What investments are you favoring these days?

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:20 pm

No prepper worth his salt would have his gold in a safe deposit box. It would leave it vulnerable to the bank and the government. Insuring your gold also creates a public record of where you keep your holdings if that concerns you. Professionally-installed safes are adequate. Don't you have one with where you live?
We are looking at farmland. A lot of farmers in Pennsylvania are selling their mineral/natural gas rights as well as their farmland. Interesting option.

dragoncar · Post by **dragoncar** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:35 pm

Bury it underground and make a treasure map. 9/10 pirates can't be wrong.

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:05 pm

@dragline, that video was good, thanks. (Bartiromo is terrible though)

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:22 pm

So 200k looks to be about the size of a fist.
Yeah, $200k is about 113 ounces. A roll of quarters is 40 coins. So envision three rolls of quarters. (Actually gold eagles are larger than quarters, but I think you get the idea.)
There is no perfect storage solution. Many people hold "paper gold" such as ETFs or through storage services such as Perth Mint or similar. You can use a safe in your house or a deposit box at a bank. You can hide it somewhere innocuous, like a pirate. Every approach has its own problems. The pros/cons pretty much follow from common sense.

JasonR · Post by **JasonR** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:53 pm

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:04 pm

PP is pretty impressive for a long period of consistent returns. I think I won't put all of my money in PP, however; I may do 20% PP and the rest in other stuff.

Obadobadope · Post by **Obadobadope** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:02 pm

Stocks for me. I know them well and that's worth a lot to me.
To each their own, but about gold... it is a non-productive asset. A commodity and a currency. In other words when you "invest" in gold, you are not going to get any passive income stream from it. It preserves value well, but it doesn't create value at all (unless you own and operate some business that uses gold as a productive input). The real dollar value of gold has fluctuated between $300 and $2400 per ounce, since 1972 when its price was no longer held fixed. It's unlikely to break much outside this range because it's non-productive. Its value compared to a basket of consumer/producer goods isn't going to change by orders of magnitude because it pretty much is just another thing in that basket of goods, a lump of metal to be exact. The only thing that could make its real economic value rise is if there were some technological advance that makes gold more useful to humans. But if and when that would happen is completely unpredictable.
At $1700 per ounce currently, gold is in the high side of its range, so it doesn't seem like a great bet. Maybe it will keep rising for a few years though, who knows. Stocks are about the same, roughly average historical value, maybe a little high, if the credit cycle keeps turning over and lower P/E's are on the way. Bonds however are indisputably at historical high prices (at least in the USA) so if you have any of those, it's a great time to sell.

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:31 pm

I like dividends and passive income streams--they're by far my favorite asset class. Plus, I am more of a value investor of the Buffet temperament; not only do I think this is the most profitable type of investing, I think it's the most ethical and productive.
However, I don't think you can discredit gold entirely. For better or worse, it is more closely tied to macro movements than many other assets, and its function as an inflation hedge is not easy to replicate with other asset classes.
I think it has a place in a portfolio. That being said, I don't think we're going to see global inflation for another 10 years at least. (I find myself agreeing with Ray Dalio, whose talk I thoroughly enjoyed--his bumbling academic delivery made me nostalgic.)

Obadobadope · Post by **Obadobadope** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:35 pm

Yeah it's ok. Just not a productive asset. There have been historical times when buying gold is a grand slam homerun. Like 2001. Or 1972. Or times when selling gold was a grandslam homerun like 1981, or 2014.

For preservation of wealth it's great. But for us who are building wealth, it's not so great.

Post by **jacob** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 1:23 am

Natural resources ... but how and where ...
(It looks like I missed the boat on iron. ARGH!)

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:38 am

What do you think about natural gas? It seemed to have bottomed out a few months ago, unless it dips again.

Post by **jacob** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:55 am

Too uncertain in my opinion. The current problem is a glut because of a lack of storage capacity. When storage capacity comes up, the price will go back to normal. I'm "playing" this indirectly by investing in alternative energy sources (nuclear) which is hurting from the natty.
Besides gas doesn't help the climate problem.

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:10 pm

>>Besides gas doesn't help the climate problem.
Not by itself, but I think diversifying energy production (by type and geography) will help reduce the stranglehold oil has on energy production and delivery. I'm hopeful that will open the door to alternatives.

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:03 pm

I think it does improve climate issues when you compare coal-fired electrical plants with gas-fired, for instance. (About half of US electricity is coal-generated.) But gas has extraction, storage and transportation issues. And to export it we'd have to convert it to LNG, which means it makes more sense to find ways to use it domestically.
Playing the gas market is fraught with difficulties and uncertainty. I've considered buying something like FCG for awhile, but its extremely volatile and does not seem to go anywhere.