Title: Financial/Investment News and Comments Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Feb 9, 2018 Author:To be determined Post Date:2018-02-09 07:55:59 by A K A Stone Keywords:None Views:12337 Comments:58
This is the place for financial talk. A place to share entrepreneuial ideas. To discuss investment strategies whether they be stocks, real estate or starting a new business. Or improving an existing business. Anything money and finance related is welcome to be shared right here.
Here's a list of things you could invest in. With all investments there are transaction costs. With all but one there are taxes. With many there are holding costs as well.
To be able to compare investments, a benchmark is needed.
I think that the yield on triple-tax-free municipal bonds is the best benchmark because it is a "safe" investment, with no taxes on it, so it's "pure".
Everything else can be compared to the TTF bonds to see how each stacks up.
This is a response to your post on another thread and more fitting for discussion on this new thread.
You posted to me:
I always figured if they were any good, they could hire a bunch of people to work directly for them and clean up on making money and forget about selling advice.
Exactly! I have the same view about gold hoarding. If these companies advertising for people to buy their gold because of the imminent meltdown of the economy and hyperinflation of the dollar really believed their own hype, why are they selling the gold in exchange for those soon-to-be-worthless dollars? They sure want dollars rather than holding onto their piles of gold, so THEY obviously don't believe what they say.
I was speaking about those who have ideas on investments and make their money selling those ideas instead of hiring a staff and primarily working those “great” ideas.
As far as the hawkers of precious metals are concerned, they are playing percentages. They are going for volume and percentage using the “60/40 Rule.”
They have to buy the metals to sell them. As the market fluctuates, they will actually at times sell some metals at below their cost. But with the volume and by playing the ups and downs like Swing Traders do.....they will over a period of time sell more metals higher than they do lower.
If they have a million dollars of gold, instead of holding it and hoping for a ten percent increase....they will turn it multiple times while making a percent off each sale. Therefore, as merchants....they will make more money buying and selling than buying and holding. Holding (hoarding) gold is for the individuals who wish to preserve assets. But as we discusses, undeveloped land with extremely low property taxes, like farm land, is a much better investment.
I wasn't suggesting that the gold sellers are foolish. I was suggesting that the people who buy the hype that they're buying gold against Armageddon are, and that the gold sellers who press that hype (and they DO! I see the commercials and hear the arguments) are not honest.
Gold will still be around a hundred years from now. but we can't say that for sure about bitcoin.
However, bitcoin is the one likelier to be up 1,000% three years from now.
So the answer is to own both.
Gold bugs are rarely, if ever, bearish on gold. To them, it’s the only real currency in a world of money-printing central banks endlessly devaluing their fiat (that is, paper) currencies. There are few people who believe so fervently as gold bugs.
But bitcoin fanatics come pretty close. These folks believe that this decentralised digital currency is the ultimate means of easily transferring value without the need for centralised entity, intermediary, or central bank. Bitcoin is a libertarian dream.
Now, given that gold bugs and bitcoin fanatics share a common desire – a completely independent store of value – and a common enemy (central banks), you’d think they might be the best of friends. But they’re not.
In fact, they’re more like dogs and cats – or chalk and cheese. They don’t mix well, at all.
I know this because I’m privy to a private mailing list that’s run by an old family friend who’s a consigliere of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families. He, along with a couple dozen business and financial gurus and veterans, some with names you recognise, share their investment ideas and opinions on all things related to global finance and investing.
And recently the topic of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin came up. After watching carefully thought-out emails travel back and forwards within the group, I drew a few conclusions.
Gold bugs don’t like bitcoin
Most of the guys (and they’re almost all men) on this email list are grizzled investors, and they like their gold. To be precise, their physical gold. They dismiss bitcoin as a fad, a craze, all hype and no substance.
As I said, bitcoin is frequently compared to gold. They’re the only two widely distributed, decentralised methods of exchanging value as currency. There is no central authority issuance like there is with U.S. dollars or any other fiat currency.
That doesn't surprise me at all. Gold bugs also like physical possession. It's the form of wealth that ranks among the highest in personal security. If you have gold in your home or possession then it can be very highly secured against theft or loss, even considered more secure than a bank vault or safe deposit box.
Cryptocurrency is not so secure. It doesn't have that tangibility that gold has, or the history, and it's value is much more variable and dependent upon public demand. And its a lot easier to understand solid weight than a computer program.
However, everyone who likes bitcoin will also like gold.
It may surprise you to learn, that I am starting to warm up to bitcoin. I kept reading bad articles before and now I am running across some good articles. I will post one next. Let me go fetch it.
It may surprise you to learn, that I am starting to warm up to bitcoin. I kept reading bad articles before and now I am running across some good articles. I will post one next. Let me go fetch it.
Indeed it would shock me, given my impression of you.
But having an open mind is a virtue, even if one is already correct about an issue. And naturally, if one is currently incorrect, so much the better to have an open mind.
I suggest though that if your opinion about issues is determined solely by the articles you read, then you are not coming up with them correctly. Do you not question what you read? Whether pro-bitcoin or counter-bitcoin, articles have bias and their degree of correctness can vary to any degree.
I know you know that. But if we're going to converse, it helps a lot to know how open minded you are.
