Decius wrote:

Dagmar wrote:
So, I'm already looking into transferring a significant amount of my assets into gold. Anyone got any suggestions/pointers?

I think this is both too paranoid and not paranoid enough.

Its too paranoid because I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting that as an investment vehicle. In fact, stocks may perform well once the contraction in growth is priced in (which hasn't fully happened yet). The prudent thing to do is to work with a professional money manager, but of course you have to have a lot of money in order to get help like that.

Its not paranoid enough because the real reason to hold gold is because you are worried about total economic collapse of the sort experienced in Germany during the great depression. In such a case, a record in a computer indicating that you own gold is worth less than the magnetic disk it's printed on. You have to physically possess the gold. This creates a security and logistics problem...

I met an old German man on a plane a couple months ago who collects gold coins... Not because he is interested in them, but because he sees it as an insurance mechanism in the event of a cataclysm. I told him that I hope things like that don't happen anymore. When I got home I googled US gold coins. You'd be amazed what a single gold coin marked $5 goes for new.

Anyone else got any investment advice for Dagmar?

Dag hasn't responded as to his motivation for moving to gold or even really how he plans to do it (gold based securities or actually stockpiling the stuff in his basement). But nonetheless, I think it's foolish based upon the same logic that I think Decius was hinting at. If you're trying to protect wealth during a recession (which is still not a given), there are a variety of ways to do that. Mostly around shifting to high rated or muni bonds, cash, and smaller emerging markets. If you were just wanting to shift to a currency that was going to perform better than the US dollar in all these scenarios that keep getting ballied about, you're not really talking a big difference in return. Converting to the euro is only going to stave off inflation longer. It doesn't actually produce a better return long term. Unless there's massive collapse, which I am just not seeing happen to the degree that a lot of these articles have pondered.

Even if you thought "the end" was coming, I don't see how gold is what you'd want to horde. If it's really "the end", then natural resources are what will have value. You can't do shit with gold. It's not even a good manufacturing material because it needs too much processing. I'd rather invest in something useful, like electricity production via solar, hydro, wind, or natural gas. Or water, wood, or masonry. Or if you really wanted to get hard core, buy a sustainable farm. People will always need to eat and make things. People don't necessarily need hard currency when the shit hits the fan.

And I already know Dagmar has plenty of guns, so no need to invest in that! =)

RE: Wake up to the dangers of a deepening crisis