2025 - The Era of Abundance
How to make the most of volatile situations...
It’s a big week in Washington…
Bitcoin (XBT) clipped the bottom end of ~$110,000 Sunday overnight. There’s something called a Trump Coin rearranging the billionaire rankings while we sleep, and phsyical Gold (XAU) looks like it’s been doing pushups for three months.
Our Trustee Portfolio has two organic food stocks exploding higher, one up almost ~300% and another closing in on double-digit gains in its first week. All before an organic food champion takes the reins at the FDA.
Like it or not, there’s a new sheriff in town. Some people will benefit, many won’t.
And it has nothing to do with connections. You don’t need to be at the inauguration gala to win. We live in an era of abundance, with more capability than any other era in recorded history.
Yet many people lag behind, complaining about how things were better in the past. I’m starting to think deep down, they don’t believe they can succeed…
Choice of Mindset
If so, you could split the western world into two groups. One huge, the other very small. Membership in either group is optional.
The small group plays the game, while the much larger group that gets played by the game.
That larger group is endlessly bamboozled by events, headlines, and circumstances they feel are beyond their ability to navigate. Meanwhile, the smaller group somehow deals profitably with the same circumstances. It can’t be an accident… and there’s no way it’s dumb luck.
And while the larger, unsuccessful group complains endlessly, they seem to like being on the losing end of things. They gripe about how hard it all is, they commiserate, share common fatigue, and seem to feel comforted by others who either lost, or didn’t win.
But the winners don’t do this. They either don’t care, or don’t have time for it. When knocked down, they get right back up, they don’t even notice who or what knocked them down.
It’s as if they avoid resentment and blame like the plague. They realize you become what you think about, your view of yourself shapes your experience with tomorrow. Someone sleeps in the penthouse, might as well be you.
The complainers say it was lucky, or wasn’t fair. They always have a poorly examined excuse for their circumstances.
Play to Win
Teng Feng showed up ready to play, more like ready to kill me.
I watched the 5”8” younger Chinese man hop around the court like an arachnoid. There’s no way he had more than 4% body fat, which for those not fitness-minded is an almost unimaginably low level.
Feng levitated when he served, then anticipated the return, cocking his head while delivering a perfect backhand slice down the line, if returned, he’d send back the same shot but with backspin, dropping it just over the net, a full 15 feet shorter than the last shot but on the same trajectory. It looked as if he’d practiced for years, under immense pressure.
The tournament director told me head to court 8 and watch Feng, who I’d play next. I watched in horror, the guy he destroyed was easily a 4.0+ player. That’s the USTA rating, and 4.0 means you’re more than good. The added “+” means you’re not quite up to the next level but dangerous to those at yours.
As for me, I’m an average player, 3.0+ right now due to transient factors, but 3.5 is in there, lurking.
Feng entered the 3.0 and 4.0 brackets. When he’d beaten the 4.0+ guy mercilessly I asked him if he really want to play. I mean, my intent was to drive him bats sending defensive lobs back on each of his power serves, etc. It really wouldn’t be fun for either of us. In a respectable move I’m not sure exists in the dreaded hellscape of the “tink, tink, tink,” pickleball world, Teng withdrew.
That put me in the semis, without playing a match. Lucky me… and then I played 3.0 Sean O. from Jacksonville, FL. He hit with no pace, and no topspin, which is like playing T-ball. It’s hard to return a ball with no pace. However, he beat me, in the semis. But they still gave me a trophy, and insisted on a picture.
The thing about tennis is, the court dimensions, the regulations, the net height, it’s all perfectly designed. When you play, you exist in a world of black and white, it’s what you do in that world that determines who wins the game.
It’s a lot like chess, but with the added fun of sprinting around, stick in hand. That’s what I try to teach the Tucker kids. So far, it’s working.
And the goal is to help them focus only on what’s happening right now, in real time, and what they can do about it.
And while that might sound like something everyone does, it’s not.
It’s Time To Win
My verbose doubles partner Pete last week droned on about how he wished he’d, “invented a button on the iPhone.” Which is odd because the iconic device has increasingly fewer buttons. Pete angled again to explain if he’d done something like that, his life would be better, etc. And his life seems pretty good without the invention, he’s playing tennis on Friday morning.
But this should’ve, would’ve, could’ve, it’s someone else’s fault language, is not a winning attitude.
It’s what I hear from the blamers, and 2025 is a time to leave those people behind.
I told Pete we live in an era of abundance, endless potential. He volleyed back a disparaging comment about my beard. Which for what it’s worth, is not a curated beard, I just stopped shaving or cutting my hair a while back, and haven’t decided to restart.
Then it dawned on me, maybe Pete doesn’t know how to think like the sliver of winners who’s whine sounds less like a complaint and more like a Labrador thumping its tail on the sides of a crate so furiously it’s heart might beat right out of its chest if it doesn’t get to explode out of that cage this second.
It’s the instinct to go, without wasting a fraction of a second worried about fears, real or imagined. That’s how the winners think.
And Pete also doesn’t know what The Tucker Letter is, or that he’s being mentioned in it. Or, that we have a unique offer for people just like him to enjoy the benefits of full membership.
He had a lengthy career as a babbling salesman at an investment bank. From how he tells it (and it is hard to shut the guy up), it was an amazing career, but still not amazing enough. A full year of TTL might help make it better.
While he doesn’t know it, my book could also help him. Not that he needs help in any serious way… but it might show him how life unfolds so perfectly you don’t need to sit around wishing you’d invented a button on the iPhone. If that’s even possible.
It’s a real life look at how to take what you see in front of you, as it shows up, and trade it, profitably. You flow along life like it’s a river. You don’t struggle and kick, looking for something to grab on to and inevitably drag underwater with you as you flail about.
And if that sounds like something you’d like to try, let’s make it a little easier.
For the next week, if you sign up for a full year of premium access to The Tucker Letter, we’ll send you a signed copy of my new book, Not For Sale.
We’ll get it sent out to you in the coming weeks. You need to email us your address after you sign up. We can only send the book to a U.S. address. If you’re overseas, ask a friend to receive it for you.
And when I say book I don’t mean one of those trade show booth copies offered by an absent author, with the signature stamped in the front. I’m talking about something signed like:
“To Pete: forget about the button, invent a whole new phone.”
Something clearly written by the author, in pen, so you won’t be able to sell it on eBay later.
Plus, regardless of whether you read the book or not, we’ll also give you a significant discount on a full year of TTL. If you don’t love the journey, simply cancel before it renews.
But be careful, TTL has “locked-in” pricing. While the government secretly likes rising prices, because they diabolically boost tax receipts, we’ll let you stay locked at the regular annual subscription price the day you sign up. As long as your subscription doesn’t lapse, you avoid future increases. It’s a thank you for sticking around over the years.
So, if it’s time to make a shift in how you handle a changing world, do it today. Sign up, get the book, read it, and follow us for a full year to see how we do it. You might find your life changing in a way you like, instead of in a way that everyone else complains about.
Make sure you use this special link to get started today.
Back with more next Thursday.
E.B.