In our prior posts on precious metals, we have alluded to the hoarding of these “commodity currencies” in Exchange Traded Funds.
Unlike direct ownership in common stocks, like most index funds, the precious metals ETFs actually require physical possession of the underlying gold or silver.
I’ve never been a big fan, because when push comes to shove, […]

We are in uncharted territory now, in tracking Gold and Silver prices.
For centuries, perhaps Millennia, the ratio that prevailed was 16 to 1.
One ounce of gold having the value of 16 ounces of silver.
Today, with Gold setting nominal price records virtually daily, the ratio has widened to approximately 60 to 1.  And remember, Gold is […]

Have you talked to anyone who has applied for bank credit in the past year or so?
The pendulum has swung wildly to the other side now…and what was once the no documentation loan is now the all documentation, all the time, loan.
It’s nice to know that you have alternatives.
I’ve long advocated that investors maintain both […]

Longtime readers know of my longstanding bias against fiat paper currencies…easily inflated and manipulated by governments.
But that does not automatically make me a gold bug.
I’ve advocated for real estate as a more classic and efficient hedge against the erosion of paper currencies…since it not only hedges against the steady devaluation of fiat money, but also […]

It’s amazing…the questions I often receive from friends and clients.
They usually arrive from no fixed point of reference…phrased innocently and innocuously.
Like the time my Dad asked me if I thought silver bullion was a good investment.
This was so outrageously out of character for him even to consider…so it came as no surprise that he had […]

I may be a bit premature on my move into inflation hedges.
My singles tennis partner is a whip smart energy trader, and he expects the mildly deflationary economy to last several more years before the turn to inflation.
Either way, his call or mine, inflation will return.  It’s just a question of when.
For those who are […]

I’m not licensed of qualified to offer medical advice.  But I can offer my personal opinion on the best pain reliever available.
Not the reliable standbys like Darvon or Vicodin.
Plain old Schadenfreude.
It’s no fun taking pleasure in the misfortunes of the unemployed or foreclosed.  That could be, or has been, or will be us one day.
But […]

A Short History of Short Selling….
We had a circuit breaker in place all the way through 2007.
Two in fact.
1. The first rule was that you could not sell a stock short unless you had first borrowed the funds.
This was designed to prevent “naked shorting” i.e. selling what you never owned or borrowed in the first […]