Hey I'vre just learned a little more about this topic. Here in Europe (so this is for you, Frugal), all assets are stored at a central provider (Clearstream, Euroclear to name a few if you want to learn more about them). Assets are stored under your name but managed, in fine, by these providers. It ...

Ah America ::) French citizen here. There's a saying there that your Hummers and all other cars are a sign you have something to compensate for. Would you say a man like Putin is emasculated or that he doesn't care about his virile image ? http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41891000/jpg/_41891190...

According to this source https://books.google.fr/books?id=OgUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=armadillo+strategy&source=bl&ots=sokArTiQO7&sig=-1mg_ljsynyQ4jf9rYc0eAJBtbQ&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0CF8Q6AEwC2oVChMI5oXF2f-yyAIVwaEUCh0PtAC_#v=onepage&q=armadillo%20strategy&f=false Young's Armadillo strategy is 20% t...

You have, say, 200K in a PP and want to buy a 100K house. Take it the other way : if you already had your 100K house paid off and a 100K PP, would you take a 100K mortgage and invest that money in your PP ? If not, maybe you should avoid a mortgage. Because, technically, it's the very same thing : y...

As for me, that would be : land : rental real estate, farms, etc. directly owned businesses : dividend-producing foreign stocks directly owned reserves : 50% gold, 50% local currency (saving accounts, very short term bonds, actual cash, ...) That would mean 50% physical 50% financial, but also 50% l...

100% physical here. To each his own, but I don't really get the "I'm 100% ETF because that's more convenient". You are not supposed to ever sell your whole gold portion (except in armaggedon scenarios). So you can hold a stable foundation (say, 1/3rd of it you will probably never, ever sell) as phys...

1981 was a bad year for the PP (I think the worse ever), but the drawdown was limited by the cash portion of the PP. A 3x33 PP would have been decimated (something like a 20% loss instead of a 5% one, not including the high inflation of that time).

I'm not sure about bond funds, especially for a EU investor. After all, iShares could very well fail (or fraud) and take your money with them, at least as much as an FDIC insured bank could, but without that insurance (it is worth what it is worth, but a weak insurance is better than no insurance at...

Imagine how the world would change if we had 50% efficiency solar panels. I mean, just think about it! Impoverished countries in the Sahara could become fantastically wealthy practically overnight. And that's only 50%! My furnace is 90% efficient, and newer ones boast efficiency ratings of like 98....

So "normal" = growing economy and rising inflation "ideal" = growing economy and falling inflation "stagflation" = shrinking economy and rising inflation and "deflation" = shrinking economy and falling inflation How do these categories relate to HB's four classic conditions?  According to the study...

Wow. Even a PP investor would have been decimated in quite a few occurrences, with almost only his gold left. Must be pretty hard to rebalance in those circumstances. Your bonds & stocks lost 90% and 95% of their respective values ? Why don't you sell 3/4 of your gold to buy some more ? Craig, isn't...

Or, the law could be used against you : "oh, those coins are worth 50$ ? So you won't mind if we take them and give you back 50$ notes, right ? Since you consider these coins are nothing more than legal tender ?"