November 2011 Net Worth: Update

Sorry, I have been extremely busy at work and have not had the time to devote to maintain the site on a weekly, much less a daily basis. My last update was June and from the chart above you can see the last few months have been an roller coaster ride for our net worth. These have been the most wild swings since I have started to log our net worth. This is mostly because our exposer to the precious metals, they swing pretty violently depending on what is happening in the world. Right now, I have us set up in the the McAlvany Triangle which is the 1/3 the "Foundation" – Precious Metals,  1/3 in "Savings" – Cash, Bank Accounts, and 1/3 "Growth/Income" – Stocks, Bonds, & Mutual Funds. Anyways, I have to admit that I have to ignore the everyday noise of the market and look at the long term. I still feel very good at the plan of attack and will change accordingly as we get closer to the crisis window.

Next month I will try and have a break down for our net worth.

Mike Maloney - Debt Collapse Presentation

Take the time to watch this. Mike Maloney has a way of simplifying a complicated subject to the point the average person can understand what is going on with the world economy and the collapse of fiat money.

Mainstream Media and Ron Paul

Ever wonder why our mainstream media has lost its relevancy?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Nixon Speech - Closing the Gold Window

40 years ago today Nixon closed the Gold Window:



If you really want to know what it meant read King World News with Jim Rickards

Obama Stop Digging

Yes, Bush drove us into the ditch, but Obama will not stop digging!!

Here is a A Brief History Of Obama's Fiscal Record

Obama 2006 On Raising the Debt Ceiling

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion.That is “trillion” with a “T.” That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.

Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we’ll spend on Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.

And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities.

Senator Barack Obama
Senate Floor Speech on Public Debt
March 16, 2006

Not sure who wrote this for Obama in 2006 but he should go back and read his speech again. This is all a farce, the debt ceiling will get raised at the last minute and both parties will come out shaking hands taking about how that they got a deal done…"Status Quo" err "Kicking the can down the road"

I lean more toward Jim Rogers take on this subject:

June 2011 Net Worth: Another Down Month

Another down month for our net worth, with our assets down -1.31% and overall percentage change being -3.88%. This is the FIRST TIME since I tracking my net worth that we had a falling net worth back to back months. It is also the biggest percentage drop since September 2009.

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: Down this month big...this is because my wife does not receive her regular pay check for July/August. We put money a side so that money goes into our budget but it comes from saving over the two months. She will be receiving a paycheck from her part time job which we will just be putting into savings. This might drop again over the next month for the same reason, along with summer vacations and have a lot of fun over the summer(smile).

Precious Metals: (Spot : Gold - $1485.00 / Silver - $33.77) (Gold/Silver Ratio: 43.97)(Dollar cost - 28.94) Another big down month for the metals portfolio, but this allows us to purchase more at a lower price. Currently, we are still buying monthly and the plan is still to keep buying until we see fiscal restrain from our government. Currently, this part of the portfolio feels the best. I sleep very well knowing we have invested in PMs (this could change, but as of right now I feel very good) Just my thoughts from the people I read and the feeling from them is that come this fall we could possibly see some fireworks in the metals market.

...we are currently investing mostly in silver which I plan to sell and purchase gold when the silver to gold ratio is 30/1 then 20/1 the finally 10/1 if it make it that far which I do believe it will at least reach 16/1(its historic ratio). I plan on always owning silver and gold bullion to pass along to my kids/grandchildren. We own silver as an investment and we hold gold as an insurance policy on our investments. We currently prefer to keep a percentage of our wealth in PMs instead of federal reserve paper(dollar bills).

Stocks/Brokerage: Pulled the trigger on (AG - FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP @ $17.82) bought a initial position and might look to add if we see it back down near $18.00)

I am also looking into buying some options on (AUY) that I am still trying to figure out. Have also been thinking about getting in to some Natural gas plays like a Marathon(MRO) or Chesapeake Energy (CHK).

The list of stocks we currently own: (AG)(FVITF)(SLW)(SVM)(SSRI)(PAAS)(AAU)(DNN)(EXC)(PWE)(PHYS)(EGO)(AUY)((LYSCF)(RGLD)(XOM)(CVX).

