I’ve spent the week prepping for a Financial Apocalypse that may or may not come but I’d rather be prepared than not. There’s a saying, “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it!”
As a follow up to Is Your Personal Finance Ready For War, I decided to write up some of the things I look for as major red flags that something is wrong with the financial system just as it was in 2008. While I have my own “barometers” of fiscal health, I came across a great video from Stanley Druckenmiller that summarizes key things to monitor and key actions to take. Some people don’t like watching YouTube videos so I had AI generate the infographic below and it got everything right except Druckenmiller’s last name so apologies for that but it’s AI.
Druckenmiller’s Key Red Flag Triggers
- The 10 year treasury above 5 percent.
- Regional Bank ETF KRE down more than 30 percent. (KRE is down about 15 percent from peak in Feb 2026).
- Credit Spreads > 6 percent between investment grade and junk bonds. Helpful chart here.
Additional Key Triggers
- Japanese bond rates
- Oil
- Tech stocks
The Japanese interest rates are also something I monitor and they have been surging for a while now. If the Japan bond rates go above 5 percent there will be some serious problems around the world. I wrote about taking positions in FXY (Japanese currency) a while back in preparation for some scenarios.
Brent crude is hovering around $100. If this lasts till the end of March we may have financial Armageddon. Oil permeates every aspect of modern life and a sustained price of oil will crush household pocketbooks.
Tech stocks dropping 10% or more in a week should also sound some major alarms given AI is what has been driving the economy for the past year.
I’ll have another post on some precautions everyone should take but many are already in the infographic.
Share The Wealth
How are you monitoring the financial health of the economy and your investment portfolio?