Post: #11

1. You're worried about the gov't seizing your Roth IRA, but precious metals aren't that much safer. Easier to hide, maybe.


2. If you go with precious metals, there are some serious expenses involved in buying and exchanging them, IIRC. I think you'll lose about 30% of value. Metals are still not bad as a worst case scenario insurance measure, but it is a negative.

3. As you mentioned, a Roth IRA is a reasonable thing to get if you think the apocalypse won't be worldwide, or won't happen in your lifetime or whatever. You can always own overseas stocks. The government has as much capacity to confiscate your Roth IRA as it has for most assets that you can't hide and bury, if you are a US citizen.

Post: #12

(03-02-2014 4:35 PM)lifeisgood7 Wrote:  thanks Mark.

I'll do my best to find a small branch to save money in utilizing the technique PheroJack mentioned (no ATM cards or anything, just the ability to wire the money)

what materials do you recommend in the precious matterials department. books, websites?

i remember i was researching this heavily at one point. I know that getting certificates is a horrible idea and that its better to get the physical piece of silver or gold and put it in a safe....

I can't really cite any books or websites, I just know that gold and silver tend to hold their value throughout economic changes. I.E. 2,000 years ago an ounce of gold could buy a nice suit, which still holds true today.

Wiserd is right about the Executive Order prohibiting the hording of gold and silver, but I don't think that it's been enforced since the great depression of 1929. And, I'd still rather own a hard asset that somebody would have to come and physically remove or confiscate, than any kind of financial account or instrument that can be wiped out with the stroke of a pen.

I bank with a little one branch bank that made it through the recession and bank bailouts without accepting a single penny from the government or Federal Reserve, because they operated on this really stupid principle of only loaning money to people that could actually pay them back.

Post: #13

(03-02-2014 9:26 PM)wiserd Wrote:  1. You're worried about the gov't seizing your Roth IRA, but precious metals aren't that much safer. Easier to hide, maybe.


2. If you go with precious metals, there are some serious expenses involved in buying and exchanging them, IIRC. I think you'll lose about 30% of value. Metals are still not bad as a worst case scenario insurance measure, but it is a negative.

3. As you mentioned, a Roth IRA is a reasonable thing to get if you think the apocalypse won't be worldwide, or won't happen in your lifetime or whatever. You can always own overseas stocks. The government has as much capacity to confiscate your Roth IRA as it has for most assets that you can't hide and bury, if you are a US citizen.

do you have more information about overseas stocks?

any books to recommend etc?

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Post: #14

I also wrote down this note somewhere:

purchase Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities (LEAPS)
insurance premium of 2%

I have no clue where I wrote that one from. Anyone know what this is?

____________________________________

Here is my goal so far:
50% of My Portfolio Will Consist of:

20% stocks
20% bonds
20% Precious Metals (90% silver, 10% gold) (buy gold in the form of one-ounce bullion type gold coins US Gold Eagle, South African lervegerrand, Canadian Maple Leaf)
20% cash
20% misc

Any suggestions or comments?

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Post: #15

there will come a time when a loaf of bread will be more valuable than either cash gold or property

and then soon after when the accumulation of the bread of life more valuable than all of the above mentioned

And then again what profit a man to have gained the world and in the end realize he has lost his soul because he has not realized the purpose of his existence

Post: #16

(03-09-2014 5:26 PM)lifeisgood7 Wrote:  do you have more information about overseas stocks?

any books to recommend etc?

Not a lot of info. I'm not that educated on the topic. There are Latin America focused mutual funds.

I dont know if that offers much protection from legal shenanigans but a long position from a mutual fund might be interesting.

Post: #17

Whats a "long position from a mutual fund"?

sorry i'm a huge newb at this

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Post: #18

(03-09-2014 7:21 PM)lifeisgood7 Wrote:  Whats a "long position from a mutual fund"?

sorry i'm a huge newb at this

Sorry for the jargon. A mutual fund invests money in a bunch of stocks expecting them to go up. because it invests in many stocks (sometimes of a type) there is less risk that one will fail.

Investing long just means expecting the stock to go up. As opposed to short selling which bets that the stock will go down and is more complicated.

Post: #19

I am a part owner of the bank that i deposit and make withdrawals from it is 100 % owned by its customers who take a vote concerning any important issues regarding its management processes, it has low fees and good interest rates, perhaps you may become a member ?

Post: #20

I used to be an insurance agent, have one of my majors in Finance and have been investing various financial instruments for quite some time now. I have two suggestions and I will state my reasons behind them after stating them.

1) Invest in endowment plans that cater specifically for the period you wish to save with the major players of insurance like Prudential or AXA that have a global presence. Never try the new start ups or trust those with little market share in the industry. Opt to automatically reinvest in any returns that is given to you within that time period.

2) Alternatively, purchase preference/preferred shares, bonds, with fixed dividends every year and place the dividends in a separate savings account. Try not to dabble in speculative instruments like common stocks, Forex, CFDs unless you have been trading for some time, understand proper risk and money management and have a substantial amount of risk capital that you have NO PROBLEM losing the entirety of it.

Reasons for suggestion #1: Endowment plans have superior interest rates that beats inflation as compared to saving in the bank. They also have an element of guaranteed and non-guaranteed returns which means that your capital is pretty much protected with a guaranteed growth. Possibility of limited payment of premium(subjected to location), say if you intend to retrieve the entire sum of an amount of $100,000 in 10 years, with some calculation by your agent, you will probably need to pay the premium for 5 years and allow the money to work for you, compounding of interest upon your policy value for the first 5 years. That would be good if you do not intend to be tied down in monthly/yearly payments for the entire 10 years.

Reasons for suggestion #2: Most important fact, preference shares/bonds have the first claim if it happens that the company gets liquidated. Speculation of common stocks(according to theory at least) has no greater yield than the market growth itself. Although I have made abnormal returns in the past with various instruments, I would highly advise anyone to stay away since many of my acquaintances have burnt their fingers dabbling in stock, Forex speculation and trading, mostly due to poor emotional management in trading. Volatility of preference shares are generally significantly lower than common stocks so you wouldn't have an blood pressure problems.

I would also advise against staying away from mutual/hedge funds or unit trusts as suggested by another person above me but this is solely due to my own subjective experience of buying into some of these funds on a constant basis and yet have not achieved my desired returns. But do note that I generally choose funds with high risk profile so the more conservative ones may be doing better in periods when there are volatility spikes.

I hope my suggestions helped in contributing to your decision making, I'm no professional wealth manager so the advice are solely from my own experiences, POV and interaction with like-minded individuals. Most of what I've said can be verified from a simple internet search, but if I have not presented them to your understanding, let me know and I'll clarify.