Why buy 25yr bonds? Just buy 30. No laddering needed for the Bond portion of the PP.

You can consider laddering your Cash portion.

My understanding is that in a flat market, XIV will do very well. But in a situation where stocks are dropping, won't holding XIV magnify your losses?

kbg, does your personal mix still include XIV? If so, can you describe how much what this is supposed to add to the leveraged PP?
I'm sure you've already explained this but I am having a hard time finding the post in this thread...

Hasn't kbg already shown that for trending non/inversely correlated assets, the decay actually works in your favor? I'd be most worried when all PP assets are in a sideways market.

Let me try another way of explaining my point: ... If you reworked your excellent website such that all backtesting results started in 1975, the results of *comparisons* of various portfolios would change dramatically. ... Tyler has a graph that actually tracks Start Date Sensitivity https://portfo...

Answers to many of these questions used to be listed in the full Cash FAQ on crawlingroad.com, but it seems like all of that material has been removed. The best way to get get the details on the Permanent Portfolio is probably by reading Craig and MediumTex's book. https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-P...

This message states that Fidelity does add a markup to bonds purchased on the secondary market. I assume this is placed on the Bid/Ask price listed.

https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity ... -investors

I was once told by a forum member named Joe that commissions aren't the only type of charge. Brokerages can also apply a markup on treasury transactions. I am also with Fidelity and am not exactly sure if they apply markups to treasuries on the secondary market. For that reason, it may be slightly b...

jafs wrote: I still don't buy it, though, even conceptually.  Banks have to have more money coming in than going out, since they're in business to make money, not to lose it or just break even.

You should read this: http://www.relfe.com/wp/money/want-earth-plus-5/

Thanks, Jake! Just grabbed a copy and am enjoying it so far!

Eh? Google Finance shows +6.19% YTD
https://www.google.com/finance?q=MUTF%3 ... 2AaAg5HwBQ

Not sure why Google Search shows -6.58%.

I don't really understand the fuss... Those charts make it look like the Japanese and Swedish PP are GREAT investments!