Hola Libertinus!

Even if you’re not convinced that the world is teetering on the brink of collapse—from geopolitical chaos to the inevitable rise of our AI overlords—you’ve probably noticed the signs.

The cracks are showing, and 2025 promises to be a year where decline and opportunity share the dance floor.

This week, West challenges our usual conception of New Year’s resolutions, and Zack reminds us that the tides of history wait for no one.

Grab a drink, settle in, and let’s kick off 2025 with a plan for staying one step ahead.

🗞️ DISPATCHES

Stop Sucking at Resolutions

As we bring in the new year, the same thing (or person) seems to be on everyone's mind – Trump.

Right now, the world's axis seems to turn around him.

Given the looming annexation of Canada, Greenland, Panama—and probably Antarctica for good measure—the entire planet will soon be under his thumb (sarcasm).

Whether you like him or hate him, let's take a moment to recognize that Trump, and politicians in general, hold little sway over your life in totality.

YOU, and you alone, have more ability to influence your life's outcome than any anyone else, be they presidents, governors, or that see you next Tuesday that heads the local HOA.

The President may move markets, but you get decide how to position yourself in those markets.

The President may increases taxes, but you can add more value to the market and increase your paycheck.

The President may pass strict spray tan mandates, but you can always escape to a tropical paradise with ample vitamin D.

All joke's aside, New Year's is a great time because people seem to suddenly remember that they have agency in their lives, and attempt to exert that agency by making goals.

What are these goals though?

All of the most common goals people have for 2025 fall into three buckets: health, finances, and family.

These are all great goals.

Their universality demonstrates the importance of these things to a life well lived.

In many ways though, these goals are better viewed through the lens of risk management.

Most people want to lose weight to look better, but losing some weight goes a long way towards making sure you stay alive longer.

Most people want to save money so they can buy stuff to impress people, but having extra money in a savings account keeps you and your family fed during hard times.

Most people want to spend more time with their family to increase their sense of belonging and purpose, but it also ensures you won't lie on your deathbed full of regret.

What's alarming though is how many people will fail in these basic risk management steps, 91% of them to be exact.

I'm no statistician, but those are some rough numbers.

We should be thinking about politics and world events in the same way – as risk management.

Most people follow the news for entertainment, but understanding what lies beyond the horizon that could impact you is just prudent risk management.

Just be sure to follow through so you don't end up like the other 91%.

But like I said, keeping up with the Trumps of the world is risk management, NOT a lifestyle.

You have more ability to affect your life more than any politician, so why spend all day following what they're doing instead of living your own life?

Following the news doesn't increase your freedom, it just highlights the risks to your freedom so you can mitigate against them.

This year, instead of standing on knife's edge waiting for Trump's next speech, go out and build your freedom.

Find ways to provide more value to the market in exchange for capital.

Travel and find places you would want to consider living if things do go south in the US, or just places where your hard earned dollar goes farther.

Better yet, learn how to insulate your wealth from the financial mismanagement of politicians, so you don't even have to follow the news.

In short, build a life that is full of enjoyment no matter what the talking heads are spewing on the TV any given day of the week.

How's that for a resolution? ~West

Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?

February 14, 1876.

Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray raced to the patent office to claim the invention of the telephone.

Not figuratively—literally.

Both men had been working on their designs for months, but thanks to a mix of divine comedy and cosmic timing, their filings arrived on the exact same day.

Pretty wild, right?

Nothing screams “timeless invention" like bureaucracy and paperwork, after all.

Cue the patent showdown of the century.

Spoiler alert: Bell won. And we got robocalls and the FCC.

Here's the point:

The telephone—one of the most transformative inventions in human history—wasn’t born in a vacuum or even from a single mind.

It was a product of its times.

This isn't uncommon, btw.

History is littered with examples of "co-discovery."

Gravity, plate tectonics, evolution, calculus, thermodynamics, the steam engine, the light bulb, Neptune; all were independently discovered by multiple scientists, often in different parts of the world, at almost the same time.

You can even think back to the axial age of our current geopolitical order and see the U.S. and the USSR splitting the atom and racing each other to the moon, nearly in lockstep.

So how do we explain this phenomena?

Aliens, obviously.

Or, maybe our brains really are, as Nikola Tesla believed, just antennas picking up the universe’s latest innovation playlist.

Or—wild idea—maybe this is a demonstration that when the the pieces of the puzzle are all on the table, these advancements and technologies are simply the inevitabilities of their time?

I'll let you decide.

Whatever the case, what I want you to take from this is the tension between the individual and his or her historical moment.

Which brings us to today’s golden-haired protagonist:

Donald J. Trump.

Like West mentioned, he’s on everyone’s mind. Love him or hate him, the man is walking “main character” syndrome, and the media—right and left—are happy to oblige.

And while I find myself fatigued with nonstop headlines about our President-elect (which has been true since he first announced his candidacy in June 2015—coming up on a decade ago!), we should at least acknowledge the changing of the guard.

And even though there's reason to be optimistic around certain aspects of the political agenda (we don't want to end up like the UK, do we?), we've still got to be realistic:

No matter how many executive orders Trump signs or how many tariffs he slaps on imported avocados, he’s not fixing the big stuff.

The Federal Reserve isn’t going to suddenly decide fiat currency was a bad idea. Musk can’t put a dent in our astronomical mountain of debt. And the geopolitical tension between the U.S., Russia, and China isn’t going anywhere.

Politicians—even if bronzed like a Greek g*d—can't save us from our historical moment. They might postpone decline, delay disaster, or occasionally accelerate the fire faster than expected.

But history is a tide, and it’s up to you to build your own ship.

My advice?

Pay attention to the forces shaping our moment in time:

➜ The Fed’s money printer has been 'brrrrring' for decades, every administration spends more than the last, and fiat will always do what fiat does best—Thelma and Louise-ing itself straight off a cliff. The crash? It’s coming.

➜ AI, crypto, decentralized governance—these tools are poised to write the next chapter in the history of finance, benefiting those who are those paying attention.

➜ The unipolar world order is fading, giving way to rising multipolarity, intensifying competition, and supply chain instability. For some, this means opportunity; for others, chaos—and for everyone, the need for pragmatic risk management.

No politician can stop the tide.

And the real work? That’s on you.

Your role in this moment is to be the most influential person in your life.

Echoing West’s sentiments, the President may move markets, but you decide how to position yourself. The Fed may print money, but you choose how to store your value. The government may draft new laws, but you decide where and how you want to live.

History is inevitable, but your response to it isn’t.

Only you can decide to be your own locus of control.

So what’s it going to be?

Driftwood or captain? The choice is yours. ~Zack

That’s it for this week’s dispatches.

As we set sail into the new year, let’s remember: whether it’s resolutions or revolutions, the answer is the same: build your ship, steer your course, and be your own locus of control.

History may be inevitable, but freedom is always a choice.

Here’s to navigating 2025 with a refusal to settle for the status quo.

Sic semper debitoribus,
~ West & Zack

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