This has been great.  But, I need to revise my question.  I'm not wanting to avoid thinking about political philosophy, libertarianism, freedom, and what's going on in the country and the world.  I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to be aware and engaged in those areas and be hopeful and opti...

Thanks to those who have replied so far.  To one common suggestion, I have read HBs book and have it on my bookshelf.  It made a huge difference in my life the first time I read it.  In other words, the problem I'm having used to be MUCH worse. :/ And I will read the other items in the links above. ...

Setting aside any joking replies, how can a thoughtful, aware US citizen of libertarian persuasion be hopeful and upbeat?  We are losing liberties, the economy is being hijacked by knaves and fools, etc etc.  Up until the GWB administration I thought these were cyclical problems.  Now I see they are...

Well there is more to the story but I got uncomfortable in the first post.
Essentially I am no longer in accumulation phase.  And the potential taxes are not trivial, not in the least.
The moral of the story is, pick your gold holding wisely.

The thing is, I'm not in a need to rebalance and take the gain.  So am stuck in GLD versus where I'd rather have my gold investment.  I am not going to pay 28, probably 33% with state taxes, just to switch to a different method of holding.  Stuck.

Have you hit a rebalance band? If you have, you might as well bite the bullet; ya gotta pay the taxman his blood money sooner or later. If you have any gold in a tax-sheltered account, you could sell some there and still consider your overall portfolio to be balanced even if your taxable GLD is tot...

Ah heck, I decided to take this down because I wasn't comfortable providing details.

Let's just say I have a big unrealized gain in GLD and no way to offset it, so I feel stuck.

Well I have already asked Santa for the book, so I'll look for that info!

Pushing this topic back to the top, I find it an appealing argument that a person would be wise to be a citizen of Country A, a resident of B, and have his money in C.  Unfortunately I've done neither of the two diversifications implied. The record of government abuse of their citizens' wealth shows...

If you need a home, now is a good time to buy.  Home prices and interest rates are very low. The biggest challenge is figuring out if you need your own home, or if renting will serve you better.  Obviously you have some sort of rent free situation, so it's a no brainer economically.  Then again, not...

Craig, is there a radio show where he addresses the concerns about Treasuries being based on fiat money?  I know there are shows where he talked about people not wanting to buy them for performance reasons, the certificates of confiscation era, etc.  But any specifically on the point that they are &...

I take it the PP went down this week?  I hadn't noticed. :) I do imagine it is easier to weather the downturns in a more conventional portfolio like 60/40 than in something offbeat like the PP.  The comfort of being part of the herd, I suppose.  I don't mean that sarcastically.  It's probably deep i...

Physical gold presents the biggest difficulty. I agree with the diversification among institutions and countries. Any taxable trade is significant, so you don't want to rebalance often.  Munis look good, but don't perform like treasuries, so pick your poison.  Overall, the PP wouldn't change much ex...

amp wrote: We could get drunk and compare the size of our PPs.   ;D

Now that's funny!

The first concert I saw was AC/DC in 1983, and I believe that ticket was $12.75.  Nice.  I didn't get around to seeing them until the Razor's Edge tour, which I think was in '92 or '93. You guys are just kids! I saw them when Bon Scott was the front man.  Oh to be young again.  <sigh>

The only likely impediment I would see is the availability of gold in the two plans.  If it is only available on one side, and if that position needs to be added to but the space isn't available, then that could be an issue.  But otherwise, I don't see a problem.  He could presumably own the other 3...

Very nice interview.  I always enjoy Jim Grant.  First I had heard from the other two guys:

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11330

MeDebtFree is exactly right as to the scenario.  If you take a student like that and step from the top 10-15 colleges down into the 25-50 range, you can definitely get merit money.  A lot at some, but that's for another discussion.  Yes, if you do everything right, you pay the price.  It's horrible,...

Well, it's unanimous then! 
50-50 was my favorite as well.

Here from the prospectus of the current fund is the rub, I believe: http://www.permanentportfolio.com/pdfs/Prospectus-May-2010.pdf page 23 Risks of in-kind redemptions — to avoid liability for corporate federal income tax, the Portfolio must, among other things, derive at least 90% of its gross inco...

I believe simpler is better.  And also that anything less than 5% is too insignificant to make a difference.  More like 10%, but 5% for sure.  Just my opinions.

Also, I suspect Option 1 will be more tax-efficient than the other two.

OK, thought exercise....
Who here would buy LT bonds if rates were 1%?
I really don't think I could do it. Things would be seriously bad at that point, IMO. 

No, that's not in the plan.  I doubt if it is in any 529 plans.

We have ~$4,000 left in a 529 plan which can be held for grandchildren.  In our case, theoretical grandchildren. :)  So we don't expect the money to be needed for more than 20 years.  There is no way to do gold.  The choices are your typical mixes of stocks and bonds.  All the way from 100% of one t...

I go long periods of time not knowing what the Dow or gold have done.  For some reason lately I've been more attentive.  The inattentive periods are easier to take.