Category: Economics & Investing

I grew up in the1960s glued to the television, like most other suburban kids. One of the shows that I enjoyed watching was Wild Kingdom, sponsored by Mutual of Omaha. The wise old narrator, Marlin Perkins, went way out in the hinterboonies of South America and Africa to film his documentaries. But I noticed that he was almost always a detached observer. It was usually his young, muscular assistants that were put in harm’s way, but not Perkins himself, who was safe and sound. He often made comments such as: “‘I’ll watch from the safety of the Land Rover, while …

James, This afternoon, The National Australia Bank (biggest in Australia, by assets) let the cat out of the bag: They have decided to just fess up and mark down every US mortgage CDO, SIV, and so forth in their portfolio by 90%. What that means is they are coming flat out and saying that all this re-bundled, repackaged, looks like a bond but it ain’t, US real estate paper that was being carried “Off Balance Sheet” and gumming up the works in banks around the world is worthless and they are making it official. (The loans that they represent will …

We are in a simultaneously deflationary and inflationary situation. The deflationary forces are: 1) We’ve been a credit based society and with less credit available, less purchasing will happen driving down prices. 2) Most people have most of their wealth in their home, their stocks and their banks (Indy Mac anyone?), all decreasing in value thus putting the brakes on discretionary purchasing driving down prices. The inflationary forces are: 1) The rising price of oil raises transportation and manufacturing costs for everything. 2) The increasing population and decreasing supply of commodities (food, metals etc.) increases prices. 3) The Fed cannot …

Dear Jim: I enjoy and appreciate your site. I am concerned about the gentlemen [TRK, who stated in a recently-posted e-mail that he is] amassing tons of copper pennies. I understand his desire to hedge against inflation, but it seems risky to do so with a $60,000 investment in copper pennies. I didn’t want to see your readers get wiped out by following his bad advice. Let’s remember, you can’t fill your belly with pennies, nor can you bandage your wounds with them. While pennies are certainly tangible, preparedness is all about useful tangibles. Beans, bullets, Band-Aids. Preparedness is first …

Jim, I read a recent blog of yours that was posted on “Gold is Money” regarding hoarding of 5 cent “nickels”. The penny is a much better deal (currently at just about 2.5 times their face value) and [as you’ve mentioned in SurvivalBlog, Ryedale has developed and sells a machine for under $500 that sorts by metal composition. [It sorts] 300 coins per minute. I have been amassing copper pennies for a little over one year now. Here is a summary of my plan that I’ve posted on the”Gold is Money” forums: I’ve got five tons of 95% copper and …

Jim, Your reader TheOtherRyan wrote asking about how to get started in precious metals investing, especially the challenge of purchasing only a small amount each month. First, Ryan is wise to realize that you want to buy in small amounts, and not wait until a big “buy,” which might be at an unlucky price spike. Investors call the process of buying a little each month with a disciplined approach “averaging in.” It means you’re buying more on the months when the price is low than when the price is high, lowering your average total cost. Unfortunately, it can be difficult …