Search found 336 matches

by HB Reader
Tue Jan 28, 2014 3:57 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Gold and Inflation
Replies: 18
Views: 11747

Re: Gold and Inflation

Again, why didn't Harry Browne or Craig Rowland mention all these explanations? Is gold now supposed to be a hedge against falling real interest rates? Tiburon – I've followed the PP strategy for many years and have pondered the same questions you've raised about the relationship between gold, infl...
by HB Reader
Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:55 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Real Cash VS. PP Cash
Replies: 11
Views: 10003

Re: Real Cash VS. PP Cash

And then before you know it, you'll want to hold everything as directly as you can.  You'll really enjoy the feeling of keeping other people's paws off your money. ETFs are a good thing if it gets you started with a sound, sustainable investing plan, but do realize it is the polar opposite of the H...
by HB Reader
Thu Jan 16, 2014 3:21 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Purchasing Physical Gold
Replies: 28
Views: 15883

Re: Purchasing Physical Gold

In the early 1970's, I purchased and sold British Sovereigns and Mexican 50 peso pieces (they were among the few true "bullion" coins you could legally buy and sell then).  Since 1975, I have only purchased and sold one ounce Krugerrands and American Eagles.  The Canadian Maple Leaf and Chinese Pand...
by HB Reader
Fri Jan 10, 2014 9:56 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Left Fidelity
Replies: 22
Views: 12962

Re: Left Fidelity

The way it looked to me is that they lean on the people who meet with you to discuss your portfolio. Rather then it be a meeting to find out what YOU want, they turn it into what they want. It's all BS and good riddance. In three weeks with Schwab, I got more honest and open help then in 20 years w...
by HB Reader
Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:49 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: What Happened to PP in 2013?
Replies: 21
Views: 13203

Re: What Happened to PP in 2013?

My PP (two thirds of our investments) performance was -2.61% last year.  Since 1/1/2010, my average annual return has been +6.9%.  Down years suck, but I can live with small losses.  Since 1/1/2010 returns for my VP (one third of our investments) have been a little better at +10.3% per year, but the...
by HB Reader
Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:09 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Bitcoin has fallen about 60% from the highs a couple weeks ago. Anyone who feels confident about bitcoin's future should be loading up. Is anyone doing here doing that? No judgment here (I'm about 30% in gold mining stocks now so.....imagine that beating). I'm just curious if people think it's risk...
by HB Reader
Mon Dec 16, 2013 4:52 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: PP returns USA 2013?
Replies: 43
Views: 22105

Re: PP returns USA 2013?

I just reread parts of HB's Failsafe Investing, aka the bible http://www.harrybrowne.org/Archives/Archives.htm How does the Radio Show (dated 2005) compares to the book (dated (2001)? I am listening to the shows now, my assumption is Harry's latest knowledge arisen from the time he published the bo...
by HB Reader
Fri Dec 13, 2013 10:28 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoins
Replies: 7
Views: 3116

Re: Bitcoins

If your bank account lives in the US, then coinbase is a good choice.  That's what I use as well. I switched to Coinbase (based in San Francisco) from Mt Gox (based in Japan).  Prices may seem better on Mt Gox and entering limit orders is easy, but moving US$ in and out can be a costly and time-con...
by HB Reader
Fri Nov 29, 2013 10:27 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoins
Replies: 20
Views: 9198

Re: Bitcoins

The Bitcoin market is incredibly small compared to the gold market, so it's unlikely that there is much leakage out of gold right now. Of course, that could change, and recent events suggest that Bitcoins could one day become a safe haven currency. However, any change to the PP would be pure specul...
by HB Reader
Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:01 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

I guess that possibility (or potential, or whatever you want to call it) is what gives it value to me.  I take it that you don't see any "value" there, but that's a semantic distinction that I don't think is worth wasting time discussing. You don't think it's worth discussing whether something you ...
by HB Reader
Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:29 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Meanwhile the price just hit $675. Holy moses! Is anyone here considering selling any? Sure.  I've been selling a few here and there on the way up (just like I did in April).  I just sold some at $650 this morning.  Profits from btc I bought in 2011 and 2012 have paid for a few of our vacations and...
by HB Reader
Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:19 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Here's a pretty good (short) article about the possibility of a bitcoin bubble.  In spite of it's title, it's pretty impartial.  http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-bubble-2013-11 Yeah, I think it's a reasonable treatment of the subject. I used to work with a very smart and worldly lawyer who es...
by HB Reader
Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:42 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Value investing
Replies: 6
Views: 4021

