Jon Terry Allison's Roots

Back in 1675, a man was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland by the name of John Allison. He grew up and married a Scottish gal by the name of Jennet Helmer. One day, they decided to come to the British Colonies and settled in Lancaster County in the Pennsylvania Colony. They had 7 children, one of whom was named William Allison. They were Presbyterians.

Their son, William Allison was also born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland settled in the same Lancaster County area and married a lady name Grizzell and they had 6 children, one of whom was named John Robert Allison.

John Robert Allison was named after his grandfather John and his uncle Robert. He married a lady whom they called “Mattie” and they had 14 children together. They moved away from Lancaster County and made their home in Hillsborough, North Carolina Colony. One of their children was named Joseph H. Allison.

Joseph H. Allison was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and helped secure America’s freedom. He married three times and had 17 children in all. He and most of his family moved to White County, Tennessee, but left behind his son, Joseph Stuart Allison who chose to stay in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

Joseph Stuart Allison was a General in the North Carolina State Militia. He married a lady whom they called “Patsy” and they had 11 children, one of whom was named John James Allison.

John James Allison became a Medical Doctor and moved to Comanche County, Texas. They called him Dr. J.J. Allison. He married a lady named Mary and they had 9 children together, one of whom was named William L. S. Allison.

William L.S. Allison was a member of the Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion in Brownwood, Texas. He married a lady named Julia. They moved to Hattieville, Arkansas and one day after going to the general store, William never came home. It was thought he was killed by the Indians, but no one knew for sure. William and Julia had one child named John Washington Allison. The Allison family tree almost ended right here. But God had a plan.

John Washington Allison lived in Hattieville, Arkansas, married a lady whom they called “Cassie” and they had two children together, one of whom was my grandfather Terry Francis Allison. My brother Jon bears his middle name. John Washington Allison remarried and had 6 more children with his second wife whom they called Lizzie. They all lived in Arkansas at the time.

Terry Francis Allison met his wife, Ollie, my grandmother in Arkansas. They had four children together, Eva Dean, Betty, Billy Joe and Nancy. Eventually, they moved to Arroyo Grande, California and they all had children of their own. Billy Joe married my mother Donna at a very young age and their marriage did not last long. Only a year or two in fact. However, this was meant to be.

It is strange how God has a plan for all of us.

When I think about my great-great grandfather William L.S. Allison going off to the general store and never coming back, I have to wonder… what if he didn’t have his son John Washington Allison before he died? He was an only child. The Allison family would have ended right there, but God had a plan.

My maternal grandmother Ollie is pictured above along with my grandfather Terry. Her father Francis Utley fell off a wagon and died from a broken neck when he was only 22. His wife, my great-grandmother Nancy was pregnant at the time with my grandmother Ollie who ended up marrying my grandfather Terry Allison. They had a son name Billy Joe Allison who was Jon, Tami, Kelly and my father. What if Ollie’s mother was not pregnant at that precise time? The Allison family would have ended right there and I would have never existed. But God had a plan.

What if my mom didn’t get that divorce from Billy Joe Allison, then all the children and grandchildren that have followed would have never existed, but God had a plan.

God’s plan was for Billy Joe Allison to marry Margaret Bryson, the woman he was meant to be with. Bill and Margaret had three children together. Tami, Jon and Kelly. God’s plan was that he wanted Tami to be born along with her children Alyssa and Teri. Also included in God’s plan was Kelly and her 3 children Devin, Jace and Joe plus, Devin and Jace’s 5 children. And, of course, God wanted Jon to be born so he could marry Dena so they could have their son Riley (pictured left).

It is at times like these that we tend to question things. Why did this have to happen? Why did Jon have to die at this young age of 54? It was simply, God’s plan. Jon had an effect on all of us and he will continue to have an effect on us for as long as we live. We will cherish his memories and remember the times we had with him. His imprint on our hearts will be everlasting. He had a lot of friends that I met at his Celebration of Life. It was an honor to meet them. Especially, Casey, Todd, Terry, Dean, Darrin, Phil, Scott, Brian F., Martin, Scott, his brother Brian and the many others.

Well over 20 years ago, I wrote a letter to my Aunt Betty wanting to meet my sisters, Tami, Kelly and brother Jon. I thought it was pretty stupid to have two sisters and a brother out there somewhere and not have a relationship with them. Well, we all met way back then and it is one of the best decisions that I ever made. We kept in touch ever since until fate intervened. My sister Tami passed away in 2014 at the age of 53 and now Jon at age 54.

Jon (pictured left) and I went fishing together one time and I had not been fishing in a while. I caught a 2lb 2oz bass and man oh man, I was so proud of myself. But, Jon, being the expert fisherman that he was, promptly reeled in a 5lb 5oz bass and put me to shame! He got his picture in the paper! If you ever want to feel puny. Put a 2lb bass up next to a 5lb one.

Those of you who knew Jon know he was good as gold. His friend Todd told me they talked about his belief in God. He was a believer. He loved to play golf and fish and he was very proud of his son Riley and loved Dena more than she probably knows. But, the one that he loved the most was of course was Whoopi. Whoopi liked to play golf and go fishing, too. I think I have about 500 pictures of Whoopi in my iPhone that Jon texted to me. Pictured to the left are me and Dena, Jon's sweet wife and of course, Whoopi at Jon's Celebration of Life event.

This will give you goose bumps. The last day I texted Jon was on the anniversary of our dad’s death, February 19th. I had Photoshop-ed an old picture of our dad in his Arroyo Grande police uniform and I wanted him to have it. I was going to surprise him soon, because until recently, my name was Richard Allison Johnson, but on April 3^rd, I changed my name back to the name I was born with, Richard Mark Allison. I told Jon that I was thinking about doing it awhile back, but I wish I would have told him that I actually did it. This is my silly regret.

My sister Kelly asked me if I wanted to go to a San Diego Padres game after Jon's Celebration of Life event. She didn’t know that me and Jon went to a Padres game together. I have to think Jon arranged that baseball game for us. He knows how much I love baseball and Kelly, too.

Anyway, I have rambled on enough. Just wanted to let each and every one of you know that God has a plan for all of you. You are all very important to your family and all the descendants that will follow in your family tree. Just look what has happened since John and Jennet Allison came to the Pennsylvania Colony way back in the late 1600’s. It is simply amazing and of course, God's plan.

Thank you and God Bless you.

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Texas Investor Guide

The Texas State Securities Board has published a really nice guide for investors. The Investor Guide explains a lot of things about investing in general with a glossary of terms. In addition, it explains the differences in registration types for financial advisors. The best part to me is the validation of what I wrote about in my book, Meet Wally Street. The Reason You're Stupid. 2nd Edition and of course, the validation is how fraudsters steal your money and the tactics that they use.

I have been writing about investment scams for years with my three basic rules of investing. If you follow these three simple rules, then you stand a fighting chance against all the fraudsters out there trying to steal your money. You always have to be on guard however. Nothing is ever fool proof. 

1. Keep it Public
2. Keep it Liquid
3. Do Your Homework

Keep it public means to only buy investments that are publicly traded on a major stock exchange like stocks, bonds, CD's, mutual funds and exchange traded funds.

Keep it liquid means to only buy investments that you can get your money back within normal trade settlement within one or two business days. No exceptions!!!!

Do your homework means do a easy online checkup on your financial advisor and make sure they are licensed in your state for one thing. You can do this at Investor.gov. After you do that first critical step, then follow up and see if they have any complaints on their record and if so, what are the details of those complaints. Also, check other licenses like CFP, or other financial designations. Don't forget about insurance agent licensing either. You will have to go to the individual state insurance department web site for this information and you may have to dig around for it. It might be just as easy to call them for the information.

In the Texas State Securities Board's Investor Guide they talk about some of the scams that I have been writing about for years. Promissory notes, Non-Publicly Traded REIT's, Private Placements and other hocus-pocus investments that do not exist. All of these fail the first of my two rules above. None of these are publicly traded and none of these are liquid. That ought to be your first clue. If it isn't liquid and it isn't publicly traded, then hold onto your wallet. Somebody is out to steal money from you. Most Ponzi schemes come from these areas as pointed out in the Texas Investor Guide.

I highly recommend this Texas Investor Guide and you can get your copy by visiting the Texas State Securities Board web site here:

https://www.ssb.texas.gov/news-publications/order-2019-texas-investor-guide

My book Meet Wally Street. The Reason You're Stupid. 2nd Edition is available here and at your favorite ebook retailer. Make sure it is the 2nd edition!

 https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Wally-Street-Reason-Stupid/dp/1720401543

Economic Inflation Worries

Economic inflation worries are overblown. They have always been overblown ever since Jimmy Carter was President. Back then, banks were hawking CD's at unsustainable rates of 15% and more. Insurance companies were promising annuity rates just as high. Mortgage rates were also similarly high. Auto loans were equally ridiculous. There was an oil embargo that caused the price of oil to sky rocket and the supply to shrink. The people or economists who lived through this all blame "inflation" as the culprit.

It was not inflation. It was simply idiots in charge of everything. What kind of idiot was in charge of the bank making 30 year mortgages at 15% interest and expecting people to be able to pay that rate over the life of the loan? Or, how about a 15% auto loan? Really? I would have loved to be in the Board of Directors meeting listening to one of these idiots explaining why we needed to offer 30 year mortgages at 15% interest. I would have fired them on the spot for being so stupid.

What kind of idiot was in charge of the bank who paid CD's at the rate of 15% for a one year CD?  What kind of idiot was in charge of the insurance companies who promised annuity rates of 15% for 5 years no less? You read that right. For 5 years! They were doing it back then, believe it or not.

Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve chairman was heralded as the savior who saved America from the evil culprit of "inflation." What a joke. He didn't save anything. The markets adjusted to the stupidity of the people running the banks and insurance companies. These bank executives and their Board of Directors finally got a clue that they could not pay 15% CD rates, loan money profitably on a 30 year mortgage at 15%, or a car loan for that matter. Paul Volcker did not have anything to do with it. Although, economists everywhere give him the credit for saving America from the ravages of "inflation." The market adjusted. It is called capitalism at work.

"Inflation" was not the problem. Stupidity was the problem. Ever since this period in our economy happened, we have been stuck with these Federal Reserve policy makers who are so scared of "inflation" that they think a 2% cap on "inflation" is all that we can handle. TWO-PERCENT! Are you kidding me? What is wrong with these people? They are so scared that we will see a repeat of the Jimmy Carter days of "inflation" that they have to stop it from happening at all costs! Anytime that the economy starts to do well, these Federal Reserve governors step in and put the brakes on. All in the name of saving the economy from the ravages of "inflation." They did it last December and the stock market immediately tanked as a result. Their justification was they were trying to get back to "neutral". Neutral? Neutral? Now, they are inserting a new Federal Reserve policy. Neutrality. What the hell is neutrality? It is some arbitrary number that they want to achieve that gives them some warm and fuzzy feeling. This is so freaking stupid it is simply unbelievable. Stupid is my favorite word, by the way. Read my latest version of Meet Wally Street. The Reason You're Stupid. 2nd Edition. https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Wally-Street-Reason-Stupid/dp/1720401543

Sadly, there is no common sense in the Federal Reserve's way of thinking. They are way over-thinking it. Take a moment and spend a few minutes looking at this page and you should come to the same conclusion that I did. The Federal Reserve has done an awful job of raising and lowering interest rates over time. https://www.thebalance.com/fed-funds-rate-history-highs-lows-3306135

Who bears the brunt of these poor decisions? The middle class. The people with a 401(k) who are trying to save for retirement. Just when the market gets going in the right direction, these Federal Reserve Governors, slam the brakes on the economy by raising interest rates at the most inopportune time, like December 2017. This kills the growth in the average middle class 401(k) account. Why on earth would the Federal Reserve Governors have a policy that stymies growth? Their answer is because they are worried about the "inflation" that they experienced personally when Jimmy Carter was President. They have never really evaluated this period in time. Like I said above. Stupidity was the problem, not "inflation."

Does anyone have any good old fashion common sense any more? I would make the case that "inflation" is a good thing and the market will correct on its own without intervention from these brilliant Federal Reserve Governors. Even in the most notorious inflationary period in recent memory, the Jimmy Carter Presidency, the markets corrected. It is called capitalism at work.

Alas, what can a peon like me do about it? All I can do is make my point and hope to change some ingrained (stupid) ways of thinking.

Research & Evaluation After December Swoon

I always like to look at how specific investments perform in a sharp down draft like we had in December of 2018. This gives me clues as to what works and what does not work. This past December was one of those market swoons where everything went down pretty much. The trick is to study what was affected the most and what was affected the least.

What I discovered was that value investments tended to do very poorly in comparison with low volatility. In the past, value investments were the only choice when it came to buying low and selling high investments. However, with the advent of factor investing, we now have more choices such as equal weighting and low volatility investments. These two categories held up better than value did last December.

In addition, there is another very niche category that I like developed by Morningstar. This niche category revolves around their Moat process. This Moat process is where they evaluate publicly traded companies that are almost monopolistic and or have very strong barriers to entry from competitors. In addition, they generate a lot of free cash flow. Think of Amazon, or FedEx as companies with Moats. VanEck Vector Funds have signed on with Morningstar for their Moat strategies and are now offering a few different Moat based ETF's.

If you ever read one of my books, then you know the secret to investing is not to kill it on the upside, but rather to minimize the downside (volatility). These equal weighted, low volatility or minimum volatility investments have now had their mettle tested with the December swoon and they performed as advertised. You have to be careful however, and not just invest based on a name, because some funds may have these words in their name, but not perform as expected. Instead of looking at up performance, what you really want to do is evaluate down performance, specifically, December 2018.

Who cares if an investment went up 5% in November? If it lost 14% in December, then it is too volatile. That is not the kind of volatility that is advantageous for your portfolio. Okay Kemosabe? I can say that because I am part Native American, so get off my back, will you? I only have to go back to my maternal grandmother to find my Native American heritage. I am not like some people who are having to go back 9 generations to find a link.

Sorry, I digressed. Of course, I am way oversimplifying things here in this post, but there is a way to build a portfolio with moats, equal weighting and low or minimum volatility that should hold up well in this next swoon. However, you might need someone who knows how to do this. Hint: That would be me!

If I can help you, then give me a call at 904-460-2700 or reach out to me at rick@marianfs.com.