*As you can see I am heavy in commodities in my brokerage account. This is all based on my thought that over the next decade the best investments are going to actually be in hard assets/natural resources. My Roth/IRA/401k are in pretty common index funds and mutual funds so I figure I can go more risky with brokerage. I believe these will out perform equities in the next decade and if nothing else I feel more comfortable with my portfolio being diverse. I am bearish on the US Dollar and US Economy, I believe that trillion dollar deficits are not going bode well for the USA.

Retirement 401k: This bracket is just both my wife and my retirement, adding money to our retirement funds every month.

Retirement IRA's: (Same as last month) Still having some cash on the sideline and will figure out what this market wants to do and see if I can put it to work. In this bracket I have all Vanguard Funds (VTSMX, VGSTX, VEIEX, VGPMX)

Real Estate: All units of our development have now sold. This is a huge relief as we were the second purchase out of the eight that were available. We will try and hedge our payments with trying to pay off the home in 10-15 yrs depending on what comes our way. This might change along the way depending on kids, economy, jobs and so forth.

Debts and Liabilities -

Credit Cards: Debt from couple monthly purchases - will be paid in full.

Car Loan: I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little, but not a ton. When it hits 3k I might just write a check and pay it off. Will see how the economy and money goes the next couple of months.

Home Mortgage: Mostly paying interest on our home at the moment, so not much of a dent here.

So we have had a couple of down months and will be looking to have a positive month for July. I believe it might be hard unless the stock market helps us out. The cash(flow) situation is a bit tight for right now and will hopefully get back on track once the summer comes to an end. It is hard to save with everything we have going on this summer. We might just have to tighten our belts come the fall. We will be enjoying the rest of the summer and wait to see what comes our way...

Economic Armageddon and You

This is the best example I have seen of summing up the economic mess we are in. It is easy to understand and the average joe on the street should be able to grasp.

Tim Geithner on US financial System is Ponzi

"If investors chose not to purchase a sufficient volume of new Treasury securities, the United States would be required to pay the principal on maturing debt, and not merely the interest, out of available cash. Yet the Treasury would be unable to make these principal payments without the continued confidence of market participants willing to buy new Treasury securities." Tim Geithner

This is full admission by our Treasury Secretary that the Us financial system is a Ponzi Scheme

http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=7371d3a9-9435-4277-87ef-330fcf689087

Ultimate unraveling of a Ponzi scheme

The catch is that at some point one of these things will happen:

1. The promoter will vanish, taking all the remaining investment money (minus payouts to investors already made).

2. Since the scheme requires a continual stream of investments to fund higher returns, once investment slows down, the scheme will begin to collapse under its own weight as the promoter starts having problems paying the promised returns (the higher the returns, the greater the risk of the Ponzi scheme collapsing). Such liquidity crises often trigger panics, as more people start asking for their money, similar to a bank run.

3. External market forces, such as a sharp decline in the economy (e.g. Madoff and the market downturn of 2008), cause many investors to withdraw part or all of their funds; not necessarily due to loss of confidence in the investment, but simply due to underlying market fundamentals. In the case of Madoff, the fund could no longer appear normal after investors tried to withdraw $7 billion from the firm in late 2008 as part of the major worldwide market downturn affecting all investments.

Ferdinand Lips and "Gold Wars"

Listen to this video, I learned a great deal from this interview with Lawrence Parks of FAME.

May 2011 Net Worth: Down -1.39%

Sorry I took last month off net worth even though it was one of best months we have had in 2011. That being said we came off last month and had our first down month of 2011 which was down -.97% on our assets and overall our net worth was down -1.39%. This was all because of the surge in silver the month before when it ran up from $36oz. to $49oz. and back down to $33oz. Needless to say that our portfolio has taking a wild ride over the last couple months. Hopefully it has stabilized, but I have a bad feeling that this summer is going to take us for an even crazier ride with all markets. Think we might be on the edge of another downturn and will wait and see what the Fed does once the market heads south.

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: Small growth in cash, we are going to start to raise a little more cash in the next coming months. I think there might be an opportunity to buy some cheaper stocks or that we could see a slow down with the economy. Still trying to get to that 50k mark...

Precious Metals: (Spot : Gold - $1542.00 / Silver - $36.29) (Gold/Silver Ratio: 42.56) Saw a huge hit to this bracket with the run up and then crash. This is good for us as I still believe over the next 3-5 years silver will break $100.00 and we want to keep dollar cost averaging in a lower prices (we are sitting at around $28.00 cost average). So we have done fairly well with this so far...

