For my entire adult life, I’ve focused on wealth accumulation. 

With economic and political storm clouds seemingly brewing on every horizon, I find myself starting to think a little more defensively.

How do I protect what I’ve built?

Don’t get me wrong, I continue investing in stocks on auto-pilot every week, and investing in passive real estate every month.

But I also find myself asking “How would this investment hold up in an economic crash?”

Last year, I read a book called The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End by historian Neil Howe. It makes the worrying case that every human civilization in history has experienced a four-generation cycle, culminating in an existential crisis that reshapes society and kicks off the next cycle.

Part of that has to do with building strong institutions in the midst and wake of the crisis, and those institutions gradually decaying over the next four generations.

The last of those crises in our civilization – the one-two punch of the Great Depression and World War II – happened four generations ago. And it definitely feels like there’s some electricity-in-the-air-before-the-storm today.

I do believe some type of crisis will hit in the next 3-7 years. A major war? An internal political revolution? Something painful and ugly, even it’s still too distant to see clearly now.

Whenever and whatever the next crisis is, I want to survive it with my wealth intact.

For anyone wondering how to protect themselves, here's a few strategies:

• Diversify across asset types and even geographies

• Keep some liquidity and “hard” assets like cash reserves or metals

• Invest in assets with real-world utility (housing, farmland, essential services)

•Use fixed-rate debt wisely—it can be your friend during inflation

• Build legal and tax protection through smart entity structures

• Keep learning and growing your network!!! Skills and relationships compound too