“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a problem…”

By Tim Staermose, somewhere over the Adriatic Sea By the time you read this, I'll have landed in Italy—about 4 hours later than scheduled. Our flight out of Hong Kong last night had an engine malfunction about 45 minutes into the flight to Rome, and the pilot made the decision to return to Hong Kong. But first we had to circle for an hour, dumping fuel. A fully laden, wide-bodied aircraft, in this case an Airbus A340 (which thankfully has 4 engines), cannot land safely without first lightening its load.    In all the hundreds of flights I've taken over the years, it's only the second time I've experienced something like this. And it sure puts things in perspective.   It got me reflecting on a lot of the messages we try to impress upon you in these letters.  1.  Don't be complacent. 2.  Expect the unexpected.   3.  First and foremost, play defense. 4.  Always have a back up plan.   5.  You need others you can trust and turn to for help in an emergency. Things will happen that are completely out of your own control that you cannot do anything about. 6.  If the worst doesn't happen, great, just be prepared for it. 7.  But, above all, don't live in fear. Embrace life. Live it to its fullest. Our time is short. Make the most of it. And here's a great pearl of wisdom from an ex-US Air Force pilot I met in the Philippines, who was shot down over North Vietnam and spent 5 years in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" as a POW: "It's better being on the ground wishing you were in the air, than being up there wishing you were on the ground." It’s great advice to live by.  I’ll be using this personal wake-up call, as a chance to review all my own arrangements for the stormy weather that we foresee ahead for the current world economic and political order.  If you haven’t made a start on your own personal Plan B, I urge you to START TODAY. If you’re well on the way, or have all your own plans already in place, why not review them? Make a checklist. And make it bulletproof.  As Simon is fond of saying, it’s better to be years early, than even one day too late.  Until next time, Tim Staermose, Chief Investment Strategist Sovereign Man