...we are currently investing mostly in silver which I plan to sell and purchase gold when the silver to gold ratio is 30/1 then 20/1 the finally 10/1 if it make it that far which I do believe it will at least reach 16/1(its historic ratio). I plan on always owning silver and gold bullion to pass along to my kids/grandchildren.

Stocks/Brokerage: Sitting tight with our brokerage accounts right now. Raising some cash to and watching some oil, gold and another rare earth company. Also looking a purchusing some Whole Foods.

Also looking to purchase some oil companies if we get a pullback. My plan is to keep purchasing Mining and Energy companies, as I still believe that Gold, Silver, Rare Earths, and Oil are in a bull market and I will ride the trend until I feel it is not undervalued. Gold and Silver mining stocks are so undervalued right now, my only concern is if we see a big stock market pullback then these stocks will get crushed. Once institutions come into this sector the gains could be huge, so we will have to wait and see which way the wind blows.

The list of stocks we currently own: (FVITF)(SLW)(SVM)(SSRI)(PAAS)(AAU)(DNN)(EXC)(PWE)(PHYS)(EGO)(AUY)((LYSCF)(RGLD)(XOM)(CVX).

*As you can see I am heavy in commodities in my brokerage account. This is all based on my thought that over the next decade the best investments are going to actually be in hard assets. My Roth/IRA/401k are in pretty common index funds and mutual funds so I figure I can go more risky with brokerage. I believe these will out perform equities in the next decade and if nothing else I feel more comfortable with my portfolio being diverse. I am bearish on the US Dollar and US Economy, I believe that trillion dollar deficits are not going bode well for the USA.

Retirement 401k: This bracket is just both my wife and my retirement, adding money to our retirement funds every month.

Retirement IRA's: (Same as last month) Still having some cash on the sideline and will figure out what this market wants to do and see if I can put it to work. In this bracket I have all Vanguard Funds (VTSMX, VGSTX, VEIEX, VGPMX)

Real Estate: Couple more units in our new development have sold so this is good. 6 out of 8 homes have sold and they are looking to break ground on a new set of town homes. The plan here is to keep our money that we were going to put down as a down payment in the bank or investments. We will try and hedge our payments with trying to pay off the home in 10-15 yrs depending on what comes our way. This might change along the way depending on kids, economy, jobs and so forth.

Debts and Liabilities -

Credit Cards: Debt from couple monthly purchases - will be paid in full.

Car Loan: I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little, but not a ton. When it hits 3k I might just write a check and pay it off. Will see how the economy and money goes the next couple of months.

Home Mortgage: Mostly paying interest on our home at the moment, so not much of a dent here.

We are almost at the half way mark for the year. We are feeling pretty good about our situation. These summer months the wife will not be getting a pay check so the cash might be a tad bit tough to save as much as we have been. Battling between saving up 50k in cash vs. buying silver while the price is still relatively cheap. Still trying to figure all this out and will remain nimble and remain learning every month. Till next month...

Reminder for days like today

With Gold and Silver taking a huge hit and the main stream media talking bubble bursting around gold and silver I think it is a good time to post this from jsmineset.com

Contemplate what each of the following means to you one at a time. Do not try to do them all at once. You do not want to do this as a routine memory exercise as much as a meditation on why you have bought the insurance you have.

- Gold is a currency with no liabilities attached.
- Gold is competition to paper currency.
- Gold is not a commodity.
- Gold is a barometer of fear.
- Gold is a barometer of confidence in Government.
- Gold is insurance.
- Insurance is not something to trade.
- Gold is money when money fails.
- Hyperinflation is a currency event, not an economic event.
- Hyperinflation is a currency event described as a loss of confidence in the currency.
- Gold in your hand eliminates counter-party risk.
- Gold is the high ground when the global tsunami hits.
- Gold removes financial agents between you and your assets.

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

Round 2:

Round 1:

John Hathaway on Paper Money

April 15th - Taxman vs Upside Down

Happy Tax Day!

March 2011 Networth: 4.73%

March is in the books and another month of growth. Nothing to interesting going on. We had a couple trips and have been spending more freely. So to see a jump is good for us but mostly through our precious metals and s stocks. We did not see much in our cash savings. I have added the break down of Precious metals below so that I can start to keep myself in check as this market is starting to heat up.

