I understand what is being proposed and being an engineer, I do have a soft spot for optimizing to maximize returns with limited resources.  Unfortunately investing and the market has almost infinite variables and cannot be thought of like a process with repetitive characteristics and constant input...

If you consider stocks, bonds and cash all investments, then most retirees have 100% of their portfolio in investments. I think a gold component at 25% is hugely unique, inceeasing it would be overkill - you are already further ahead than the vast majority.

While I agree a Republican is likely to be a better manager of policy and the economy, I disagree with the idea of nominating for electability. Typically this results in a watered down candidate without conviction, less motivated electorate and someone seen as inspirational. Look at the last few cyc...

Didn't know Five Guys had really good burgers, will have to check them out when I move stateside.
I see them around all the time and are starting to migrate north of the border.

Isn't Cruz off the list because he was born in Canada?

Thanks for replying. I'd like a bit of currency diversification since our CAD is mostly a petrodollar. I'll look into XLB. How do you buy gold? My current concern is that my account is so small that the commissions for physical gold would eat any gains. Once I reach a more sizeable portfolio then f...

Welcome to the forum. I've been using the Canadian PP for a few years now. I don't like how the TSX is mostly oil, mining or financials, very few tech, health, utilities, retailers in the index. I have split the stock portion between TSX and S&P500, if you want you can hedge the currency. For bo...

Born in '83 - no clue...

Thanks for that chart! My PP return for 2014 was 9.58%.  Surprised me, as my PP started out a bit off balance.  It's interesting how we so easily focus on the bad times, and forget to notice as the portfolio is forging steadily upward.  Like the tortoise that beats the hare to the finish line! Soph...

Hmmm, my numbers are quite different.  Using the adjusted closing prices (includes dividends) from Yahoo! Finance I get the following: Stocks (XIU) +11.9%    ((21.47 / 19.18) - 1) Gold (IGT)    +7.8% Bonds (ZFL) +17.4% Cash (ZFS)  +2.3% Canadian 4x25 PP +9.85% (includes dividends and interest) Unhe...

Since I hold the Canadian PP, I thought I'd share how our results differ from what you guys had in 2014. Stocks: +8.1% Bonds: +11.5% Gold: +4.4% Cash: +0.1% Total: +6.0% As you can see the resource heavy Canadian stock market got hit hard by the pull back in oil price. However that exit of foreign i...

whatchamacallit wrote: S&P 500  2550

30 Year    2.5%

Cash        0.005%

Gold        $1000

Bitcoin      $225

So stocks up 10%, bonds up 9%, gold down 20%, bitcoin down 28%...
PP flat for the year - what's you inflation expectation?

flyguy - I'm similar to you, took a bath on stocks but was mostly invested in a 70/30 passive portfolio. I started buying hard assets in 2009-2010 after finding out how fragile the financial system was/is. PP was a good way to prevent me from buying too much gold/silver and prevents me from trying t...

I understand what you are getting at - looking forward, the prospects for the PP assets in real terms appears to be low. But I would argue that all asset classes are looking high right now with all of the liquidity sloshing around. One thing you need to consider is the rebalancing aspect of the stra...

I have lived in Canada my whole life and have accepted a position in the United States with my company. I invest most of my savings in PP however due to the poorly diversified Canadian economy (heavily weighted to oil, mining and financials) I do hold half S&P500 in my stock allocation. The rest...

Do we need to rethink the "safety" of purchasing physical bullion for our PP in light of the fact that we may be buying fakes and can't tell the difference? Do you stop using currency because there are counterfeits? If the coin is so good to fool you, it's good enough to fool the next guy...

The severely high cash allocation in developing countries is understandable as they are likely living off lower income and cannot afford to invest in any significant way or might be saving for goods with a less developed credit market. I am interested to see Europe and US...almost shows Americans he...

I will confine my statement to responding to what I read as an implied approval of tax evasion in some comments above.... Taxes are the price of citizenship. If you don't want to pay them then you should have the integrity to move somewhere else rather than mooch off the benefits of other people's ...

In Canada, no sales tax is applied to all gold and silver with greater than 99% purity. Maples, Eagles, Roos all tax free but Krugs are taxable. I buy physical because I don't trust the paper market, insurance against a SHTF scenario and yes tax avoidance. Hopefully my stash will get passed down to ...

I prefer to find a trusted local coin dealer. This seems to be the most convenient method as coin dealers are well aware of various products and will mark up the least over spot (in my experience). One thing to watch is the coin dealers will sometimes push the numismatic or less pure metal products ...

Actually Gumby, your argument doesn't make sense...85billion a month is massive. $85b per month is 1trillion per year provided largely to financial institutions who would have normally held those bonds. They have a reserve ratio of 10% making the total value of QE 10Trillion, plus the inter bank len...

But I wonder whether the model might be temporarily broken, until the Fed backs out of QE. Why is QE bad for the PP? QE isn't "bad" for PP but the model is based on diversifying for each economic cycle and QE prevented these cycles from occurring as they would in the past. Risk on assets ...

Same post as oh her thread. I want to look back on my post whichever thread gets bumped. Ultimately the call is on stocks since all others should be dependent on where they go in the new year. With companies buying back stock aggressively and with so much "new" money from QE, stocks should...

Ultimately the call is on stocks since all others should be dependent on where they go in the new year. With companies buying back stock aggressively and with so much "new" money from QE, stocks should have an easy time moving up. If stocks go up marginally or steady - this will continue t...

I don't see a major difference between KShartle's views or Gumby's views other than one willing to accept the policies the fed and government officials roll out in hopes of perpetuating the status quo and the other changing investment strategies to counter potential missteps by these same groups. I ...