The Flying Frisby - money, markets and more

An engaging conversation with financial expert Lyn Alden as we explore the past, present, and potential future of money through the lens of technology. Lyn's new book, Broken Money, challenges conventional wisdom about monetary systems, emphasizing the crucial role of technology in shaping the way we exchange value. From the significance of the printing press and the telegraph to the rise of Bitco...

I went to the ARC conference yesterday - to give it its full name the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. It is an organisation set up by Jordan Peterson, Paul Marshall, Philippa Stroud, Alan McKormick and others to “develop a better narrative in response to life’s most fundamental social, economic, philosophical and cultural questions”.  I spent much of the day taking notes, and I thought I’d w...

Good morning to you, We are talking Japanese currency today. First, in case you missed them last week, check out: The story of my pilgrimage got a big and positive response from readers. This piece on the true value of UK housing also got a big response. If you haven’t already, and if speculative silver mining stocks are of interest: watch this interview with Alex Langer of Sierra Madre Gold and S...

Before we get started today, if you haven’t already seen it, check out my interview with Alex Langer of Sierra Madre . There could be quite an opportunity setting up with this silver mining company. And if you haven’t read this piece on U K (and US) house prices yet , you might like it - it’s proved quite popular. Right. The Eighth Wonder of the World … How can you turn a tiny sum into a large one...

Here is an interview with Alex Langer, CEO of Sierra Madre Gold and Silver. This video was exclusive to paid subscribers, but I am now releasing it for one and all. I own stock in this company. I know that we are in the thralls of a really bad junior mining bear market, and thus that you might not have the appetite for speculative silver development plays, but I still think there might be an oppor...

Before we get started today, if you haven’t already seen it, check out my interview with Alex Langer of Sierra Madre . There could be quite an opportunity setting up with this silver mining company. There are just a handful of tickets left for my lecture with funny bits about gold in London on October 19 . I’m not sure when I will next be doing this show so book early to avoid disappointment and a...

There is an absolutely stellar line up of speakers at New Orleans Investment Conference in November: Dave Collum, Rick Rule, Matt Taibbi, Peter Schiff, Konstantin Kisin, Lyn Alden, Danielle DiMartino Booth, Jim Rickards and many more besides, yours truly among them. So I got together with Brien Lundin , the organizer, to chat about the event, as well as to get his take on the state of the markets....

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com When it comes to investment returns, asset allocation , as I said on Monday , has repeatedly proven to matter more than individual stock picking: the market you choose matters more than the companies you select within that market. With this in mind, if you haven’t already, check out the pieces I have recently put...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com You can find vehicles by which you can play this portfolio here. But, after a lot of hype, here it is: the do-very-little portfolio. Lots of us have busy lives. We don’t have time to constantly monitor companies, markets, technological developments, politics and all the rest of it. We have other things going on t...

A quick heads up before we come to today’s piece: I am taking my “lecture with funny bits” about gold to the West End for one night only. October 19th is the date. (That’s the show I did at the Edinburgh Fringe). If you like gold, you will like this show. I promise. It’s super interesting. You can get tickets here. Hopefully, see you there. So, continuing the recent theme of portfolio allocation,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com Lots of exciting things coming up on this Substack in the next couple of weeks. If you missed them last week, be sure to check out: * Dr John’s special report on North American oil and gas plays . A real opportunity setting up here. * Another opportunity also seems to be setting up in uranium: read about the comi...

I wrote this article for Moneyweek the day before the EU referendum, on June 22, 2016. I thought with everything that has happened since, as your Sunday morning thought piece, this was well worth re-reading and thinking about. It’s amazing how many of these things remain issues, especially immigration, and how few have been properly acted upon. It’s also amazing just how our leaders have failed us...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com News broke late yesterday of what could prove a landmark court ruling for bitcoin . Even the Financial Times, which has been talking bitcoin down for over ten years now, called it “a big win”. The reason this is potentially such a big ruling is that it opens the door for a bitcoin ETF. (See footnote if you want t...