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: Small jump in our cash savings. This would be jumping a lot more but we are currently putting a percentage of our savings in Precious Metals as our insurance of our fiat paper. I feel that PM's are a store of wealth where our cash is only a currency.

Precious Metals: Keep adding to this with bi-monthly purchases. The thought process before here is that we were investing in 8% into my 401k. This was going into mutual funds that I have very little to no management over. My company matches up to 5% so I decided to drop my 401k investments back to 5% and invest the 3% into something that might be more liquid. This allows us to use this money to invest in ourselves or just keep accumulating wealth. Right now I am just dollar cost averaging every couple weeks into bullion. At this point mostly silver which I plan to sell and purchase gold when the silver to gold ratio is 30/1 then 20/1 the finally 10/1 if it make it that far which I do believe it will at least reach 16/1(its historic ratio). I plan on always owning silver and gold bullion to pass along to my kids/grandchildren.

Stocks/Brokerage: Stocks had a slight jump this month with some more purchases and that the silver/mining stocks are on fire right now. We purchased FORTUNA SILVER MINES INC (FVITF) this month and still waiting for some pullback in silver stocks before purchasing some more...

Will keep looking to add here...I am looking for SLW to pull back to around $37 to purchase some more. Also looking to purchase some oil companies if we get a pullback. My plan is to keep purchasing Mining and Energy companies, as I still believe that Gold, Silver, Rare Earths, and Oil are in a bull market and I will ride the trend until I feel it is not undervalued. Gold and Silver mining stocks are so undervalued right now, my only concern is if we see a big stock market pullback then these stocks will get crushed. Once institutions come into this sector the gains could be huge, so we will have to wait and see which way the wind blows.

The list of stocks we currently own: (FVITF)(SLW)(SVM)(SSRI)(PAAS)(AAU)(DNN)(EXC)(PWE)(PHYS)(EGO)(AUY)((LYSCF)(RGLD)(XOM)(CVX).

*As you can see I am heavy in commodities in my brokerage account. This is all based on my thought that over the next decade the best investments are going to actually be in hard assets. My Roth/IRA/401k are in pretty common index funds and mutual funds so I figure I can go more risky with brokerage. I believe these will out perform equities in the next decade and if nothing else I feel more comfortable with my portfolio being diverse. I am bearish on the US Dollar and US Economy, I believe that trillion dollar deficits are not going bode well for the USA.

Retirement 401k: This bracket is just both my wife and my retirement, adding money to our retirement funds every month.

Retirement IRA's: (Same as last month) Still having some cash on the sideline and will figure out what this market wants to do and see if I can put it to work. In this bracket I have all Vanguard Funds (VTSMX, VGSTX, VEIEX, VGPMX)

Real Estate: Couple more units in our new development have sold so this is good. % out of 8 homes have sold and they are looking to break ground on a new set of town homes. The plan here is to keep our money that we were going to put down as a down payment in the bank or investments. We will try and hedge our payments with trying to pay off the home in 10-15 yrs depending on what comes our way. This might change along the way depending on kids, economy, jobs and so forth.

Debts and Liabilities -

Credit Cards: Debt from couple monthly purchases from work and such, will be paid in full.

Car Loan: I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little, but not a ton. Still looking to pay it off early-will probably be a goal this or next year.

Home Mortgage: Mostly paying interest on our home at the moment, so not much of a dent here.

More of the same o'l same o'l and we will take it. I just want to be in the business of growing our wealth each and every month. We are extremely blessed and cannot be happier right now. I see a storm on the horizon and not sure when it will hit, but we remain doing what I feel is best for our family at the moment. No one knows what is going to happen, but hopefully we will be prepared to weather the storm. Not sure how long we as a country can remain to ignore the challenges that we face and star them in the face. We need to take control of our situation and realize we are going to have to make sacrifices. We have to take control of our debt.

Mike Maloney Gold & Silver When To Sell? Real Estate-When To Buy?

The Truth About The Greatest: Warren Buffett

Why Martial Law Cannot Happen in USA

So this weekend I was surfing youtube and came across:

US v. Emerson, Fifth Circuit, Case No. 99-10331:
1. Testimony of Norman Olson of the Michigan Militia; and,
2. John Trochman and Bob Fletcher of the Militia of Montana before the Senate Subcommittee on Anti-Terrorism, June 15, 1995.