Re: Value investing

The Wise Investor Group, based in Reston, Virginia, is a brokerage group within R.W. Baird that practices value investing for their clients.  They broadcast a one hour weekly radio show in the Washington, DC area on Sunday mornings.  They also do a 15 minute weekly update on Wednesdays.  The broadca...
by HB Reader
Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:28 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

The reason I ask is because I am actually very skeptical of bitcoin and it's price. I can't understand why anyone values it and I think a lot of it is driven by people expecting the price to keep rising. Given that there is a hard algorithmic limit on the number of bitcoins, this expectation is act...
by HB Reader
Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:06 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Why not admit what we all know?  None of have a clue what will happen with the btc.  It will all happen in uncharted territory (aka "the future").  The btc could end up like something from the tulip craze or evolve into "digital gold." I can imagine a number of different outcomes (either bullish or ...
by HB Reader
Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:59 am
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

Marc,

I received your btc gift.  That was very kind of you.

It will be very interesting to see where everything shakes out.
by HB Reader
Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:24 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Bitcoin giveaway! :)
Replies: 378
Views: 160302

Re: Bitcoin giveaway! :)

I am having amazing returns with bitcoin and like to spread the love with you guys. If you post your bitcoin address here I will send you some free bitcoin. (You can create a free wallet at blockchain.info. Do activate and install google's 2 factor authenticator app on your phone as to protect your...
by HB Reader
Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:29 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Capital Preservation Fund
Replies: 9
Views: 5090

Re: Capital Preservation Fund

As far as I know they are still around, but like most Treasury-only money market funds they stopped accepting new investors when interest rates fell so low several years ago that it was no longer attractive to solicit new business.      I don't think that's true.  I started using them about 3 years...
by HB Reader
Wed Nov 06, 2013 2:19 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Bitcoin is back, baby!
Replies: 5
Views: 3010

Re: Bitcoin is back, baby!

What intrigues me most about btc is that it is the first currency (or quasi currency) that I've seen that is clearly designed to be infinitely divisible and deflationary.  Even the world's gold supply is inflated each year by mine production. Whether it will ultimately thrive and survive is a probab...
by HB Reader
Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:31 pm
Forum: Cash
Topic: Capital Preservation Fund
Replies: 9
Views: 5090

Re: Capital Preservation Fund

The Capital Preservation Fund was one of the original money market funds in the late 1970s.  It invested solely in US Treasury Bills and was founded by James Benham (I think he had formerly worked for the Federal Reserve system).  Under Benham, it was known for its customer service, efficiency and c...
by HB Reader
Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:08 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Paper gold risks
Replies: 10
Views: 6194

Re: Paper gold risks

Just for perspective, I sometimes like to remind myself of relative risks. Physical gold certainly has far less counter-party risk than a gold ETF.  But IMO the counter-party risk of a gold ETF is still a lot lower than many popular high-yield stocks, munis, and international funds.  And it's also ...
by HB Reader
Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:58 pm
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: In for a penny, in for a pound
Replies: 30
Views: 14570

Re: In for a penny, in for a pound

Eight months here. Would be nice to hear from some 6-10 year investors. I thought when I started that it was not the best time to invest. Turned out to be true but I'm still happy with the plan. Without getting into too many details, I have followed HB's general strategy since the late 1980s.  We h...
by HB Reader
Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:38 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Municipal Bond Funds
Replies: 46
Views: 19963

Re: Municipal Bond Funds

Whats the question? The portion of bonds issued by your state in a national muni fund are not taxable on your state return. VWIUX has approximately 4% of holdings issued by the state of California. You can reduce taxes owed on muni distributions by that amount. So what you're saying is I would have...
by HB Reader
Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:05 pm
Forum: Variable Portfolio Discussion
Topic: Municipal Bond Funds
Replies: 46
Views: 19963

Re: Municipal Bond Funds

Nuveen Municipal Value Fund (NUV) is a pretty good, albeit plain vanilla, closed end municipal bond fund.  It is of medium duration, well-diversified, and doesn't use much short-term borrowing (leverage) to juice returns which is fairly rare these days.  If interest rates do rise, it should suffer l...
by HB Reader
Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:02 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is the successful salaried retail investor a myth?
Replies: 120
Views: 49789

Re: Is the successful salaried retail investor a myth?

Is there a reason 1972-1974 is included in simulations of portfolios that hold a significant amount of gold? If I understand correctly, it was illegal to own gold before January 1, 1975. Doesn't that fudge the numbers significantly in favor of the PP those first few years? Owning gold bullion was p...