So, we all know the financial system is designed to fail after a certain time. Investing in gold in 2006 would have tripled or quadrupled your wealth by now. I considered it, but didnt do it (goddamn). what are the next big upcoming investment opportunities?

Quote: (06-05-2012 08:45 PM)void Wrote:  

So, we all know the financial system is designed to fail after a certain time. Investing in gold in 2006 would have tripled or quadrupled your wealth by now. I considered it, but didnt do it (goddamn). what are the next big upcoming investment opportunities?

You can only buy and sell, equity, debt, land, currencies, commodities and other exotica.

In the last few years.

Lots of "smart" money has been buying arable land and the price of farm land has gone through the roof. Most of the folks who called the housing bubble right have been doing their "mad max" buying scenario. Of course no one is calling it a bubble, but that's what it is.

A lot of people are betting on Sovereign debt default from the EU Portugal Ireland Italy Greece Spain, but you would have had to have bought in during the economic crisis of 2008. I think that's what happened with that 2 billion dollar loss a few weeks back. They "hedged" against debt default and lost.

Right now there's a big build of human and physical infrastructure in the extraction industries. NPR is talking about lots of oil and gas jobs in Houston, mining in Australia, and we've got a thread on shale gas in Canada.

So I would expect as more of these reports hit the mainstream, more retail investors are gonna buy in and think they're getting a deal...when they're only paying off the people who have the educated staff, time, and money to investigate and analyze these opportunities.

Essentially everyone should be looking @ industries that take advantage of population growth and the shift in wealth from Europe/US to Asia and the rest of the world.

The real money is going to be made doing real stuff though.

Quote: (06-05-2012 08:45 PM)void Wrote:  

what are the next big upcoming investment opportunities?

Isn't that the question.

The trade the last few years has been high dividend paying blue chips.

I think it should be a good trade as money will flow into them so people can get 5% with interest rates so low.

But what the hell do I know.

QE could be coming.

Nat Gas is real low.

These are all things to look at.

Really depends on your time frame.

Listening to the Austrian Economists I initially started buying silver, and a little gold. I didn't do it to get rich, I did to preserve my wealth as a hedge against inflation. I've also spent a good bit of money on storable food, and water filtration. Just in case. The military taught me to prepare for the worse, so I have.

The problem I see is. We all know the standard scenarios and procedures for a dept crisis, because there have been similar ones for centuries. But we will face an energy crisis/change in my lifetime, investing in chinese renewable energy (stock) and resource extraction seems like a logical step. china has big resources and africa on it balls. would be a longterm investment though.

No one knows because the whole thing is going to blow up. Assets of all classes will take a pounding though and I dont think people quite understand how bad it will get when the Euro tanks. And its going to tank.

There are a few things to be doing. Paying off debt is crucial if you are employed and I would not make any major purchases. If you are sitting on anything, probably time to get conservative and plan for a major recession with inflation.

I am getting ready for major storm. Stock portfolio was sold, right across the board. Not even looking at property anywhere. Will not be investing with VC's or high risk funds either.

Gold is better than cash by far. Im holding zero cash at the moment and have transferred almost everything to gold outside property holdings. Loans at 1% are to be had out of Singapore at the moment when gold is used as security. So Im even using Perth Mint certificates. I also took everything from the sales of stock, put it into gold too.

I have borrowed against 70% of the gold in Singapore at 1%, and reinvested that as: 25% of that into Australian bonds, 25% into dividend paying blue chip tech and energy stocks, 25% into 3 year fixed savings accounts, 10% into high risk resource and energy small caps, 5% on resource indexes, 5% on tech indexes, 2.5% on sugar, 2.5% on wheat. All of this split across exchanges.

I have never seen banks, firms, companies and investors sitting on so much money yet being this afraid to jump into things. There is a sense of underlying panic in credit markets at the moment that the man on the street does not see and the media is not reporting on. Business in general has lost faith in government worldwide and I cannot remember sentiment being this low in the 16 odd years I have been working.