I found this to be very interesting and thought I would put up Mr. Olson statement. Another interesting thing I see is that a couple Senators that where there, seem to have made a career out of politics, Arlen Specter and Dianne Feinstein.

Not only does the Constitution specifically allow the formation of a Federal Army, it also recognizes the inherent right of the people to form militia. Further, it recognizes that the citizen and his personal armaments are the foundation of the militia. The arming of the militia is not left to the state but to the citizen. However, should the state choose to arm its citizen militia, it is free to do so (bearing in mind the Constitution is not a document limiting the citizen, but rather limiting the power of government). But should the state fail to arm its citizen militia, the right of the people to keep and bear arms becomes the source of the guarantee that the state will not be found defenseless in the presence of a threat to its security. It makes no sense whatsoever to look to the Constitution of the United States or that or any state for permission to form a citizen militia since logically, the power to permit is also the power to deny. If brought to its logical conclusion in this case, government may deny the citizen the right to form a militia. If this were to happen, the state would assert itself as the principle of the contract making the people the agents. Liberty then would depend on the state's grant of liberty. Such a concept is foreign to American thought.

While the Second Amendment to the US Constitution acknowledges the existence of state militia and recognizes their necessity for the security of a free state; and, while it also recognizes that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, the Second Amendment is not the source of the right to form a militia nor to keep and bear arms. Those rights existed in the states prior to the formation of the federal union. In fact, the right to form militia and to keep and bear arms existed from antiquity. The enumeration of those rights in the Constitution only underscores their natural occurrence and importance

According to the Tenth Amendment, ultimate power over the militia is not delegated to the Federal government by the Constitution nor to the states, but resides with the people. Consequently, the power of the militia remains in the hands of the people. Again, the fundamental function of the militia in society remains with the people. Therefore, the Second Amendment recognizes that the militia's existence and the security of the state rests ultimately in the people who volunteer their persons to constitute the militia and their arms to supply its firepower. The primary defense of the state rests with the citizen militia bearing its own arms. Fundamentally, it is not the state that defends the people, but the people who defend the state.

The second line of defense of the state consists in the statutory organization known as the National Guard. Whereas the National Guard is solely the creation of the statutory law, the militia derives its existence from the inherent inalienable rights which existed before the Constitution and whose importance are such that they merited specific recognition in that document. While the National Guard came into existence as a result of legislative activity, the militia existed before there was a nation or a constitutional form of government. The militia consisting of people owning and bearing personal weapons is the very authority out of which the United States Constitution grew. This point must be emphasized. Neither the citizen's militia nor the citizen's private arsenal can be an appropriate subject of federal regulation. It was the armed militia of the American colonies whose own efforts ultimately led to the establishment of the United States of America! While some say that the right to keep and bear arms is granted to Americans by the Constitution, just the opposite is true. The Federal government itself is the child of the armed citizen. We the people are the parent of the child we call government. You, Senators, are part of the child that We the People gave life to. The increasing amount of Federal encroachment into our lives indicates the need for parental corrective action. In short, the Federal government needs a good spanking to make it behave.

One other important point needs to be made. Since the Constitution is the limiting document upon the government, the government cannot become greater than the granting power, that is the servant cannot become greater than his master. Therefore, should the Chief Executive or other branch of government, or all branches together act to suspend the Constitution under a rule of martial law, all power granted to government would be canceled and defer back to the granting power, the people. Martial law shall not be possible in this country as long as the people recognize the Bill of Rights as inalienable.

Since the power of self defense and the defense of the state is ultimately vested in the people, there is no possible way that a Governor or the Chief Executive of the United States, or any legislative body can "outlaw" the citizen militia for to do so would rob inherent power from the people. If that were to happen, our entire form of government would cease.

Historically, we have found that the Governor's militia, that is the National Guard, is intended to reduce the need for the citizen militia. Simply, if the National Guard did it's job in securing the state, the citizen militia would not emerge. That it has emerged so dramatically seems to indicate that the people do not feel secure. Simply stated, the growing threat of centralized Federal government is frightening America, hence the emergence of the citizen militia. When government is given back to the people at the lowest level, the citizen militia will return to its natural place, resident within the body of the people. Civil war and revolution can be avoided by re-investing governing power to the people.

