investment

Bill Bonner: Does the Fed help make people better off?

"There were voices in the Fed, said the news, urging caution. There would be no further monetary stimulus measures, said the commentators. Investors grew cautious. Then, by the end of the week, investors were rolling the dice again. The Fed was working hard to fight the impression that it had either lost its nerve or recovered its senses. With the wind of the Fed at their backs, investors put out full sail. On Friday, they were skimming along nicely, riding high on a tide of EZ money. 'Don't fight the Fed,' said the analysts. The Fed is pumping...stocks are going to rise. Of course, it's not that simple. Zimbabwe pumped. Stocks rose...for a while." Continue reading →

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Wary of China, Companies Head to Cambodia

"Foreign companies are flocking to Cambodia for a simple reason. They want to limit their overwhelming reliance on factories in China. Problems are multiplying fast for foreign investors in China. Blue-collar wages have surged, quadrupling in the last decade as a factory construction boom has coincided with waning numbers of young people interested in factory jobs. Starting last year, the labor force has actually begun shrinking because of the “one child” policy and an aging population. Foreign investment in China slipped 3.5 percent last year, after rising every year since 1980 except 1999, during the Asian financial crisis, and 2009, during the global financial crisis." Continue reading →

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Lying Swiss Bankers Have Trapped American Clients: “Sell Your Gold. Now.”

"Approximately five weeks ago, I was notified by my bank in Geneva that they would no longer be providing private banking services to clients in the United States and Canada. After looking at the options for the liquidation of a portfolio that consisted of about 80% physical gold bullion, I made the request to take physical possession. I have certificates for each bar purchased over a period of two years but was told this morning that they would not permit me to take physical delivery. I had previously been assured that physical delivery was possible but since they have decided to close out these accounts, my previous representative has left the bank." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLying Swiss Bankers Have Trapped American Clients: “Sell Your Gold. Now.”

Government’s New Regulation That Screws Corporate Pensioners

"The latest is a new government regulation that was snuck into a transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, aka, MAP-21. Some progress, the bill requires corporations to calculate payments into pensions based on a 25-year average on interest rates, instead of current rates. In other words, with current low rates, corporations in reality need to make larger contributions to meet pension fund growth goals. But according to new government regulations, corporations now need to calculate pension fund payments based on an interest rate earned on pension assets that can't possibly be earned." Continue reading →

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David Galland: Chains of Convention

"It behooves us all to periodically stop and examine our life path. What's missing in your life? What seemingly never gets fixed, and unfixed, makes your unhappy or unfulfilled? On examination, you may find that the problem is that you are adhering to convention, and doing so at great personal cost. Nancy did something that probably not one in a half a million people in her circumstances would have done – break the chains of convention and set out to enjoy the remaining years of what is likely to be a much longer life as a free and independent woman." Continue reading →

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Doug Casey on Internationalizing Your Cash

"I'm quite serious about what I said about 'the grim reality of impending currency controls.' As the global economy continues to deteriorate, governments will have to appear to be 'doing something.' It's going to become very fashionable to institute some sort of foreign exchange control. Why might that be? Because obviously, people who are taking their money out of the country are unpatriotic…" Continue reading →

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Junior mining stocks see record insider buying

"Those looking for even more evidence that corporate executives are smelling bargains in the junior mining sector should consider this: Insider buying on the TMX Venture exchange is near a record high. INK Research’s Venture indicator is at 715 per cent today, just 20 percentage points below its record peak of 735 per cent set on Oct. 27, 2008. That means there are more than seven stocks listed on the exchange with insider buying for every one seeing selling. Such a high level of buying interest among officers and directors within their own businesses in the resource sector has correctly foreshadowed a recovery in share prices in the past." Continue reading →

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Bubble Symmetry and Housing

"Hmm, what would have happened if the Federal Reserve hadn't dumped trillions of dollars into the mortgage market, and the Federal housing agencies hadn't subsidized mortgages and housing with 3% down payments and tax credits? Perhaps all the trillions of dollars of intervention has accomplished is extend Phase 2. Central bank and state manipulation distorted the symmetry of housing's decline, but did they stave off Phase 3 permanently? If bubbles eventually revert to their starting level, Phase 3--capitulation and a return to pre-bubble prices--still lies ahead." Continue reading →

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Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

"I didn’t start saving and investing particularly early, I just maintained this desire not to waste anything. So I got through my engineering degree debt-free and worked pretty hard early on to move up a bit in the career, relocating from Canada to the United States, attracted by the higher salaries and lower cost of living. Then my future wife and I moved in together and DIY-renovated a junky house into a nice one, kept old cars while our friends drove fancy ones, biked to work instead of driving, cooked at home and went out to restaurants less, and it all just added up to saving more than half of what we earned. We invested this surplus as we went." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMeet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30