The signals are no longer subtle.
The Fed has planted its feet. It’s not cutting rates. And it does so with a straight face, as if 5% is the new stable base of the system. As if we’re back in the ’90s. As if the mountain of public and private debt doesn’t exist. But the truth is, the system is already broken. It just hasn’t been said out loud yet.
If they cut too early, inflation roars back. If they wait too long, balance sheets implode, credit cracks, consumption collapses. And in the middle of all that tension, Trump yells. Demands cuts. Hurls insults. Threatens to replace Powell. Says he could run the Fed better himself. All while slapping on tariffs that push prices higher and calling for zero interest rates. A cocktail of political incoherence that no one even pretends to hide anymore.
And yet, most people are still waiting for the system to hold. For someone up top to fix it. For rates to come down again. But none of this is driven by economic logic anymore. It’s pure narrative. We’re living in a parallel reality where the Fed holds rates at 5% while growth is weak and productivity is completely detached from what’s being pumped into the system. It’s the illusion of stability built on a broken architecture.
And that’s why, more than ever, you need to move before it breaks.
Escape doesn’t mean selling everything. Escape means clarity. Understanding which parts of your system survive chaos. What keeps flowing when everything else freezes. And above all, what you can still do while you still have the choice.
The first rule is simple: build real income streams. If you live only off asset appreciation, you’re done. Because the market might take three or five years to recover. But if you get paid every month, you can hold. That’s why you need flow. You need rent, dividends, clients, licenses, subscriptions. Something that pays. Something that doesn’t depend on the Fed’s mood.
Second, you need to never have to sell. I wouldn’t sell my Bitcoin. I wouldn’t sell my cash-flowing real estate. I wouldn’t sell my dividend-paying stocks with decades of consistency. Those are my core. They’re my spine. And if I’m ever forced to sell them, it means the system I built is failing. You don’t sell core. You defend it. You finance it if needed. But you don’t touch it.
Third, I need to be liquid. And I don’t mean long-duration bonds. That’s a trap. I need cash or ultra-short paper. Because right now, cash yields 4.5%. That’s basically free money. It’s insane. It’s a historic anomaly. And more importantly, it gives me power when everything else collapses. Because chaos brings discounts. And only those with cash can strike when it matters.
For those who don’t get it: it’s worth holding cash in the red zone.
Fourth, I need unused margin. Real, intelligent margin. Not to survive, but to attack. Because when the system cracks and panic floods the market, there will be asymmetric opportunities everywhere. But only if you’re alive. Only if you didn’t get wrecked in the drawdown. Only if you’re free to move.