To summarize: Citizen militia are historic lawful entities predating constitutions. Such militia are "grandfathered" into the very system of government they created. The Constitution grants no right to form militia, but merely recognize the existing natural right of all people to defend and protect themselves. The governments created out of well armed and free people are to be constantly obedient to the people. Any attempt to take the means of freedom from the people is an act of rebellion against the people.

In order to resist a rebellious and disobedient government,the citizen militia must not be connected in any way with that government lest the body politic loose its fearful counterbalanceas the only sure threat to a government bent on converting free people into slaves.

Submitted by Norman E. Olson

You can find the rest here: http://www.potowmack.org/emerappb.html

February 11 Net Worth: 11% Growth

Wow, two months already into the year...time is flying by. Sorry about not posting, but am really focus on doing what I need to set my self up later down the road. I just don't have time with work and really doing research for investments. I'm still not sure how everything still plays out, but I feel good with what we are doing with our money.
Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: Another jump in our cash savings. This would be jumping a lot more but we are currently putting a percentage of our savings in Precious Metals as our insurance of our fiat paper. I feel that PM's are a store of wealth where our cash is only a currency.

Stocks/Brokerage: Stocks jumped this month with some more purchases and that the silver/mining stocks are on fire right now. One of my mining stocks (Fronteer Gold) got purchased my Newmont and the the stock jumped. I sold it with a percentage gain of 65%. I also sold Avalon Rare Metals with a percentage of 196%, this was a speculation buy so figured I should take my gains and reinvest them.

I've purchased SSRI, PAAS, AAU and DNN in the last couple months. I also added to my position of RGLD. Will keep looking to add here...looking to purchase some oil companies if we get a pullback. My plan is to keep purchasing Mining and Energy companies, as I still believe that Gold, Silver, Rare Earths, and Oil are in a bull market and I will ride the trend until I feel it is not undervalued.

The list of stocks we currently own: (SLW)(SVM)(SSRI)(PAAS)(AAU)(DNN)(EXC)(PWE)(PHYS)(EGO)(AUY)((LYSCF)(RGLD)(XOM)(CVX).

*As you can see I am heavy in commodities in my brokerage account. This is all based on my thought that over the next decade the best investments are going to actually be in hard assets. My Roth/IRA/401k are in pretty common index funds and mutual funds so I figure I can go more risky with brokerage. I believe these will out perform equities in the next decade and if nothing else I feel more comfortable with my portfolio being diverse. I am bearish on the US Dollar and US Economy, I believe that trillion dollar deficits are not going bode well for the USA.

Retirement 401k: This bracket is just both my wife and my retirement, adding money to our retirement funds every month.

Retirement IRA's: (Same as last month) Still having some cash on the sideline and will figure out what this market wants to do and see if I can put it to work. In this bracket I have all Vanguard Funds (VTSMX, VGSTX, VEIEX, VGPMX)

Real Estate: So this is a new category, based off getting 100% financing, right now its not even an asset based of not having any equity in our home. The plan here is to keep our money that we were going to put down as a down payment in the bank or investments. We will try and hedge our payments with trying to pay off the home in 10-15 yrs depending on what comes our way. This might change along the way depending on kids, economy, jobs and so forth.

Debts and Liabilities -

Credit Cards: Debt from couple monthly purchases from work and such, will be paid in full.

Car Loan: I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little, but not a ton. Still looking to pay it off early-will probably be a goal this or next year.

Home Mortgage: Mostly paying interest on our home at the moment, so not much of a dent here.

There you have it. We remain being blessed and keep making the right moves with our money. I am still keeping a close eye on what all is going on with the stuff going on in the middle east. These oil prices are going to effect our economy and could do even more if the Dollar keeps falling like it has over the past couple months. Until next month, wish us luck.

Purchasing Power of the Dollar

I am a visual person...This pretty much sums up a lot

How does gold "get away" with paying no interest?

Question -- How does gold "get away" with paying no interest?


Answer -- Gold pays no interest because it is ultimately safe. Gold is the only currency that has lasted through the centuries, going back 6,000 years. Currencies have to pay interest so that they will be attractive enough for people to hold them. As a rule, the poorer and riskier the nation, the more its currency must pay in interest in order to attract investors. Normally, the dollar would be paying an attractive rate of interest, except for the manipulations of the Fed. Thus short rates in the US are around zero, courtesy of the Fed.