The impending Japanese Debt Crisis.

http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/...flash.html

The way i see it, the bailouts, papermoney, stockmarket and everything is all digital money or imaginary value. (I dont know if they have already introduced the concept of complex numbers into economics.) Anyway, before there is an inflation of anykind, I hope for a cut and reintroduction of independent currencies in all european countries.

Borrow US dollars, invest in another currency in a stable/growing coutry in a stable business that pays enough dividends to pay the interest. Then wait for the collapse of the US dollar, profit.

That is, if you think the dollar is going to crash.

Also investing in gold doesn't make you money, it just preserves your wealth. It just means the US dollar lost a lot of value, not that gold became more valuable.

Check this out for example:

http://www.x-convert.com/chart/CHF-USD?period=10y

This even though the Swiss national bank is trying it's hardest to keep up with inflation of the Euro and USD (retards...). Even the Swiss franc lost a lot of value, this gives you a gauge how bad the situation for the USD really is.

if state's default from debt and can't pay their bureaucrats, the collapse legal system itself is not far behind the political one. bureaucrats include legal bureaucrats.

enforcing all these legal obligations for investments requires a functioning legal system. paper money is worthless without the clout of the law to enforce these obligations.

look at what happened to "justice" in Russia post-communism. it just becomes a question of who has the most muscle/weapons and who is in the most tight-night gang formation. they control everything, everyone else is fucked. it doesn't matter what you own on paper, the judge can and will justify anything if there is state debt collapse.

Quote: (06-06-2012 01:25 AM)bface Wrote:  

Also investing in gold doesn't make you money, it just preserves your wealth. It just means the US dollar lost a lot of value, not that gold became more valuable.

Arguably true in the (very) long term but definitely not true in the short term. During different periods, the value of gold has increased far faster than inflation. It is up over 12% since the beginning of 2011. If you had invested in it, you would have made money. Similarly, if you had bought at last year's peak price, you would have lost money. You can invest in gold as you would any other asset base don your views of its likely price movement. If you really believe the world is going to fall apart, gold would be a reasonable investment since its value is likely to be driven up faster than inflation through panic buying.

Some advice from each corner of the room here, all shades all stripes. I guess ill throw in some tid bits.

Yea you really don't know what's going to go down but there are always historically precedents and human nature to go by. Humans are usually dupes and follow one each other. Do the opposite of what your folks around you and the mainstream talking heads are saying, buy low, diversify, hedge, sell high. That's really it. I seen on the news ticket that my fav guy (I am joking here) Buffet and his fund scooping up mad newspapers... huh? Why? Newspapers are bleeding money left and right and ran out of gas 6 years ago. Folks now not in the know will jump on this and loose mad cash.

@G got some solid tops on Blue Chippers. You really cant find nothing else out there you can jump in so easily which will give you that kind of robust return. Natural gas is at play, China is pushing on that hard and it is indeed unloved and undervalued. America has a shit load of it.

Also don't put your eggs in one basket. Cashing out and storing all your cash in Gold (physical) is as bad as holding it all fiat monopoly money if things do take a random and hectic dive its not going to be as easy as you think to to turn that stuff over. Plus for all of Golds amazing qualities kats still need to take in that it is the most manipulated and rigged asset on the globe. A few men in suits still literally meet in a board room (via teleconference, used to be always in person) in The City each day and set its price for the London Bullion Market which sets the global benchmark for evreybody else.

I have not done a gorge of finance news in 2 weeks. But right now your seeing awkward things in regards to prices and whats happening at retail (example gas is selling in Canada for the most parts at prices which would reflect oil at like 115 a barrel, its at 98?). Markets, Homes, Commodities in some sectors are flat-lining and deflating quite hard. This has been the biggest fear of Europe and USA. Inflation is just a red herring deflation has that fat cats sweating at night because they get fucked over too with big time asset losses.

