Some time between the 12th and 13th centuries BC, more than 3,000 years ago, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, Odysseus, set off from the ancient city of Troy in modern day Turkey to begin the long journey back home. According to the mythology passed down from Homer, Odysseus and his crew encountered incredible challenges on their voyage. They were wracked by vicious storms. They were captured by a giant cyclops. They were turned into swine after meeting a witch named Circe (who later fell in love with Odysseus). They even managed to sail to the western edge of the world. But one of the most famous adventures of Odysseus was his encounter with Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus’s journey took him through a particularly narrow stretch of sea; on one side of the strait was a small, rocky islan

By the third century AD, it was hard to imagine Rome being in worse condition. Historians literally refer to this period in Roman history as the Crisis of the Third Century. And it was brutal. Roman citizens couldn’t believe what they were experiencing... it was incomprehensible to them that their fatherland had become so weakened. Inflation was running rampant. The Empire was stuck in a quagmire of foreign wars and had suffered some humiliating defeats. Rome experienced multiple bad pandemics, coupled with even worse government response. Foreign invaders were flooding across their borders on a daily basis. Trade broke down, causing shortages in many vital goods. And terrible social strife dominated people’s daily lives. Ordinary Roman citizens were at each other’s throats, and it was a ti

Benny Grossbaum was the embodiment of the American Dream. Born in London in 1894 during the reign of Queen Victoria, Benny and his family moved to New York City (through Ellis Island) when he was still a baby. At first the family was well off; his father ran a successful business, and they lived in a posh brownstone on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. But Benny was just 9 years old when his father suddenly passed away from pneumonia, and the family lost everything. The rest of his childhood was spent in abject poverty, and he later referred to this time of adversity as “the years that formed my character.” Living in squalor also lit a fire within Benny to become wealthy; he developed a passion for money... and for study. And from the time he entered kindergarten, Benny’s teachers recognized his

On March 2, 1629, after years of escalating tensions with his own government, King Charles I of England dissolved parliament and ordered all the politicians to go home. He was only in the fourth year of his reign, but Charles was already a very unpopular king. One of his worst habits was frequently abusing his power and taking unilateral executive actions-- raising taxes or passing new regulations-- which would ordinarily require the approval of parliament. But Charles hated going through parliament, and he routinely found ways to bypass them; often he would creatively interpret obscure passages of ancient laws as justification to do whatever he wanted. In one instance, Charles decided that a 400+ year old law, which had first been decreed under Henry III in the early 1200s, gave him the a

On the evening of April 17, 1006 AD, a little more than 1,000 years ago, human beings from around the world looked up into the night sky and saw a brilliant light, the likes of which they had never before seen in their entire lives. Most people thought it was a new star-- the brightest, by far, that anyone had ever observed. Some thought it was an omen or a sign from the gods. We know now that neither was the case. The phenomenon that everyone saw that evening was actually a supernova originating more than 7,000 light years away from Earth. And scientists now refer to it as “SN 1006”, named after the year of its observation. SN 1006 is especially famous because it is likely the brightest ever recorded in human history. It was so bright, in fact, that its light could even be seen in the day

Marcus Licinius Crassus didn’t exactly start from humble beginnings. Born into a prominent Roman family in 115 BC, Crassus started his business career as a young man with a whopping three hundred ‘talents’ according to the ancient historian Plutarch. (A ‘talent’ is a unit of weight used to measure gold and silver in the ancient world, so three hundred talents would be worth potentially $50 million today.) That’s a pretty hefty sum to get started in life. But Crassus was incredibly ambitious. He didn’t squander the money by living the life of a Roman playboy. Instead he started potentially the world’s first-ever privatized fire department… and used it to amass a vast real estate portfolio. Rome had already become the dominant superpower by the time Crassus was a young businessman in the 1st

Gold is really an amazing metal when you think about it. It doesn’t corrode. Coins buried underground or sunk at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years are routinely pulled up and brushed off, and they’re good as new. This strength and durability is precisely what makes gold so interesting as an inflation hedge. It undoubtedly takes a lot of work to produce a gold coin or bar-- so much labor, energy, technology, etc. A gold coin essentially represents all of the work… all of the effort and labor… that went into producing it. This is not unique. In the same way, a bushel of wheat represents all the labor that went into producing the grain. An iPhone represents all the labor and effort that went into producing it. Except that wheat doesn’t last. iPhones don’t last. Gold does. So gold

Most people have a peasant mentality. Throughout human history, in fact, the vast majority of people never thought much beyond their tiny village, let alone traveled. But there have always been some people who have had the intellectual courage and curiosity to think far beyond their own borders. And they’ve often been richly rewarded for it. Adopting a global mindset essentially means thinking about the entire world when considering your options. And more options is almost always more beneficial. If you’re thinking about retirement, more options will greatly increase the chances of finding the right place that has the right weather, cost of living, medical care, and lifestyle that you desire. If you’re thinking about business, considering your overseas options will greatly increase your ch

When the infamous British smuggler Robert Jenkins sailed past Jamaica in April of 1731, he probably thought he was home free. Jenkins had a ship full of contraband which he had picked up in the West Indies, and he was heading back to England to sell his goods in London’s premium markets. But Jenkins wasn’t transporting drugs or alcohol, or even anything especially exotic. His ‘contraband’ was sugar. Big deal. The West Indies at the time, though, were mainly under Spanish control. And Spain insisted that no one could export sugar from their territory without their express approval, along with paying heavy taxes and fees. Most traders didn’t care. By 1731, Spain was a declining power. Everyone knew it. The once-dominant Spanish Empire had been vanquished by military defeat, political incompe

The country that controls the global refined lithium supply will be the superpower of the 21st century. And it’s only a matter of time before that country emerges. Right now, 96% of lithium is mined in just four countries: Australia, Chile, Argentina, and China. But that’s deceptive. Because the countries that have the lithium don’t necessarily own the lithium. You see, China is never content with its own resources. And it is rapidly moving to corner the global lithium market—in a bid to become the only powerful electro-state in the world. To get there, China has systematically steamrolled its way into the other three major lithium mining countries. The second-largest lithium reserve in the world, located in Australia, is underwritten by Ganfeng Lithium, a Chinese company. Greenbushes, the