-Richard Russell

Source: King World News

MUST WATCH - The American Dream (Animated)

Year End Update: Net Worth and More

What a year...

End of last year our total net worth was 43k, this year we have more than double it. Partially because my wife and I combined finances. Another reason is that the stock market has had an incredible run(I believe I read somewhere the Dow was up 10%). Our investments have worked out really well across the board and are keeping on budget and saving money.

If 2011 is anything like 2010, we will be well on our way. That being said, I am still overall bearish and looking for another major crisis between now and 2015. Whether it be a debt crisis, dollar collapse or peak cheap oil, I will try and put ourselves in a position to hopefully not only survive the crisis but hopefully prosper. We remain blessed but our attitude remains to still prepare for the worst and prey for the best.

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: This grew this month based off a year end bonus along with saving. Which is really nice considering that December is money pit usually with Christmas and such. Our first goal remains to get about 50K in the bank(cash) for saving before we really start putting our money to work. This bracket holds the funds for insurance, auto maintenance, Roth IRA, and vacation. It also holds our monthly budget in it which is used on a daily bases for covering expenses, mortgage, food, auto, etc...

Stocks/Brokerage: Wow, what can I say...This is the first year I have been managing a stock portfolio outside my 401k. I have been studying and listening to financial sense (www.financialsense.com), I have been listening to analysts who are interviewed and when they throw out a stock I research a little and see if it is worth a purchase. I am absolutely floored how well I have done with these stocks. Maybe its beginners luck, maybe it real that I believe in these stocks that I purchase and I hope 2011 will be as good as 2010. My plan is to keep purchasing Mining and Energy companies, as I still believe that Gold, Silver, Rare Earths are in a bull market and I will ride the trend until I feel it is not undervalued.

Here are the gains/losses based of percentages this year. I am currently up 22%, I try and keep a level head and not get to excited. I keep reminding myself that I need to be nimble and be ready to sell if the trend changes. The latest stock we purchased was Lynas Corp and am thinking of selling off some of my Avalon Rare Metals based off the run up lately:

The list of stocks I currently own: (SLW)(FRG)(SVM)(EXC)(PWE)(PHYS)(EGO)(AUY)(AVARF)(RGLD)(ZQK)(XOM)(CVX).

*As you can see I am heavy in commodities in my brokerage account. This is all based on my thought that over the next decade the best investments are going to actually be in hard assets. My Roth/IRA/401k are in pretty common index funds and mutual funds so I figure I can go more risky with brokerage. I believe these will out perform equities in the next decade and if nothing else I feel more comfortable with my portfolio being diverse. I am bearish on the US Dollar and US Economy, I believe that trillion dollar deficits are not going bode well for the USA.

Retirement 401k: This bracket is just both my wife and my retirement, adding money to our retirement funds every month.

Retirement IRA's: (Same as last month) Still having some cash on the sideline and will figure out what this market wants to do and see if I can put it to work. In this bracket I have all Vanguard Funds (VTSMX, VGSTX, VEIEX, VGPMX)

Real Estate: So this is a new category, based off getting 100% financing, right now its not even an asset based of not having any equity in our home. The plan here is to keep our money that we were going to put down as a down payment in the bank or investments. We will try and hedge our payments with trying to pay off the home in 10-15 yrs depending on what comes our way. This might change along the way depending on kids, economy, jobs and so forth.

Debts and Liabilities -

Credit Cards: Debt from Christmas, will be paid off without any interest.

Car Loan: I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little, but not a ton. Still looking to pay it off early-will probably be a goal this or next year. I was blessed enough to receive a pay raise and with this I will add to my monthly payment to my vehicle and see if I can get this paid off earlier than the end date.

Home Mortgage: Mostly paying interest on our home at the moment, so not much of a dent here.

Not only did we surpass 100k, we went beyond it by 6k. I just feel so blessed and we are thankful everyday to have a good jobs in this economy. It is nice to have the success that we have with our personal finances at the moment. I am not taking anything for granted and definitely not trying to get big headed, but I am certainly proud of us in 2010. We had a wedding, attended a few out of town weddings, traveled, honeymoon, and purchased a home all along while saving somewhere between 25-30% of our income. I cannot imagine, even though it is a goal, that we will be able to do this (kids and etc...) down the road, so we will try and remain saving and investing for our future.