I served honorably on active duty in the United States Marine Corps infantry for one four-year enlistment (i.e. 1995 to 1999), so I know what discipline, hard work, and dedication are. Objectively, I’ve been taking college level courses for the last 18 years by studying economics and other subjects at home. I’m a disciple of the Austrian school of economics, having read authors like Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises for almost two decades now. Presently, I hold a real estate license as well as an insurance license that contains all major lines of authority: property, casualty, life, and health.
I made the decision to start Caribe Investments because my understanding of how capital flows and what’s wrong with the financial system has not been career enhancing. I have discovered that there is no nexus between between truth, integrity, and career advancement. If anything, there’s an inverse relationship. It is this void that I hope to fill.
To me, the most important trait a fund manager and advisor can have is honesty. I support free markets and do not believe there is anything inherently wrong with having wealth. But if an advisor is living well while the clients are losing, there’s something wrong with that.
In 2007, the VA was paying 100% of my tuition, books, and giving me a small living stipend to go to school. I finished one semester with a collegiate GPA of 4.0, and then withdrew from the program. Why? I stood on principle refusing to take anything from the taxpayer to go to school.
While I do not possess a college degree, it is not due to a lack of cognitive ability. It is precisely my understanding of economics that motivated me to stand on principle refusing to take anything from the taxpayer to attend college. That’s how much I care about my country and its inhabitants. If I don’t like the idea of stealing from people legally (i.e. by using the force of law), then I would certainly not steal from people illegally.
One reason I know with certainty that the U.S. is destined to collapse is because far from being rewarded for my principled stand, I’ve been penalized. There is no box on a resume to check that reads: STOOD ON PRINCIPLE REFUSING TO PLUNDER HIS FELLOW COUNTRYMEN. There is a box that reads: COLLEGE GRADUATE. How the job applicant obtained the degree matters not to an employer. So, if an applicant has no understanding of economics and cheated to get ahead, that matters not. The system has created perverse incentives by rewarding bad behavior while punishing good behavior.
I’ve held the NFA Series 3 license (futures and futures options broker) which I did a voluntary withdrawal on because I couldn’t in good conscience sell managed futures, which are designed for institutional clients, since firms would do better to hire an in-house trader to trade a proprietary account with a discount broker rather than allocating assets into a managed futures account, which I outlined in my withdrawal request. The firm could even make compensation commensurate with results for its in-house traders. I’m proud to say that I never bagged a single client for MF Global because if I had bagged a client it would have been for MF Global, since I was hired by MF Global through a Guaranteed Introducing Broker.
Shortly after departing MF Global, MF Global collapsed and its customers had trading accounts that were inaccessible. Why? MF Global failed to segregate client funds from their own proprietary trading accounts, losing client funds in the process. Amazingly, nobody went to jail.
I learned something about myself in the process of leaving MF Global. If I don’t believe in something, I can’t sell something. I want to know that what I’m offering a client is in that client’s best interests. Knowing what I know about how capital flows and with my understanding of what’s wrong with the financial system, I would be derelict by failing to work in a capacity where I’m helping clients allocate assets pursuant to a global investment strategy.
Having held the Series 3 license, my expertise is in helping companies and individual clients develop strategies to hedge against economic uncertainty. I’ve done original work explaining how inflation drives up prices while driving down rates of return (in both nominal and real terms), how inflation undermines earnings and engenders capital outflow, as capital naturally gravitates to cheaper, higher-yield economies through arbitrage. I’ve written many commentaries that have been carried by major publications.
I have legal residency outside the U.S. It’s my understanding of how capital flows and the failing political system in the U.S. that precipitated my decision to pursue a second legal residency outside of the U.S. I pursued legal residency outside of the U.S. precisely to protect my future by giving me options and to assist others in hedging through international asset acquisition.
Caribe Investments was started as a vision of not just emancipating myself, but others. I get great satisfaction from knowing that I am helping others.