About eight years ago I started studying economics in a significant way. This is a topic that I had missed in my formal schooling. But the 2008 crisis got my attention in a big way as I lived through a major hit to my retirement savings (my 401K – which in my workplace became sadly and wryly called the 201K). But it was no laughing matter. Although we were still young enough to recover, the 2008 downfall really hurt my parents generation just as they were entering retirement. What had been a critical nest egg for many retirees quickly became a mere shell. Why had most economists completely missed predicting this event? In fact, Just prior to 2008 it most “experts” were lauding the strength of the economy. Just as they had missed the dot-com bubble burst in 2001 they once again were completely unaware of the huge bubble then building in real estate.
So I decided that I wanted to better understand these dynamics and be better prepared for the next crash that was sure to come. I have learned a lot about economics and investing. I have much much more to learn, but I have learned where these booms and busts come from and why they occur and how government has a huge role and responsibility in blowing up these bubbles and for the carnage that very sadly follows. I have written other blogs on how dismal the current state of our economy is and how much wealth has been destroyed, debt accumulated, and bubbles blown up by government insanity since 2008. This places us again at the precipice of another collapse, and one that I and many fear will make 2008 look like a sideshow. I hope and pray it does not happen, but it would be foolish to ignore the signs.
So what can you do? One very prudent action to take is to complement financial assets (stocks and bonds) and hard assets (such as real estate) with real money (precious metals). I know… I can here the snickers: “Will – that is so yesterday”. But I believe that what has happened to the price of gold since 1971 (when the world led by the US disconnected paper money from gold backing) to the present day will accelerate in the coming years. For your information an ounce of gold in 1971 was $42 US dollars. Today (Sept 13, 2017) the price of an once of gold is $1322. That is an increase of over 31X. The stock market in the same period has gone up significantly as well – about 5X. But Gold has done 6X better.
Gold and Silver could easily increase by another 10X or more in just a short time, the same short time in which the stock market and real estate could easily (and I would say probably) take a cataclysmic and world wide crash. In light of this, I strongly urge you to consider the clear case for owning precious metals.
To help you and for your consideration I have attached an excellent video just released by Mike Maloney, who has written the all time best selling book on investing in precious metals.
Give this a view – it might be a life changer if anything close to what I have described comes to pass.
Til next time,
– Will
Link to video: Top 10 Reasons I Buy Gold & Silver – Mike Maloney
