What’s Wrong With This Picture?

During school, my ADD (which didn’t have a name at the time) made it difficult to maintain interest in the constant regurgitation of the same information over and over again, but unless I misunderstood, my business class always stressed the investment optimization of buying low and selling high. The last time I checked, the stock market was continuing to push to an all-time high for the fifth consecutive day. Not only that, but the current bull market ranks as the second longest in history, financial publications have been warning of an oversold market for more than six months, and prior to the election even Donald Trump himself warned that the Federal Reserve was pumping up the stock market to “unrealistic levels” and that America is on track for a “very massive recession.”

Meanwhile, our new President is backing out of trade agreements, pulling the rug out on years of Middle East negotiations, and poking a sharp stick at Iran, China, and North Korea. That same business class taught me that chaos and uncertainty make gold and other precious metals the perfect safe haven vehicle. And with gold 35% below its all-time high, it seems like the perfect time to take profit from peaking stocks and fortify or invest in the safe haven protection of gold and/or other precious metals. Actually, considering the global and domestic chaos we’re experiencing, perhaps the typically recommended 15% safe haven protection tranche needs to be increased.

But instead, investors appear to be euphorically running into a burning financial building, loading up on over-valued stocks, fiat currencies, and Gold ETF’s whose “fine print” prevents the kind of appreciation that will be earned by owners of physical precious metals, in the event of a cataclysmic collapse, attack, or other major unexpected incident. Something rarely discussed or even considered by many investors is the “ownership” value of physical precious metals. Unlike fiat currencies or any type of paper assets, when a cataclysmic event occurs, precious metal ownership locks in value with no effort on your part. You don’t have to search to find a liquid market and your investment value won’t be obliterated in nanoseconds by banks, countries, or massive funds able to sell before you even realize the event has occurred.

The last point I’d like to make is the fact that precious metals have many similar characteristics to other investment products, but the one thing that practically no other product can provide is the ability to increase in value, during times of crisis, when practically every other investment asset is tumbling. If the IMF announces implementation of a new “One World” currency tomorrow, then the United States, American investments, and the dollar would immediately be thrown into dire straits. Precious metals and other countries would be benefactors. Some potential scenarios would see movement over a more protracted time period, but those without or without enough precious metals would be on the short end of almost every imaginable scenario. Don’t be left without a chair when the music stops!