With Buybacks Ending, A Market Correction Is Not Off The Table | Lance Roberts
Adam Taggart | Thoughtful Money® Sep 5, 2026
Summary
The US values its gold reserves at $42.22 per ounce by statute — roughly 1% of market, leaving a near-$1 trillion gap.
Marking those reserves to market would expand the monetary base; it would effectively print money, not just add an asset.
Only five governments in 30 years have used reserve revaluation; the lever signals fiscal distress, not routine policy.
The buyback blackout and quarter-end rebalancing leave equities exposed to headline risk, with a 3-5% pullback to the 50-day moving average plausible.
Adam Taggart's takeaways
- Top takeaway Adam argues that retail investors face a massive structural disadvantage against Wall Street's algorithmic and high-frequency trading infrastructure, which motivated him to found Thoughtful Money to bring institutional-quality insights to everyday investors.
- Adam shares concern that the AI-driven rally may be overextended, using a sports car analogy — that if AI earnings projections ever miss expectations, the market could run into trouble while accelerating at 180 mph with no margin for error.
- Adam argues retail investors focus too much on when to buy but neglect when to sell, which is why he recommends professional advisors who run regular portfolio review meetings to reassess each holding's thesis.
- Adam invokes Kahneman's prospect theory — that losses feel roughly twice as painful emotionally as gains feel pleasurable — and urges investors to anchor to longer-term portfolio baselines rather than reacting to daily volatility.
- Adam argues voters should focus on policy over personality ahead of the midterms, warns that DSA-style socialism threatens prosperity, and pushes to ban lobbies, PACs, and corporate campaign donations as the central fix for money in politics.