bigmoney

Alternatives to Buy and Hold (Part II)

I like this approach, as it captures whatever sector is trending up for whatever reason, whether that be inflation, economic growth, or just irrational exuberance. I think these approaches have potential because many people will buy & hold, or move to cash and stay in cash.

I know people that are nearly 100% stocks, buy & hold fashion, and they stubbornly refuse to consider alternatives. They "dollar cost average". The current market sag is nerve-wracking, because many of the same macro-economic issues persist, with zombie banks, quasi-nationalization, etc. I'd say its quite possible to trend down from todays 6590 another -30%, and then trade sideways, while inflation does it thing. And in the not too distant future, large numbers of baby-boomers will be hoping to retire, or else "right-sized", and unable to secure quality employment.

Book Review: Addison Wiggin's 'The Demise of the Dollar'

I am a big fan of dailyreckoning, esp. Bill Bonner's wry wit. I bought the book above some time back, and found it to be dry. But I am layman. Also, I don't know about the buy gold prescription. People touting this tend to have libertarian politics coloring their world view. The theory is good, but why gold instead of some other industrial commodity such as coal, phosphate, or oil? And how to possess gold in any quantity? There is GLD ETF, which is fine for small scale diversification, but paper gold makes me a little nervous. Many people got whacked in the 1930's holding gold "certificates". And I certainly don't want to be driving down the road with 50% of my net worth in physical bullion in the back seat.