Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Cryptocurrencies in 2018.

Precious Metals:

Jeff Clark: The Q&A Guide to Cryptos vs. Gold and Silver

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Asian Metals Market Update

Stock Markets:

Paul R. LaMonica: Can the stock market bull keep raging in 2018? (This page has as a mostly un-related auto-start video.)

Commodities:

Zack’s Podcast (31 minutes, well-spent): Will Commodities Surprise Investors in 2018? JWR’s Comment: Note that this interviews covers far more than just commodities.

Cryptocurrencies in 2018 and Beyond:

I’ve had several folks ask me about what will happen with Bitcoin and the other crypto currencies in 2018 and beyond. In summary, I’d say that 2017 will go down in history as the first year of the Crypto Craze. And I also predict that 2018 will be remembered as the first year of Crypto Control. It will be the national governments that will attempt to do the controlling. Although governments and their taxing minions can do little to stop peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions, they can and will crack down on the crypto exchange companies located in various countries.  They are also likely to slap huge new tax penalties on anyone caught transacting “reportable events” in the crypto currency world without the requisite reporting.  Don’t be surprised if the IRS soon gets into the e-mail and texts snooping business, in an attempt to pinpoint that activity.

As for the exchanges: I can foresee some high profile data raids, enforced transparency, account takeovers, and perhaps even government takeovers of entire “rogue” exchanges. Meanwhile, various governments will attempt to set up their own blockchain-based cryptos, most likely with back door visibility of all transactions. (They will surely claim that this is “for our safety” and “to combat narco-trafficking and terrorism.”) Count on it.

I do recommend taking a small hedge position in cryptos, but for now at least, that holding should be dwarfed by your precious metals holdings. That is where you will find your true safe harbor.

Derivatives (Cryptocurrencies in 2018 and Beyond):

Crypto Today: Investor makes derivatives bet that bitcoin will hit $50,000 in 2018

Tangibles Investing (3D Printers):

Perhaps the ultimate in tangible investments are those that you mine or create yourself. Owning a state of the art 3D Printer is the equivalent of  living in the 18th Century and owning a publishing company with your own printing press.  As with publishing, 3D Printing is a “create/design one, produce many” business model. If done right, that can be very profitable. But presently, the difficulty it seems is knowing when to take the plunge and go buy a 3D Printer. The technology has been leapfrogging very rapidly. So there has been the risk of buying too early and paying too much, only to be disappointed by seeing a newer, faster, and more capable generation of 3D Printers released just a year later, at a lower price. But at least all of the “Early Days” kinks now seem to have been ironed out.

It is expensive, just as a hobby. But if you have a product idea that is suitable for 3D printing and you want to pursue it as more than just a hobby, then 2018 might be a good year to jump in. But please don’t jump in blind!  I strongly recommend that you do your homework. One good point of reference is the December 2017/January 2018 issue of Make: magazine. That is a special “Ultimate Guide to Desktop Fabrication” issue that includes comparative reviews of 33 different desktop machines.

Provisos:

SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. So please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.

News Tips:

Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who particularly watch individual markets. And due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” investing news. We often “get the scoop” on economic and investing news that is probably ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!