Richardcyoung.com

  • Home
  • Debbie Young
  • Jimmy Buffett
  • Key West
  • Your Survival Guy
  • How We Are Different
  • Paris
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • Dick Young
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool
  • Anti-Gun Control
  • Anti-Digital Currency
  • Joel Salatin & Alfie Oakes
  • World Gold Mine Production
  • Fidelity & Wellington Since 1971
  • Hillsdale College
  • Babson College
  • Contact Us

Your Survival Guy: Your New Year’s MONEY Resolution

December 28, 2021 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By Romolo Tavani @Shuttestock

Anyone thinking about a New Year’s money resolution? I remember when I was a kid my dad telling me, “Saving money is like planting a tree. The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second-best time is today.” I’d be thinking tomorrow would be just fine too so could go play street hockey.

We’d get my change, dump it on the floor, and start feeding quarters, dimes, nickels, and yes, pennies into paper rolls. We’d count the dollar bills, some fives, maybe a ten or twenty and then grab my bank passbook and make the deposit.

Counting money, once we got going, was fun, especially after the teller ran it through the machine and I could actually see how much it grew from our last deposit. It didn’t have to be a big increase but after years of doing it, it became something to be proud of.

Is Your Family Prepared for the Next Disaster? Click Here to Survive and Thrive

That’s the thing about saving money. It’s hard. It’s not as fun as street hockey. But once you start doing it and get some momentum, the habit of saving is automatic. You don’t have to think about it. You’re just planting trees. No big deal. And even when the deposits were small, like planting a tree, they would grow over time.

Now, let’s talk about investing, because that’s not to be confused with saving. With investing you’re depending on something else to make money for you, like the stock market. You’re relying on a group of companies to do that work and hopefully not lose your hard earning nickels and dimes. Stocks, like trees, don’t grow to the sky.

Sure, stocks can get big but at some point they stop growing. Looking at this market, for example, the big stocks in the S&P 500 are ruling the forest. The influence the largest 10 stocks have is like oaks towering over maples. How high the oaks grow has nothing to do with how much money you save.

Action Line: The relative performance of the 10-largets U.S. stocks relative to the market before reaching that lofty level, compared to the years after, isn’t promising. The performance over three-, five-, and ten-year periods before reaching that level far exceeds the years after they’ve reached that level. Make your list. Start your savings. And understand what you control.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Money Posts of 2019
  • A Survival Guy Stocking Stuffer
  • What’s Your Survival Guy Investing in Right Now?
  • Your Survival Guy's 10 Most Popular Survival Posts of 2019
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998.

E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention.

E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris.

Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com

Click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)
  • Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report from Feb. 1987 - June 20, 2025
  • Letchworth: Are You Living Your Best Retirement Life? - June 18, 2025
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic? - June 17, 2025

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Escape From the City: You’re Going to Like What You See
  • Being Fully American Means Americans First
  • Russian Black Sea Fleet Decimated
  • Making America Great Again Is What America Wants
  • You Need to Seek Some Shelter for When Things Get Ugly
  • Soros’s Open Society Foundation, Charles Koch Team Up
  • TOP HEAVY: Focus on Big Indexing Could Cause Market Chaos
  • Gold/Silver Coins No Longer Allowed in Safe Deposit Boxes
  • Could Nature’s Pharmacy Hold the Key to Cancer Recovery?
  • Boiled Frogs: Lulled to Sleep by This Market

Our Most Popular Posts

  • The Night of the Living Dead
  • TRUMP: "Everyone Should Immediately Evacuate Tehran!"
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?
  • A Classic Issue from Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
  • Political Theater on Display: Padilla's Wild Day
  • A Nationwide Day of Defiance
  • Best Bang for Your Buck: Top 5 AR-15s of 2025
  • Epic Man Cave with Car Elevator in Utah
  • Israelis Speculate on American Involvement in War with Iran
  • GBU-57/B: Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report from Feb. 1987
  • A Great Victory for Liberty
  • Letchworth: Are You Living Your Best Retirement Life?
  • Job Openings Rise in Four States, National Rate Steady
  • Ethane Shipments Stall as U.S.-China Trade Tensions Rise
  • Historic Tax Cuts Across All States
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?
  • Canadian Shipbuilder Targets U.S. Arctic Contracts
  • Israel-Iran Conflict Triggers Freight Rate Surge and Maritime Caution
  • US Export Prices Drop Sharply in May

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • June Rage Gauge: Best Déjeuners in Paris
  • Letchworth: Are You Living Your Best Retirement Life?
  • Will SALT Kill the “One Big Beautiful Bill?”
  • You’ve Read the Last Issue of Intelligence Report: Back to Investor’s Yield
  • The Sound of Silence?
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?
  • “Happy I Found Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report”
  • A Classic Issue from Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
  • The Rich Man “Doesn’t Need the Markets”
  • Is Bitcoin Really Digital Gold?

US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

My Key West Garden Office

Your Retirement Life: Traveling the Efficient Frontier

Live a Long Life

Your Survival Guy’s Mt. Rushmore of Investing Legends

“Then One Day the Grandfather was Gone”

Copyright © 2025 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives