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Veteran investor Jim Rogers has seen this movie before, and he doesn’t like how it ends.
“I sold all my U.S. stocks recently, because I’ve seen this party before,” he remarked in an interview with Wealthion (1). “Bottoms in the investment world don’t end with four-year lows; they end with ten- or fifteen-year lows.”
At the center of his concern: America’s mounting debt load. The U.S. national debt now stands at $38.56 trillion as of February 4, 2026, according to data from the Joint Economic Committee (2). That, according to Rogers, makes the U.S. the largest debtor nation in history.
“I sit and look at the numbers, and I say, can’t they read in Washington? Don’t they know what’s happening?”
Rogers has shifted his own portfolio, increasingly investing in rising markets like Uzbekistan after exiting U.S. equities (3).
Rogers is skeptical that policymakers can contain the fallout this time around. Even the Federal Reserve “doesn’t have unlimited amounts of money that can save us all,” he warned, adding that the central bank “usually makes things worse.”
“My advice is, be very, very careful wherever you think about investing. This is a rare time in investing history,” he said.
However, during uncertain times, it’s important to know how to position yourself defensively and minimize the risks to your wallet.
And there might even be opportunities to make money before the elevator drops.
U.S. stocks have delivered generally positive performance over recent years, but 2025 and 2026 brought with them renewed concerns about volatility.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have alternated between gains and sharp, sudden pullbacks as investors juggle shifting markets. Recently, Reuters reported that both indexes are under pressure due to weak technology returns and inflation woes (4).
Numerically, February is turning out to be a rough month for U.S. equities. But none of this is happening in a vacuum.
Markets have been sensitive to developments in trade policy. This is no surprise, as last year’s tariff increases (and their subsequent legal battles) introduced significant market swings.
When the White House imposed “reciprocal” tariffs in early April of 2025, U.S. stocks sold off sharply, including a plunge in major indexes as trade tensions escalated.
More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down major tariff measures enacted in 2025. However, following the decision, the Trump administration issued a new executive order increasing global tariffs by 15%, under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (5).
At the time of writing, it remains to be seen how this new tax will be enforced and whether those impacted by the previous run of tariffs will recoup their losses through legal recourse.
After a period of tighter policy in response to inflationary pressures, the Fed has shifted to a more cautious stance.
Futures markets are pricing in debate over whether the Fed will cut rates, hold steady or delay further action as inflation and labor data evolve. This lack of clarity on the Fed’s next moves has added to investor caution and repositioning across asset classes, prompting some like Rogers to pull out entirely.
In such an environment, investors tend to look beyond stocks for defensive options, such as precious metals, hedges against inflation and even alternative assets.
Rogers , for one, finds refuge in precious metals.
“I own a lot of gold and silver,” he said in his interview with Wealthion. “I am not a seller of gold and silver. I hope that someday my children have all the gold and silver, because I don’t see any reason for any human being to sell gold and silver in the 21st century.”
Both precious metals have long been considered popular hedges against inflation. Unlike fiat currency, these metals cannot be printed in unlimited quantities by central banks.
This can make them a good store of value when uncertainty rises.
During periods of market volatility and global instability, investors often shift capital into precious metals because no single country, currency or economy controls their value. As of February 27, 2026, gold was trading near $5,227 per ounce (6) — up roughly 82% from around $2,900 per ounce last year (7).
One way to take advantage of gold while leveraging significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Priority Gold.
Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, which combines the tax advantages of an IRA with the inflation-hedging benefits of precious metals. This can make it an attractive option for those seeking to protect their retirement funds against economic uncertainties.
To learn more, you can request a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $10,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases. Just keep in mind that gold is often best used as just one part of a well-diversified portfolio.
Like stocks, real estate has its cycles, but it doesn’t require a bull market to earn returns.
Even during a recession, high-quality, essential real estate can continue to produce passive income through rent. In other words, you don’t have to wait for prices to rise to see a payoff — the asset itself can work for you.
Traditionally, investing in real estate meant buying property and becoming a landlord.
But new investing platforms are making it easier than ever to tap into the real estate market — and without a 30-year mortgage commitment or contending with midnight maintenance calls.
Not all real estate investing requires buying an entire property outright.
Through platforms like Arrived, investors can purchase shares of individual rental homes and vacation properties — earning passive income without handling tenants, maintenance, or property management.
Even better, Arrived recently launched a quarterly secondary marketplace, giving investors the flexibility to sell shares of properties before the end of the typical hold period. This can add a measure of liquidity that traditional real estate often lacks.
Arrived carefully chooses properties designed to generate rental income and long-term appreciation. Investors can even earn any quarterly dividends and share in the property’s upside as it appreciates and eventually sells.
But vacation rentals and individual rental homes aren’t the only options available for investors. Other sectors of real estate can also provide unique advantages for those with capital on hand.
If diversifying into multifamily and industrial rentals appeals to you, you could consider investing with Lightstone DIRECT, a new investing platform from the Lightstone Group, one of the largest private real estate companies in the country with over 25,000 multifamily units in its portfolio.
Since they eliminate intermediaries — brokers and crowdfunding middlemen — accredited investors with a minimum investment of $100,000 can gain direct access to institutional-quality multifamily opportunities. This streamlined model can help reduce fees while enhancing transparency and control.
And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone — a true partner — as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone’s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone’s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.
How it works is simple: Just sign up with your email, and you can schedule a call with a capital formation expert to assess your investment opportunities. From here, all you have to do is verify your details to begin investing.
Founded in 1986, Lightstone has a proven track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns across market cycles with a 27.6% historical net IRR and 2.54x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004. All told, Lightstone has $12 billion in assets under management — including in industrial and commercial real estate.
As such, even if multifamily rentals don’t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.
But real estate and gold are only two levers you can pull.
Similar to Jim Rogers’ warning, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon cautioned investors to brace for a stock drawdown over the next two years at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in November (7).
“It’s likely there’ll be a 10% to 20% drawdown in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months,” Solomon said. “Things run, and then they pull back so people can reassess.”
With these warning signs, diversification isn’t just smart — it’s essential. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates continue to invest heavily in stocks. Still, they also carve out a portion of their portfolios for assets that behave differently from the market.
And there’s one globally recognized asset class that stands apart from U.S. markets, while tending to both appreciate and store value over time.
The asset in question? Post-war and contemporary art — which outpaced the S&P 500 by 15% from 1995 to 2025 while showing near-zero correlation to traditional equities. Until recently, this world was off-limits to most retail investors.
Now, with Masterworks, you can buy fractional shares in multimillion-dollar works by icons like Banksy, Picasso, and Basquiat. While art can be illiquid and typically requires a long-term hold, it offers unique portfolio diversification.
Masterworks has sold 25 artworks so far, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% among assets held for longer than a year.
Note that past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
While gold, real estate, and other alternative assets can play an important role in protecting your savings, they’re just a portion of your entire financial puzzle.
Determining the right mix of assets for your portfolio isn’t one-size-fits-all — and a trusted, pre-screened financial advisor can help tailor investment choices to your income, net worth, and long-term goals, where generalized advice often falls short.
According to Vanguard research, people who work with financial advisors see a 3% increase in net returns (8). This difference can be substantial over time.
Let’s say you start with a $50,000 portfolio and earn 6% annually, you’d have roughly $287,000 after 30 years. But if professional guidance helped boost returns to about 9%, the same portfolio could grow to about $663,000. That’s a difference of nearly $375,000.
Finding the right advisor for your needs is simple with Advisor.com. Their platform connects you with an experienced, qualified financial professional in your local area who can provide personalized guidance.
A professional advisor can also help you assess how many years you have left to invest before retirement and determine your comfort level with market fluctuations, both of which are key to creating the right asset mix for your portfolio.
That said, not everyone wants to hand over the reins. For confident, hands-on investors, there are ways to get professional-grade insights without hiring a full-time advisor. If you still want to bet on America, and tap U.S. stocks, you might as well look for the best of the best when it comes to market insights.
Moby offers expert research and recommendations designed to help you identify strong, long-term investments, backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.
Over the past four years — and across nearly 400 stock picks — Moby says its recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. The platform also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Instead of spending hours combing through earnings reports and market commentary, Moby’s team does the heavy lifting for you — delivering stock and crypto research straight to your inbox. Their reports aim to keep investors up to date on market shifts while reducing the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.
Whether you lean toward precious metals, income-producing real estate, private markets, or professional guidance, diversification remains one of the most powerful tools investors have.
After all, in uncertain environments, clarity often matters more than bold predictions.
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