jenksjr's  Instablog

I believe better days are ahead for the US economy. How can this be? Doesn't the Euro crisis decide our fate? What about China, they are in recession and are a major drag on world economies? Well, I believe there is an over-riding force at work in our (U.S.) economy - oil and gas prices.

US average gasoline prices peaked close to $4 a gallon. Now the average is down to around $3.40. Since US gasoline consumption is about 2.5 billion gallons a week the savings at the gas pump are now running about $1.5 a week. Annually that adds up to $78 billion. That is a chunk of change. Where do you think all that money will go?

Prices in the stores should stabilize or begin to fall. Folks will head to the stores and shop till they drop. Vacation travel should increase. More Autos will be bought. The list can go on. But the bottom line, more employees will be need in all kinds of business, which will, of course, help continue the virtuous circle.

And guess what? All of this happened with out government help. On the contrary it could be said they tried to hinder oil development. But, that is another topic all together.

I have developed a new portfolio to get more international exposure. I developed it with the Permanent Portfolio philosophy in mind. It covers all asset classes. Here's the list.

GIM            15%        International Bonds
MERKX       29%       International currency
SWASX      7.5%      Global Real Estate
IXC             7.5%      Global Energy
MAPIX         8.0%     Asian Equities
OAKGX      8.0%      Mostly Euro equities
TGLDX       25%       Global Gold Miners and bullion

This portfolio has returned 53% since March '09 (back test)

This better performance than my domestic Permanent Port. Replication (34%) and also better than PRPFX (30%).

Check it out. Build your own portfolios and make comments.





Disclosure: Long on all the above