The Economy's First TIme...

First times are usually associated with fond memories that will last a lifetime. However, some first times are not what we truly expect.  I was listening/reading a discussion with hedge fund manager Kyle Bass.  I find him interesting because he tends to like going against the grain. The things that I hear from him don't always align with what many investors and analysts are saying at that particular point in time.  If you've paid attention to my posts or random outbursts I've definitely slowed down writing about all things Wall Street because the rules are being written and changing as we speak.  In the last year, you have often heard me say that the data and thus the signals I am getting are mixed.  Maybe it would be better put that situations are changing so rapidly that its tough to keep a gauge on the market unless I am watching constantly.  I prefer not to watch constantly because that would throw off my investment style and likely lead to a little more hedging or second guessing of my strategies.  While listening to Kyle Bass speak, I thought he put an interesting take on things which made me understand why I've had this whipsawed feeling about how the market is acting.  He simply stated, "We've never been here before".  Ever!  And the point he noted was quite interesting...during a peace-time era (may wanna slightly debate this part) the amount of debt we've amassed has never been this large.  Historically, it's interesting that countries massively massively build up debt during times of war to get through those periods of time.  However, why did and why now is debt level so far away from what we've historically been used to?!?  I've favored being in the market but tilted to the defensive side of things.  That is where I will stay for the foreseeable future. So dividends, growth, and maybe even higher risk debt securities are the road that I plan to take.  A little hint for my subscription folks, you'll notice that technology and software have surprisingly been in the mix!  I'll embed the video below, take a listen: