It’s September already. Here at the Noble Wealth Partners Global Headquarters, we’ve feverishly examined every calendar we can get our hands on because it seems so crazy to us, too. But alas, it’s true. So let’s get started before fall comes knocking…

Charlatan | char·la·tan | noun

1. a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.

   "a self-confessed con artist and charlatan"

   synonyms:quack, mountebank, sham, fraud, fake, humbug, impostor, pretender, masquerader, hoodwinker, hoaxer, cheat, deceiver, dissembler, double-dealer, double-crosser, trickster, confidence trickster, cheater, swindler, fraudster, racketeer

The world of 24-hour financial media has created a very special personality - the part-time financial charlatan.

Here’s how it works. The trick to being a part-time, financial media charlatan is to have some level of expertise or fame within the investing community. It’s even better if you’ve happened to make a public proclamation in the past that made you rich and happened to come true (see Michael Burry of The Big Short).

Once you’ve established this false level of credibility, you simply go on CNBC or get quoted in the Wall Street Journal with how the world is coming to an end because of <insert seemingly reasonable theory here>. There is never a punishment for being wrong, but you stand to be rich and famous forever if you’re right. It’s the easiest decision in the world for the part-time charlatan.

We hate to be so cynical, but predicting the next financial calamity or recession is a fool’s errand. Economists are notoriously horrible at predicting recessions. Famous hedge fund managers aren’t any better. None of these people, including your local television news crew or the team at Fox News, should be trusted when they’re making these claims. Even worse are the countless commercials about putting all of your money into gold or some other fad to protect you from disaster.

We may sound like a broken record, but everything that we were concerned about at the beginning of the year is something that we’re concerned about now. Stocks are expensive, bonds are expensive, the White House continues it’s ridiculous trade war with China and pretty much the rest of world…and it’s all enough reason for us to be cautious but not enough of a reason to irrationally panic.

If you’ve taken the time to go through the financial planning process with us or someone you trust, you understand where all of your money is invested and why it’s invested that way, then you can relax. You can never predict, but you can plan and prepare.

If you haven’t done those things…well, maybe you should call us.