Gyroscopic Investing

Cortopassi wrote: Did you not see that in the past 40 years the asset most balanced out of for hitting 35% was gold?  Are you choosing to ignore that?

That's just because gold was far more volatility than the others.  The HBPP is not at risk parity.

well then if you think a financial debacle is coming do what you got to do .  but why stop with gold , why not go the route of the doomsday prepers since their vision in their head is as real to them as yours is to you .

mathjak107 wrote: over those total  long time frames gold averaged out to nothing more than inflation . it hedged nothing that other assets didn't do better .

Which is the point when those other assets F-A-I-L.  Recency bias.

mathjak107 wrote: well then if you think a financial debacle is coming do what you got to do .  but why stop with gold , why not go the route of the doomsday prepers since their vision in their head is as real to them as yours is to you .

Because I prefer to be grounded in reality?  We're not going back to the Stone Age or barter.  I don't see any threat on the horizon that would justify becoming one of those Prepper nuts.  You probably should think hard about what threats I do see on the horizon, since they're not a figment of my imagination.  WAKE UP.  Retirement is the worst possible time to be caught unprepared.

I'm getting a bag of popcorn.  MJ vs. MG!!

nah , no one knows what is going to be ,  i grew up in the 1970's when it looked like nothing could get any worse but you know what , we did okay . higher unemploymnt then we just had , soaring inflation , vietnam  a dead stock market , bonds in the toilet , high tax rates , gas lines  and no end in sight

mathjak107 wrote: nah , no one knows what is going to be ,  i grew up in the 1970's when it looked like nothing could get any worse but you know what , we did okay .

Exception to the rule.  Maybe you should look into the experience of other countries during the 1970's where gold would have literally saved your ass.  How do you feel about Iceland a couple of years ago?

we don't know how many were killed or had the gold they tried to use get taken .gold bugs always have that vision of buying their way out . i bet most just had it taken and were killed or robbed of it ..

MachineGhost wrote: Paper and electrons are only good for wiping your ass if the government or financial system collapses.  Do you realize how lucky you are and have been being an American in the century that just passed?  That's what I mean by you suffering from a severe recency bias.  You simply lack historical context of how bad it was for others who did not have your luck.

In 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Latvia, my grandfather's family was forced out of their homes. I'm not sure what happened to their paper assets during that time, but my guess is that they were worthless. They certainly lost 100% of their real estate assets. Many were deported to Siberia (to die), but fortunately (for my existence) my grandfather made it to Austria.

This little bit of family history helps me appreciate the importance of:

1. Holding a portable store of value as part of my asset allocation
2. Keeping some of it outside the country

there are always storys out there about those that bought their way out  but there are far more stories of folks who were robbed or killed for it .  in these cases guns and bullets are far better ,.


i think we beat this to death enough  with the what if's . you like gold , buy gold . it is your choice .

i will just say this , before you worry about having gold to insure your survival , what have you done to protect  the real possibility's in life like long term care protection or even insuring your income flow when you retire if things do not go well with markets and rates ?

while wasting time talking about the remote flyers most foljks have zero plans in place for protecting against the very possible events in life .

mathjak107 wrote: i will just say this , before you worry about having gold to insure your survival , what have you done to protect  the real possibility's in life like long term care protection or even insuring your income flow when you retire if things do not go well with markets and rates ?

while wasting time talking about the remote flyers most foljks have zero plans in place for protecting against the very possible events in life .

I hate to break it to you, but not everyone is superrich like you.  So we do what we can to mitigate all possibilities that we can actually do.

i wish i was super rich . we are retired in nyc where a middle class lifestyle takes  low 6 figures in comparison to those city's down south or out west .

but don't you think you should be  adding whatever insurances you feel are important by likely hood of playing out ?  to me protecting from such things as needing extended  long term care  and protecting the stay at home spouse  is far more important than buying gold to protect a remote financial calamity if you are telling me gold is an insurance and not an investment . .

get my point ?  if you are claiming gold is insurance to buy freedom , there are a lot more logical things in life that need better protecting because odds are if you are a couple one of you will need care .

mathjak107 wrote: get my point ?  if you are claiming gold is insurance to buy freedom , there are a lot more logical things in life that need better protecting because odds are if you are a couple one of you will need care .

I get your point, but gold is the insurance against those insurance contracts, the paper asset based financial system aka FIRE economy.  When people lose confidence in FIRE (or government), it is like a little boy plugging a hole in the leaky dyke with his thumb.  It won't work for long.  It doesn't do anyone any good to be all layered up in expensive paper without insurance against its failure.

all well and good but  one needs to rethink the insurances they lack that are far more likely outcomes before going farther out on the fringe . not having some sort of real workable plan in place for ltc can leave a spouse impoverished . even long term disability insurance would be at the top of the list before  other less likely outcomes .

the way i like to look at a comprehensive financial plan is to have at the base of the pyramid the various insurances i feel are important to protect and mitigate catastrophic damage to the the assets above it .

then use a  bit of the return to pay for that insurance . so step 1 is really to make sure you have the insurances all covered in order of likely hood that you feel are important .

personally i would not put a dime in gold until i had some sort of plan in place for LTC  if gold was my insurance  against other things ..  especially because my dad spent 6 years in a home and it was a horror for his wife .

so if gold is insurance then you have to treat it like you would any of your insurances and the odds of events  happening are important in  the comparison to other things as far as what to insure against if you can't do everything you feel is  risk ..

if it is an investment then you have to grade it as such which long term has been quite poor , so you have to rethink it if that is your goal .
that to me is far more real then buying my way to china

just some food for thought if you are considering the pp not an investment but a comprehensive protection package .

Hello,

what type of value ( apart from gold and cash ) can we keep at home as safety?

Regards

mathjak107 wrote: personally i would not put a dime in gold until i had some sort of plan in place for LTC  if gold was my insurance  against other things ..  especially because my dad spent 6 years in a home and it was a horror for his wife .

You're making this sound way worse than it is. Financially speaking: anyone who accepts the pp also finds it acceptable to leave to his or her spouse. Gold is a part of the pp. My GTU can be willed along with stocks. Home: My wife has a key to the safety deposit box at the bank and is willed the gold. Done.

frugal wrote: what type of value ( apart from gold and cash ) can we keep at home as safety?

Junk silver coins.  Diamonds, especially colored.  Bitcoins.  Doomsday Prepper items (toilet paper, Ivory Soap, liquor, antibiotics, herbal extracts, gums, ammo, etc.)

I just bought a bag of junk silver, in fact.  Now I need a carton of Ivory Soap...  will Amazon Prime fulfill my wish?

why ivory soap? does it have a special survival value i don't know about?

l82start wrote: why ivory soap? does it have a special survival value i don't know about?

Its like gold, recognized worldwide as a standard.  Its 99.44% pure.

http://www.amazon.com/Ivory-Original-16 ... 0076J9RZW/

Also, the Champagne of toilet paper:

http://www.amazon.com/Charmin-Sensitive ... 00DOSAMVW/

Yes, I'm on a roll lately.  Next up, lots of vodka!

MachineGhost wrote: Also, the Champagne of toilet paper:

http://www.amazon.com/Charmin-Sensitive ... 00DOSAMVW/

Yes, I'm on a roll lately.

ICWYDT...

frugal wrote:

Trump for President!

Donald Trump/Trace Atkins in 2016! 

Reub wrote: Donald Trump/Trace Atkins in 2016! 

Who's Trace Atkins???