Monopoly fiat money is what it is, just toy money. Don't hold any of that shit. When I was in recently The States prices have shot up and most stuff down there is on par or more expensive then what I am seeing in Canada (things like clothing and simple food was always cheaper in the USA). USA Treasuries are still solid tho. The bond market and the paper market are two different beasts and USA T bonds are still giving consistent results out while the fiat and debt markets is at negative interest in some spots.

Also I keep reading shit on some new China barge that is supposedly bigger than anything that's been produced. Only one port in Mexico can handle this type of boat, in America the Port of Baltimore is capable of doing so with a little work done which could take in shipments from China-Africa. Columbia and Chile being USA puppets are loosing out on this, Mexico pushing hard for that traffic but they already maxed out at there largest entry points... Kats in that field maybe shine some light on that if what I am saying seems spotty. I read about this a month ago.

Silver.
Storage some goods which are very appreciated in times of economic brakdown like cigarrettes.

Quote: (06-05-2012 08:45 PM)void Wrote:  

So, we all know the financial system is designed to fail after a certain time. Investing in gold in 2006 would have tripled or quadrupled your wealth by now. I considered it, but didnt do it (goddamn). what are the next big upcoming investment opportunities?

I don't know if this is the right way to think about it. Trying to make money off of broad macro trends isn't particularly easy. Financial markets are full of specialists who know their security/commodity/currency inside and out. It's almost impossible to to figure out some market inefficiency and be able to act on it before the experts, especially if you're just a retail investor.

It's a pretty safe assumption that we're in for a fairly low growth environment in the developed world in the medium-term. If you want high growth opportunity, the developing world may be the place to look.

Quote: (06-05-2012 08:45 PM)void Wrote:  

Investing in gold in 2006 would have tripled or quadrupled your wealth by now. I considered it, but didnt do it (goddamn).

You will continue to kick yourself over this because this run is just heating up.... The fundamentals are stronger than ever.

The miners are as good of a buy now as they were in 2008/2009

Precious metals, basically. Not a very original answer, but hey, it's the most obvious one.

Quote: (06-06-2012 09:39 AM)ThatNorwegianGuy Wrote:  

Precious metals, basically. Not a very original answer, but hey, it's the most obvious one.

Been told that for years and laughing the entire way

gold/silver is the last believe system most people trust in, so it seems like it can be played. but you can eat neither gold nor silver. a farm is worth more all shitty gold u have in your basement. only 10% of world gold production is used for industry, so it is only in demand because people want shiny jewels and something to put in their safe. 90% imaginary value.
but one last information i can add is, gold is intensely used in power electronics (for electric cars, wind turbines, PV). products that will see a growing demand in the near future. but still the 10/90% ratio sucks

I don't want this to turn into a gold and silver debate but gold hasn't been shooting up over the last decade because of its industrial demands... it did not shoot up in the 70s because of industrial demand. Gold has been money for thousands of years and just because the US government declared it dead as money in the early 70s does not make is so.

Low interest rates are still a huge opportunity. Use leverage to make money. Only do this for low risk setups where you have plenty of margin for error.

I like Euro for borrowing, not US dollars. I don't believe in a dollar crash. I see the USD being higher five years from now.

Gold producers are one way to keep an exposure to the gold spot price. During the last squeeze, we saw small cap explorers in difficulty as they couldn't get financing to move forward with projects. Try and stick with established producers with stable cash flows and low to moderate debt.

The gold price is already quite high. Of course, there is potential for it to go further up. A future Chinese property crash is one scenario that would be a catalyst.

Hooligan Harry's suggestions are good.

Make sure your finances are resilient and you can meet all commitments easily. Do a stress test on your personal finances -- make sure you can still pay your bills even if you lose your job or your regular cashflows.

Any lines of credit you may need, get them approved and in place now. Don't necessarily draw them down, though. In a high inflation environment, whatever you hold as cash loses value.

