I am currently building my Permanent Portfolio. I'm elated and nervous at the same time. Just stepped out of my bank funds - out of fear, given the recent nationalizations and threat hanging over the remaining banks in my country. Bankruptcies are no longer an impossibility and the State is so deep in debt that relying on them for the safety of my savings seems highly hazardous. So I'm reading like hell the last days and the Permanent Portfolio seems like something for me at this stage. I'm not a speculator and I'm not obsessed about big earnings. I just want my capital to survive this economic crisis - a reasonable expectation, I hope
I'm living in Europe, so for the stock part of my portfolio, I'm tempted to commit to some fund following the Euro Stoxx 50 index. But when I look at the companies involved, I see several banks. We all know the threat looming over the European banks in these times of sovereign debts crisis
So I'm kind of wondering if following this index is really a good idea. So I guess, through this thread, I hope to probe your opinions on the appropriate stock component of the Permanent Portfolio in the Euro Zone. Also, should Euro banks be an element of the stock component given their fragility in this period and (in the eyes of many commentators) their imminent collapse?
Thanks a lot and props to this forum!
Danny
