in my opinion, that's garbage.

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The the bitcoin is not a store
of value. It is an investment

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and up and down, and that's
how you know there there isn't actually something

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behind it. You know, it's
still a technology. Now it is a

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medium for exchange. So I mean
that that can be very beneficial to a

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lot of people, especially outside the
United States that maybe don't have I made

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even exchange. But it comes down
to it, you watch gold. If

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gold continues to creep up, and
we see gold breakthrough and go to that

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twenty two twenty three one hundred level, then we probably see something break in

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the economy. And you know,
gold generally speaking is a leading indicator,

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and so when we start to see
that thing rise, especially when we're in

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an elevated INTERESTCT environment where it doesn't
look like they're cutting anytime soon. That

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means the rise is not really the
illustrate. It's the rise is related to

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fear. And if that's the case, then it's definitely important to start paying

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a little bit closer attention to your
portfolio. Yeah, no question about it

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there, or sure and all right, So what's an investor supposed to do?

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Do you just pull out of the
market now and take your marvels and

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go home or what are you supposed
to do here? Well, if you've

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been if you were smart enough to
be in since like last January, and

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00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,879
you you rose and you wrote in
video all the way up like you know,

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00:11:03,279 --> 00:11:05,679
a couple of doubles, then yeah, there's no problem in taking your

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00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,919
money and setting aside and airing you
know, some some interest because we're still

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00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,240
getting over five percent on treasuries right
now, on short term treasuries. But

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in general, I think that you
just have to have balance. Yeah,

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00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,720
you know, you have to have
a portfolio that ends and flows. You

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00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:26,759
have to have stuff in there that
believe your portfolio. If if you're wrong,

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00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,480
right, but I don't feel like
you can run away from this thing.

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00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,200
Yet I feel like you need to
continue to stay invested, but you

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00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,679
need to make sure that you've got
stops and targets and lace. You need

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00:11:35,759 --> 00:11:39,799
to make sure that you have some
type of insulator and that we're porfolio to

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00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,720
protect you. And you know,
the easy answer, generally speaking, would

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00:11:43,759 --> 00:11:48,960
be something like treasuries. Well that's
only if something breaks. If the reason

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00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,039
something breaks is because the interest rates
go higher, that's going to make clout

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00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,320
or just like it did in twenty
twenty two, and then you've got to

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00:11:54,320 --> 00:12:01,200
start looking into some market control or
managed future type stuff. So it's just

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00:12:01,279 --> 00:12:05,759
got to have a portfolio that looks
a little bit different than the portfolios looked

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00:12:05,759 --> 00:12:09,600
over the last twenty years for sure. Okay, all right, Eddie,

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00:12:09,799 --> 00:12:13,159
tell us where do we find you
on the web these days? Easiest way

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00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,799
he just jump on and google me
Eddie Gifford. That's Eddie with a Y

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00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,399
at Gifford at g I F F
O R D of course at Eddie Gifford

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00:12:20,919 --> 00:12:26,000
or Attactive Wealth Match slash Eddie Dash
Gifford. That's where you can kind of

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00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,279
get to know me and how I
do things and all of that good stuff.

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00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:33,039
But we're here for you. We
know that it's a scary time.

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We know that there's a lot of
stuff out there that can go wrong,

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00:12:37,919 --> 00:12:41,360
and because of that, you know, we're willing to be here and answer

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questions, even that's even if that
means you don't become a client. We

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00:12:43,879 --> 00:12:48,000
just want to be a resource self, all right. Hey, well,

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00:12:48,039 --> 00:12:50,320
we always appreciate you coming on.
You got a question for Eddie or myself.

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00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:54,799
The email address is k l at
Kerrie LUTs dot com. The link

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00:12:54,879 --> 00:13:01,039
to Eddie's site is in the show
notes of this interview on Financial Survival Network

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00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,519
dot com. While you're there,
sign up for your free newsletter Eddie.

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00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,600
Always a pleasure. Thanks for stopping
by. We'll talk to you again soon.

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00:13:07,879 --> 00:13:11,039
Awesome. I appreciate it. Thank
you, thanks for listening to Carrie

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Letz's Financial Survival Network, your solution
to today's trying times. For the latest,

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00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:24,000
go to Financial Survivalnetwork dot com.
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