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Meital took one simple, legal step to save about $30,000 in taxes every year.

She used to be an international photographer based in NYC, making about $100,000. But despite that income, she was still living paycheck-to-paycheck.

As a self-employed person, she often forked over some $30,000-$50,000 in taxes to Uncle Sam every year. (Self-employed, sole proprietors in the US pay some of the highest tax rates out there.) Add in NYC living costs and there[...]

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Shares of Netflix soared today on news the company lost a record $859 million in cash in the third quarter.

Why are investors applauding this egregious destruction of capital?

Well, it’s because investors only look at one number when Netflix reports earnings – subscriber growth.

And on that metric, the company outperformed, adding 6.96 million subscribers, bringing the global total to more than 137 million.

At 137 million subscribers, Netflix has[...] Click here to continue reading

[Editor’s note: While Simon is traveling today, other members of the Sovereign Man team penned today’s missive.]

In February 2013, a 500+ foot yacht docked on the west side of Manhattan.

The boat, named Eclipse, belonged to the Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich – one of the richest men in the world. And the media went wild speculating why Abramovich had parked his mega-yacht in the US for more than a month.

On[...] Click here to continue reading

On June 15, 1215, King John sat in a field in Runnymede, England, surrounded by angry nobles.

His Barons—the big landowners throughout England—had rebelled and seized London, forcing King John to sign an agreement guaranteeing certain rights to the people of England… and restrictions of his power.

This agreement was called the Magna Carta. And it would become one of the most important documents in history.

Centuries later in 1678, Charles II[...] Click here to continue reading

Stock markets around the world were crushed yesterday…

The Dow Jones fell 800 points, its biggest dump since February. The Nasdaq fell 4% (its worst day in seven years).

Japan fell 3.9%. Chinese stocks fell 5.2% to their lowest since 2014.

And people are freaking out (the market’s fear gauge, the volatility index (VIX) surged 43.9% yesterday).

I’ve been writing for months that the current bull market could easily go on[...] Click here to continue reading

Earlier this year I quoted Chicago-based hedge fund manager John Thompson of Vilas Capital Management-- who has been incredibly vocal (and blunt) about Tesla.

Back in March, Thompson said that he thinks Tesla is going to crash . . .

“. . .partially due to their incompetence in making and delivering the Model 3, partially due to falling demand for the Model S and X, partially due to the extreme valuation, partially due[...] Click here to continue reading

Last week, the head of a New York state pension fund found herself a new job.

Vicki Fuller, the former head of New York’s $209 billion fund, now earns $275,000 per year working part time for a natural gas group called The Williams Companies-- good work if you can get it.

It’s noteworthy that when Ms. Fuller ran her state pension fund, she invested $110 million of taxpayer money to buy bonds issued[...] Click here to continue reading

Yesterday I told you about a still little-known gem in the US tax code known as opportunity zones.

The example I gave you yesterday is-- let’s say you have Apple stock, and you sell today for a total gain of $250,000.

Ordinarily you’d have to pay tax on that gain.

But if you invest that money in a fund that invests in specially designated ‘opportunity zones,’ which are generally underdeveloped areas, you[...] Click here to continue reading

True story-- over the past 15 years I’ve spent a LOT of time studying my family history, and I’ve managed to trace my roots all the way back eight centuries to 1250 in medieval England.

Along the way (and I recorded a podcast about this a few years ago), it turns out that I have a common ancestor with none other than Barrack Obama--  on the non-Kenyan side of his family, in case you[...] Click here to continue reading

Hudson Yards is a gigantic real estate project on New York City’s western edge that will be the most expensive development in US history when it’s completed in 2025.

At $25 billion, the project costs more than the size of the entire economy of Iceland… which is saying a lot given that Hudson Yards is only 28 acres… literally one millionth the size of Iceland.

According to the plan, in seven years (so[...] Click here to continue reading