Stocks, Gold, Silver, and the printing press.

[smokingman]

15 years ago high frequency trading accounted for less than 5% of all trades in the US equity markets.Today high frequency trading accounts for over 70% of every executed trade and 90% of all canceled trades.This while trading volume has collapsed.S&P trading volume hit a 15 year low,and has been declining since 2002 peak.

[/IMG]



US Equity Trading Volume Hits Fresh 15-Year Low | Zero Hedge

 

[rhino]

This is depressing.

I'm in a position where I can start a Roth IRA for the first time in my life (I am 48), but I'm not seeing a huge advantage to doing it over just saving/investing. I'm pretty disciplined about saving for the future, so I trust myself to not need the motivation of penalties for early withdrawal.

Argh.

 

[zippy23]

So i ask again, is buying physical gold and silver as in coins and stashing it away a good way to go right now?

 

[lucky4034]

Gold and Silver are always great investments... but in a tragedy, they might not keep you alive like .45acp and jug of water

 

[rhino]

So i ask again, is buying physical gold and silver as in coins and stashing it away a good way to go right now?

My opinion is that it's late to buy gold; silver is reasonable (was more so last month), but non-perishable food and water storage are a better investment.

 

[smokingman]

The biggest negative to a Roth in my eyes is taking a loss.If you own stock and take a loss you can write off that loss on your taxes,not so with a Roth Ira.Given where I think markets are heading I would want to be able to write off any losses I had.Take 2008 for example.If you had 10k in losses in your stock portfolio you could write off that entire amount on your taxes,while those with Roth Iras literally ate the loss.I do understand the Roth is a tax sheltered investment,but in this day and age I would rather have the ability to write off losses than a tax shelter.

 

[smokingman]

Gold and silver have both beaten inflation for the last 25 years.It will never have a value of 0.It has no counter party risk if you physically have possession.You own gold and silver you hold,unlike things like stocks which you do not actually own until you settle through a market maker.Yes I think investing in gold and silver is a good way to preserve wealth long term.

 

[zippy23]

Thanks for the info, already invested my personal protection and water purification and storage! and yes, i love my .45!!

 

[rhino]

The biggest negative to a Roth in my eyes is taking a loss.If you own stock and take a loss you can write off that loss on your taxes,not so with a Roth Ira.Given where I think markets are heading I would want to be able to write off any losses I had.Take 2008 for example.If you had 10k in losses in your stock portfolio you could write off that entire amount on your taxes,while those with Roth Iras literally ate the loss.I do understand the Roth is a tax sheltered investment,but in this day and age I would rather have the ability to write off losses than a tax shelter.

Thank you, sir. That makes sense to me.

 

[pudly]

Good question. I know that there has been discussion of the Treasury creating a $1 trillion coin as one way to handle the debt. Why is the Fed creating money instead of the Treasury?

 

[pudly]

I've been watching a series of videos on YouTube that do an excellent job of explaining gold, money, and the printing press. These videos make the information very accessible and if you pay attention, you will have a greater understanding of certain monetary issues than I had after receiving my degree in Economics.

Disclaimer: Mike Maloney has created and is the owner of two companies: goldsilver.com which buys and sells gold and silver and wealthcycles.com, which is an educational company. His bias is clearly towards gold and silver, but I believe he came to it honestly, via analysis of the current system and a study of economic history.

The following videos are about 1/2 hour in length. You might want to substitute some education for mind-numbing TV this week.

Episode 1:
[video=youtube_share;DyV0OfU3-FU]http://youtu.be/DyV0OfU3-FU[/video]

 

[pudly]

Episode 2:
[video=youtube_share;EdSq5H7awi8]http://youtu.be/EdSq5H7awi8[/video]

 

[pudly]

Episode 3:
[video=youtube_share;y-IemeM-Ado]http://youtu.be/y-IemeM-Ado[/video]

 

[pudly]

Episode 4:
[video=youtube_share;iFDe5kUUyT0]http://youtu.be/iFDe5kUUyT0[/video]

 

[ocsdor]

To those asking how to invest:

 

[The Stig]

Pudly,

Good find.

I watched the first one. Very informative.

 

[pudly]

Glad you liked it. Please watch the others when you can. They are all worthwhile.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

Only have time to watch that first video, but i learned more watching that than i have doing anything else recently. I had no idea that bills used to say an equal amount of gold coin was deposited into the treasury. I guess now we just keep the bills worth of oil somewhere

 

[pudly]

Yup. Until 1933, a $20 bill could be exchanged for a 1oz gold coin. With the devaluation of the dollar over time, it now takes about $1300 to buy that same gold coin.

 

[RockofStrength]

Only have time to watch that first video, but i learned more watching that than i have doing anything else recently. I had no idea that bills used to say an equal amount of gold coin was deposited into the treasury. I guess now we just keep the bills worth of oil somewhere

Our dollar is not backed by any substance, gold, oil or otherwise. That whole "full faith and trust of the U.S. Government" thing that backs up bank accounts and whatnot? Same thing for your bills. Lacking any intrinsic value or scarcity like gold, the value of the dollar is based on a variety of factors that all add up to the grand score of "How much we trust the government to honor debts".