This is the last of these pieces about gold in ancient history. I’m back from the Edinburgh Fringe now, and more regular market commentary will resume. Lots of exciting things happening on this Substack. If you missed them this week, check out Wednesday’s piece on uranium, the coming supply squeeze and how to play this (almost) inevitable bull market . On Monday I covered bitcoin - in particular,...

I once presented a documentary for Italian TV which declared that Jakob Fugger - Fugger the Rich - was the richest man in history. He was a German who made his fortune in the 16th century through gold and copper mines, lending money to kings and popes and, above all, by selling absolution. By the time he died his net worth was equivalent to nearly 2.5% of European GDP, tantamount to half a trillio...

The story of Midas, and how everything he touched turned to gold , is perhaps the most famous golden myth of all. His touch led to one of the most successful, long-lasting and under-rated technologies in history: coinage. Midas was King of Phrygia (now part of Turkey) and Dionysus - more commonly known as Bacchus - the god of wine, parties and pleasure - was passing through with his entourage, rev...

We continue with my series about gold in pre-history today with one of the earliest and most enduring of the golden myths: Jason and the Golden Fleece. This story, which took place about a generation before the Trojan War, starts out as a hero’s quest, but develops into a story of betrayal and vengeance with, like many a Greek myth, a tragic ending. In Iolcos, Pelias usurped his brother Aeson, the...

In my late teens and early 20s I was obsessed with beaches. I had always liked them, we all do, but I think it was a trip to Thailand in 1989 that triggered the obsession. Being on Koh Phangan back then when there was barely any power on the island - you had to go to back to Koh Samui for the full moon parties - smoking joints, lounging about in hammocks, philosophising with my mates, talking abou...

I’m doing a show about gold at the Edinburgh Fringe. If you are in Scotland between August 4th and August 20th, plesase come. It’s at Panmure House in the room in which Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. You can get tickets here . Thousands of years before the dawn of civilisation, as prehistoric man hunted and gathered his way through the Stone Age, he might have come across six native metals -...

NB My next Best In Class , in which I identify the go-to stocks in the natural resources sector, is out tomorrow. Keep an eye out for that. (Only for paid subscribers). Today, though, gold … I am going to the Edinburgh Fringe this August to do one of my lectures with funny bits . This one is about gold - its history, its fascination, its future. It really is the most amazing metal, not least becau...

Despite being built of bricks, a house is, in many ways, a financial asset. This is because, for the most part, we use finance - debt - to buy real estate.  Mortgages, aka “death grips”, have been around for hundreds of years. Debt has been around since before human beings settled on the fertile plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates. But mortgages in the UK only hit the mainstream in the 20t...

Before we begin today’s piece, a quick reminder for those who might find themselves in the Scottish neck of the woods this August, I am doing a show at the Edinburgh Fringe all about gold. It’s from August 4th to 20th at 2pm. Please come if you are in town- you can get tickets here. Plus an added bit of history: it takes place in the room in which Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. Hopefully, I w...

Before we begin today’s piece, a quick reminder for those who might find themselves in the Scottish neck of the woods this August, I am doing a show at the Edinburgh Fringe all about gold. It’s from August 4th to 20th at 2pm. Please come if you are in town- you can get tickets here. Plus an added bit of history: it takes place in the room in which Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. Hopefully, I w...

A must-watch/listen interview with Miami-based, Michael Saylor, Chairman and co-founder of Nasdaq-listed MicroStrategy Inc (NDX:MSTR). Michael is one of the most articulate proponents of bitcoin, having shot to fame in 2020 speaking so passionately about it in numerous interviews. With his company buying over 140,000btc, Microstrategy, effectively, keeps its treasury in bitcoin. In this interview...

Hugh is an author with experience in business, market research, psychotherapy, academia and performance. He has collaborated with Paul McKenna on many best-selling self-help books in UK and USA, and leads workshops in negotiation, qualitative research, hypnosis, performance and presentation skills, practical philosophy and authentic storytelling. ​His latest book, which we discuss today, is The Bu...