Investing under Socialism

[spec4]

In view of the election is anyone changing their asset allocation? My thinking is with increased costly regulation on business, and no tax relief,their ability to grow and profit will be limited. In turn their stock would not go up and dividends may go down. It also wouldn't surprise me to see the Fed lengthen the time they will keep rates at zero. Fixed income investors will continue to be screwed. Other thoughts out there?

 

[rockhopper46038]

If Obama and Co. don't ram through confiscatory tax rates on dividends, I think solid dividend paying (and more importantly, raising) stocks will be a decent place to put some money. Commodities will generally keep pace with inflation; just be careful to pick the right ones. Personal loans to credit-worthy people are a possibility. Investment property perhaps...

 

[beararms1776]

Maybe try out some of the free stock simulators for a while.

 

[dhnorris]

bribes to the tax man?

 

[HavokCycle]

i'd go with commodities. for a farmer who swung by the drought and still had a decent crop, now is a great time to be sitting on a lot of corn.
etc

 

[John Galt]

Pay off debt and invest in God, guns (ammo), gold (silver) and groceries. Washington is the greatest threat to America right now and with the sociopathically insane policies they are implementing, if one doesn't start being smart with their wealth then they have no one to blame but themselves when the inevitably unsustainable becomes unsustainable. I believe we are at the tail end of the failed 100 year Progressive Liberal experiment, but still have time to prep!

 

[IndyDave1776]

Pay off debt and invest in God, guns (ammo), gold (silver) and groceries. Washington is the greatest threat to America right now and with the sociopathically insane policies they are implementing, if one doesn't start being smart with their wealth then they have no one to blame but themselves when the inevitably unsustainable becomes unsustainable. I believe we are at the tail end of the failed 100 year Progressive Liberal experiment, but still have time to prep!

This!

Invest in things you actually use, and make sure you have the merchandise in hand, not a piece of paper that says you own it.

 

[cobber]

Under real socialism, you won't have any investments anyway (since all industry and business would be state-owned), and the government would just inflate that out of existence...

We're not there yet.

 

[HavokCycle]

This!

Invest in things you actually use, and make sure you have the merchandise in hand, not a piece of paper that says you own it.

aye. i dont understand the gold investment trend where you just have a statement that shows how much money you gave them.

if i can't hold it, i don't own it.

 

[John Galt]

Under real socialism, you won't have any investments anyway (since all industry and business would be state-owned), and the government would just inflate that out of existence...

We're not there yet.

How much closer do we have to get???? The government pretty much owns, controls through regulation or through Federal Reserve policy:
Education
Healthcare
Retirement
Housing
Energy
Savings/Investments
The financial system/banks
Auto industry
Pharma
Agriculture

And these are just the sectors I named off of the top of my head in 20 seconds. When one stops to consider our KNOWN debt, along with the unfunded liabilities, the obligations of Fannie/Freddie/Derivatives, the Federal Reserve printing currency, and the fact that our government is openly manipulating date (unemployment/inflation data), our level of sociopathic spending, etc., etc., etc. I'd venture to say that Karl Marx is jealous!
We are tolerating the greatest plundering in history, WITH OUR EYES WIDE OPEN!

 

[poptab]

how to succeed as a business man in socialism... become a crony.

 

[IndyDave1776]

how to succeed as a business man in socialism... become a crony.

The only problem is that I believe all those slots are already taken.

 

[Indy317]

In view of the election is anyone changing their asset allocation? My thinking is with increased costly regulation on business, and no tax relief,their ability to grow and profit will be limited. In turn their stock would not go up and dividends may go down. It also wouldn't surprise me to see the Fed lengthen the time they will keep rates at zero. Fixed income investors will continue to be screwed. Other thoughts out there?

I have been out of the market for a while now in terms of cash on hand/saving. Retirement accounts have been in "guaranteed" type funds, making next to nothing. Wife and I need a bigger home, and we are likely moving to the north side. Given higher taxation on investment and interest income, the likelihood that Roth IRAs/401(k)s will be confiscated, I have a new financial plan.

My new financial plan is to just hold real assets. Before, I was hoping to only spend about $160K on a home. Now that it appears anyone who is a saver is looked upon as an enemy of the country, I see no reason to cap myself on what I spend on a home. As such, I'm not even willing to spend up to $200K. Making OK money and not having kids, it won't take us long to have the new home paid-off. If we are able to save enough, my current long term plan is just to buy some rural, wooded land. I may even eventually build a small cabin or something on the property and let family/friends use it free of charge for weekend getaways from the city. The wooded lot would hopefully help produce firewood for winter time for both my home and cabin (both will have wood stoves).

I really see no reason anymore to bank cash. I don't advise going crazy with the spending, but don't put cash into IRAs/401(k)s or even hoard it. The government is broke. Argentina, Spain, and others have already confiscated personal retirement accounts in some manner. As such, we have cut 401(k) contributions by 85% and decided to close a small Roth IRA and take the hit. The hit will only be on a tiny $300 gain, so no big deal there. The 401(k) has less than five figures in it, about 33-40% being company match. Had we kept the same contribution level, it would have had $80K just in my money in about 25 years. It would have been nice to have a $120K saved in that account, but I just don't trust the government not to change the rules, if not outright confiscate the money.

The only way I get back into the market now is if we get true limited-government, pro-business, limited taxation types back into office and I see them delivering on those things. Other than that, I'm content with just holding hard assets that could easily be sold quickly at a 15% or so loss if it came to that.

 

[rooster]

the best investment you can make right now is property. More specifically income generating properties such as rental houses and strip malls. That is the only sound investment to make because after you put in your start up capital the property should pay its own mortgage in the first year.

 

[beararms1776]

how to succeed as a business man in socialism... become a crony.

and invest in socialism.

 

[pudly]

and invest in socialism.

Unfortunately, investing in politicians can have a much higher return than investment in businesses. Thus corruption leads to more corruption.

 

[cobber]

the best investment you can make right now is property. More specifically income generating properties such as rental houses and strip malls. That is the only sound investment to make because after you put in your start up capital the property should pay its own mortgage in the first year.

Of course you have to be able to hold on to your real estate, should the government or other parties decide they want/need it...

 

[downzero]

If we had socialism, there would be no investment, because there would be no private economy.

 

[jbombelli]

I'm rebalancing my portfolio to be sure.

I'm moving more heavily into bullets.

 

[beararms1776]

I'm rebalancing my portfolio to be sure.

I'm moving more heavily into bullets.

S&W