Aftermath

Seven Secrets of Wealth Preservation in the Coming Chaos

By: James Rickards

Narrated by: James Rickards

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

A Wall Street Journal best seller 

Financial expert, investment advisor and New York Times best-selling author James Rickards shows why and how global financial markets are being artificially inflated - and what smart investors can do to protect their assets

What goes up, must come down. As any student of financial history knows, the dizzying heights of the stock market can't continue indefinitely - especially since asset prices have been artificially inflated by investor optimism around the Trump administration, ruinously low interest rates, and the infiltration of behavioral economics into our financial lives. The elites are prepared, but what's the average investor to do? 

James Rickards, the author of the prescient books Currency Wars, The Death of Money, and The Road to Ruin, lays out the true risks to our financial system, and offers invaluable advice on how best to weather the storm. You'll learn, for instance: 

• How behavioral economists prop up the market: funds that administer 401(k)s use all kinds of tricks to make you invest more, inflating asset prices to unsustainable levels.
• Why digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are best avoided. 
• Why passive investing has been overhyped: The average investor has been scolded into passively managed index funds. But active investors will soon have a big advantage.
• What the financial landscape will look like after the next crisis: It will not be an apocalypse, but it will be radically different. Those who forsee this landscape can prepare now to preserve wealth.

Provocative, stirring, and full of counterintuitive advice, Aftermath is the book every smart investor will want to get their hands on - as soon as possible.

©2019 James Rickards (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Not much new here if you have read Rickards

This is a decent book but if you have read Rickards' other books ("Currency Wars," "The Death of Money," or "Road to Ruin") you won't find much new material here. It is a bit updated since 2016 when "Road to Ruin" was published. And it contains a few of the classic Rickards vignettes about working with the CIA and on an advisory council for CFIUS. At the very end Rickards describes what the upcoming financial apocalypse might look like by referencing a book by Lionel Shriver ("The Mandibles").

At the end of each chapter Rickards gives his "investment advice" - basically ways to protect yourself in a financial apocalypse. Again, if you have read any of his other books, you will know his recommendations: physical gold and silver, hard assets, cash on hand, and a few tips for companies whose stocks might be good investments.

My biggest problem with the audiobook is that Rickards is not a good narrator. He did a better job narrating "Road to Ruin" than he does here (and that was already mediocre narration). He doesn't enunciate clearly so for someone like me who prefers to listen at 1.5x speed, it takes a bit of an adjustment for your ear to become accustomed to his sloppy narration.

If you enjoyed his other books, you will probably like this one. Just recognize that there isn't a whole lot of new material here. If you have not read any of his other books, I'd recommend this one since it is the most recent.

Narration is very bad!

I have hardly complained about any narrator in over 100+ books heard but this narration is unbearable! Sorry Mr Rickards, but please assign the narration to a pro so we can enjoy your otherwise interesting insights!

Same old Jim

This is a typical Rickards book -- interesting stories from economic history and tidbits from Rickards' life and then a very brief discussion on what to do. Dealing with Rickards' drone narration to get to the one important paragraph towards the end of each chapter is hardly worth it.

As Rickards has emphasized in all of his other books, starting with Currency Wars, invest in gold, land, museum quality fine art, and cash. This time, he adds utilities and growing tech companies that are fiscally conservative to the mix, to offset the chance that the US enters a stagnant, deflationary period ala Japan.

A Worthwhile Entertaining Read...

Financial history... stories of CIA adventures...one on one with board members and high officers of big name banks,.. speaking engagements with Silicon Valley high end investors... Davos... Current trends for US and world trade balances and currencies... the trade war, China, Madoff... Trump's chief China trade hand... Rickards knows the history and has personally met many of the technocratic players... The book is entertaining from the glimpses provided and tales of interaction with same. It also provides viewpoints from many different angles.

A history of the more recent economic and currency chrises. US budgetary deficits, General trends, extrapolated. Possible remedies... What living during and after a collapse might look like. Suggestions for further reading. All quite believable, all well reasoned, and historically based, from someone with a background of dealing at high levels of government, including the CIA and central banks. Worth the few dollars this costs.

An entertaining read.

Thanks Jim

thanks Jim for sharing your knowledge with those of us that are too busy working, to be able to watch the details of this stuff unfold day to day.

always great

James always brings rational and logic to the emotional game of what's going to happen with all of this debt. he uses history, mathematics, and statistics to bring forth very good arguments of what may be coming in the near future.

A recent history of world mis-finance

I always enjoy Mr Rickard's books. This one is one of his best. There is a lot of updated information. I found the part about China and the current trade negotiations particularly of interest. I really don't understand the complaints about the narration, it was easy enough for me to understand and I'm an expert by no means. He does an excellent job of commenting on political leaders and their impact on the nation's economic health without getting political which is VERY refreshing these days. He goes over objections to a gold backed monetary system and explains his position in an easy to understand fashion. He also highlights the need to clearly and thoroughly plan out your strategy. I got to see just how ill prepared most people are when the excrement hits the fan when hurricane Michael devastated our area. Many thought they had things planned out, then reality set in. What good is having a generator that burns a gal of gas per hour if you only have three 5 gal gas cans standing by?
I'm already looking forward to his next book.

Awareness

For those who see The writings on the wall and want to understand the message. Recommend for everyone! Good read.

Gripped me in its entirety

Another masterpiece from the author. He’s a true insider into the IS government, politics and human psychology. Keep them coming James.

On the money!

Fantastic book filled with so much knowledge. I’ll be reading and listening over and over again. Thanks Jim.