Broke?  Stocks, bonds, gold, and cash all fall to zero?  What sort of scenario leaves you broke with a Permanent Portfolio? There were several historical periods that would have left you very broke in real terms, not nominal.  Nominal is an illusion if your purchasing power has dropped 50%-75%+.  I...

For those with an interest in history and cultural norms a comprehensive guide for travelers published by the Scientific American...
http://www.gjenvick.com/HistoricalBroch ... index.html
Quite a few photos included.

I am not a fan of dogmatism (although I would not be comfortable if anyone omitted any of the asset classes entirely). But if you want to throw in a little silver with your gold, go for it. If using a global stock index fund as opposed to all US will help you sleep at night, knock yourself out. If y...

Given the voluminous threads on this subject that have popped up I'm almost afraid to post this link. But here goes...
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/11/is-mod ... d-come-on/

A safe deposit box in a bank is the best way to store gold 98% of the time. Home storage is always high risk. I don't care where you hide it, or how many dogs with big teeth you have or if you keep loaded firearms in every room of the house including next to the crapper. The only exception I can thi...

Ok, so the purest HBPP in today's world might be: 25% Total Stock Market Fund/ETF 25% Long-Term Treasury Bonds 25% Treasury Bills 25% Physical Gold A less "pure" version might use ETFs for the gold, LTTs, and STTs. An even less pure version might use PRPFX and EDV. And an even less pure v...

25% total stock market ETF 25% gold bullion 50% intermediate term treasury fund If Cuggino dropped the expense ratio to say 0.5% from the current .71%, and dumped the now useless Swiss francs, would PRPFX be a more palatable option? Hugely. But I agree with Reub. It's about as likely as a blizzard ...

The purer you go, the more of a hassle it is to manage. For me, ETFs + physical bullion is good enough to let me sleep at night. I agree. For me one of the great attractions of the PP is its simplicity. I feel quite safe holding the bonds cash and stocks in ETF's. If you are proposing an investment...

Nice charts. Thanks for posting.

Pros and Cons as compared to IAU in an IRA? Gold is the last asset you want in tax deferred. IMO. Fill it first with bonds, cash and stocks. Keep some cash out for emergencies though. Gold can go in last, but don't put all of it in there. Frankly the level of trust I have for Perth Mint over an etf...

The Russian Orthodox Church has issued a statement appealing for mercy for the band members.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... mercy?lite

Billionaire John Paulson raised his stake in an exchange-traded fund tracking the price of gold while selling other stocks during the second quarter, leaving his $21 billion hedge fund with more than 44 percent of its U.S. traded equities tied to bullion. Read the rest here... http://www.bloomberg....

As an addendum to my previous the fact that a president lied occasionally does not mean they weren't great presidents. The nature of the job in the modern world makes the occasional lie necessary. The question is did they lie rarely and only when necessary for a specific reason (Ike Lincoln)? Or did...

Reub wrote: Was Reagan a liar? Was Truman? Was Eisenhower? Was Lincoln? Was JFK? Were they all liars?

Yes, Not Sure, Yes, Yes and Yes.

The major concern I have with the conventional PP is that of inflation. Historically there have been periods when treasury yields were kept low, whilst inflation raged. What should be a priority is retention of purchase power, not just nominal value. Many investors baseline to cash (nominal) instea...

I am not defending the sentence. I would not have gone there myself. But I do think we need to stop treating their behavior as a childish prank. It wasn't. It was a premeditated and very gross sacrilege that was intended to shock and offend an entire people, many of whom have direct memories of the ...

Just to make sure I am understanding what happened, in February the band members played one minute of an unauthorized song in front of a mostly empty church before being escorted out, right?   Actually it's a bit more than that. First they chose their target carefully. They did this in Christ the S...

Two years seems a bit stiff to my mind. But I think it is important to recall that what they did was deliberate sacrilege in a church. In any jurisdiction that I know of they would have been arrested and thrown in the clink. I have been, and remain a fierce critic Vladimir Putin's increasingly autho...

Illinois? Nah. That's the big O's home state! I'm from there and I can tell you that Illinois is probably the dirtiest place of them all. It'll always be a blue state even if they have to start registering dogs and cats to vote. true, dat sweet home Chicago Chicago; where the motto is vote early an...

Would anyone consider a vote for Gary Johnson? He's running on the Libertarian Party ticket. What I've read of him, I like, although I haven't done an in-depth analysis. I don't have any delusions he'll win, but some votes for him could help to make a statement, at least, that some of us are not ha...

FWIW I think TLT or EDV both work well for your long term bonds. TLT is a bit more pure, whereas EDV gives you a bit more zip on your returns coupled with slightly higher volatility. For cash I like SCHO since it it gives me added institutional diversification. But SHY and SHV also work well. VFISX ...

How can you say that they're identical when one has been President and failed and the other hasn't? Because both have track records that make it clear they are ideological twins. There may be some differences on details. But philosophically there isn't much difference. Romney and Obama are both cro...