In case of a crash, buying opportunities may present. You'll need to preserve liquidity to take advantage of those. Keep your powder dry and don't rush in too soon.

Developing countries may present opportunities. Countries that are just opening up to the world may be low hanging fruit. Burma is one example. Lots of potential for their populations to make fast increases in wealth. You can take advantage of this by buying real estate at lower levels. As local wealth increases, valuations will increase. Do due diligence on local law, private property rights and other risks before you invest.

Quote: (06-06-2012 02:03 PM)Tigre Wrote:  

Low interest rates are still a huge opportunity. Use leverage to make money. Only do this for low risk setups where you have plenty of margin for error.

I like Euro for borrowing, not US dollars. I don't believe in a dollar crash. I see the USD being higher five years from now.

Gold producers are one way to keep an exposure to the gold spot price. During the last squeeze, we saw small cap explorers in difficulty as they couldn't get financing to move forward with projects. Try and stick with established producers with stable cash flows and low to moderate debt.

The gold price is already quite high. Of course, there is potential for it to go further up. A future Chinese property crash is one scenario that would be a catalyst.

Hooligan Harry's suggestions are good.

Make sure your finances are resilient and you can meet all commitments easily. Do a stress test on your personal finances -- make sure you can still pay your bills even if you lose your job or your regular cashflows.

Any lines of credit you may need, get them approved and in place now. Don't necessarily draw them down, though. In a high inflation environment, whatever you hold as cash loses value.

In case of a crash, buying opportunities may present. You'll need to preserve liquidity to take advantage of those. Keep your powder dry and don't rush in too soon.

Developing countries may present opportunities. Countries that are just opening up to the world may be low hanging fruit. Burma is one example. Lots of potential for their populations to make fast increases in wealth. You can take advantage of this by buying real estate at lower levels. As local wealth increases, valuations will increase. Do due diligence on local law, private property rights and other risks before you invest.

Good advice. You need to be working yourself into a strong position now, and be ready when opportunity knocks.

I've been working on getting my credit tight these last couple of years, I'm about ready to buy property when the time is right. When the Euro sinks I hope to secure myself a shag pad or two in EE.

I have no idea what Harry hooligan does but I can get 2 things from the advise 1. He already has money 2. He is in a good job.

My advise is before you worry about what to do with the $30K of your Net worth (probably even lower on this forum) is perform at your job. I don't care if you make 100% return in one year if you are unemployed that's only ~ 25K post tax with no experience on the resume. Make sure you're no let go, period.

With that said if/when Europe explodes, move your assets Into buckets "money I can't afford to lose" goes into TIPs and cash money markets. "money I can afford to lose" goes into bonds and maybe some reits. "money I would blow at Vegas" goes into stocks and high risk individual bets.

Well seeing these idiots on TV that want to buy my Gold and Silver makes me want to buy more Gold/Silver. I have a pretty good Silver collection and I too missed the Gold rush when it was $400oz back in 2004/2005.

I am very much anti banks at the moment, I moved to a credit union which I am not sure how much better they are.

I have read that rich people are buying farm land, property in South America and precious metals buy the ton.

I've been playing the leveraged ETFs both ways - FAS and FAZ. I also like SPXU.

Open a brokerage ROTH IRA and trade with that if you can. Earnings are tax-free unless withdrawn early. You can withdrawal your original contribution with no tax implications whatsoever if needed, and continue trading with what you've earned.

Other than that, gold and silver. It'll pay off in the long run, I'm pretty sure.

Gold/Precious metals, historically is not a good holding in a deflationary environment. That's not sound advice at all. if you foresee a european blow up thattakes down asset prices. You would not be wise holding gold at all, you would expect gold to track prices downwards.

It has historically been a store of value when recovery from a crisis is fueled by a massive injection in the monetary supply. This has happened with QE (x2), but we have yet to see inflation.

A Euro blow up will most likely see further deflation in the short term.

However, in ANY deflationary environment, you want to eliminate debt.