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Could the World Cup Be Telling Us Something?

Guest post by: Michael Farrell

Article Overview: In this World Cup (circa 2010), the countries struggling on the field are the same countries struggling with their disastrous balance sheets and bloated entitlement programs, suggests Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz. Read this short post about taking a few pages from the playbooks of the more effective teams on the field which are from developing nations with strong economic growth and stable balance sheets.

Could the World Cup Be Telling Us Something?

During my career as a management consultant with Deloitte, a VP with Tradeum, a Silicon Valley B2B eCommerce startup that was acquired by VerticalNet, and more recently as an entrepreneur in Exec Temping roles, I have been fortunate to live and work in over 30 countries on all continents except Antarctica, however I have never been in attendance at the World Cup. One of the things that has been so interesting about this particular World Cup is how most of the European teams which usually dominate the FIFA world rankings-- Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, UK, Greece, etc, have really been struggling on the field.

Ironically, these are also the same countries struggling with disastrous balance sheets and bloated entitlement programs.

At the same time, young upstart teams like Paraguay, South Korea, New Zealand, and Uruguay have proven themselves to be extremely effective against these legendary, once-dominant opponents of Old Europe.

This sports metaphor, which is being consistently played out on the field during the World Cup tournament, represents the changing of the guard that is taking place in global economics and geopolitics; the rise of the developing nation and the decline of the developed nation.

Continuing with the sports metaphor, one could argue that this tournament's lackluster teams of old Europe are well-endowed with enormous assets such as great players, goodwill, and training programs.

Just like governments which rely on the same tax and spend playbook year after year, Europe's great football teams are being rendered ineffective by sticking to the same old tired tactics of the past.

The more effective teams from developing nations, however, are experimenting with innovative approaches, such as extreme conditioning regimens, or Chile's unique 3-3-1-3 formation, and even North Korea's massed defense approach.

Overall, the results are clear, both on and off the field.

In London, where the national team has been suffering from anemic performance thus far, the population is simultaneously gripped with a severe economic crisis. With a new political party at the helm, England's leadership is now tasked with the mission of doing something to stem the crisis.

Needless to say, this will unfortunately rely on the old, ineffective playbook of drastically higher taxes. The government has already announced increasing capital gains tax from 18% to 40%, and yet another VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% is also expected.

By comparison, South Korea charges a 0.3% tax on capital gains for small investors, and 11% in other instances. In Paraguay, the rate is 10%, as is the income tax rate. In Singapore, UAE, Labuan (the main island of Malaysia), and Hong Kong, there is no capital gains tax at all!

On Tuesday Jun 22nd, the UK's new Chancellor of Exchequer, George Osborne, will unveil the kingdom's emergency budget, which should provide more details on the tax increases. The government has been vocal about its intention to curb spending, though most cuts are paltry line items like a $6 million swim program for kids.

Perhaps in countries like the UK, both their politicians and football coaches should take a few pages from the playbooks of smaller, developing countries.

These would include making the touch decisions regarding over-spending and reducing the sovereign debt in order to create strong economic growth, restore a stable balance sheet, and vote in politicians who don't belong in prison.

Our Day of Reckoning is coming soon and our choices are becoming more clear; it is either living within our means and a lower standard of living as a result of austerity measures for both the government and its citizens, default on various government and entitlement programs, or a devaluation of the currency (along the lines of, if you thought you had $100,000 in a bank account, as a result of devaluing the currency, it will only be worth $50,000 or $25,000 or maybe only $1,000).

Until the tough decisions are made, many are looking for ways to hedge against the unintended consequences of our pending financial day of reckoning.

In line with this desire to hedge, I favor a quote from Steve Forbes ... Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.

As such, it is only natural that a large number of people are quickly undertaking efforts to become savvy with their money, like the insiders, by obtaining sufficient financial education

To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to pursue association with, access to, and membership in, a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn about alternative wealth creating strategies, you will be able to consider investments in non dollar denominated or non fiat currency assets and you will learn secrets to grow and protect your financial future by using methods and techniques of the rich, like Bank On Yourself.

Bank On Yourself is a unique, powerful, and time-tested method that Wall Street, Banks, and Finance Companies do not want you to know. Being part of a wealth creation community, you will learn the secrets of the rich and understand that certain whole life insurance contracts with special features (not widely known) like a "paid-up additions rider" on the policy, enable you to become the source of financing for your home, home repairs, business equipment, college education, and other major purchases like cars, vacations, and even vacation or retirement homes. By using this method, you are able to pay yourself the interest that you would have paid to banks, if you had financed these purchases. You thereby reduce or eliminate the control these institutions have over you.

I trust this post provides a little more insight into the financial crisis that is upon us in terms of what the World Cup may be telling us, the empire of debt, and the lowering of our standard of living. If you take control of your financial life you can reduce the impact of the volatile stock market and the loss of your nest egg. You can use this insight to increase your lifetime wealth and reach your goals and dreams.

I will continue to provide examples of things we need to learn, the secrets of the insiders, as part of being savvy with our money, and introduce alternative wealth creating strategies, in future articles and updates at my blog over the next few weeks.

In addition, a great book to read would be the "Financial Reckoning Day Fallout" by Bill Bonner & Addison Wiggin.

Finally, I want to thank Simon Black of SovereignMan as he was the source of some of the material mentioned in this post.

Happy Reading and Here's to Your Success!

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Article Tags: Alternative Wealth Generation, Bank On Yourself, Big 4, Deloitte, Financial Education, Global Economy, Mike Farrell aspenIbiz, Sovereign Debt Crisis, Tradeum, VerticalNet, World Cup



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