Comments on: Permanent Portfolio 25% Gold Allocation FAQ

By: craigr

craigr — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:30:24 +0000

Shorter TIPS could be a consideration for cash in a tax-sheltered account. I haven’t looked at the issue closely enough to take into consideration everything involved. I definitely wouldn’t use TIPS in a taxable account and they absolutely shouldn’t be used in lieu of gold for the inflation protection.

Actually though during the bad inflation of the 1970s Cash pretty much treaded water keeping up with inflation in Treasury T-Bills. Treasury ST notes did slightly better. TIPS may be OK in comparison, but we’ve not had high inflation with them yet so nobody can really say how they’ll perform when put to the test.

By: 2ravens

2ravens — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:32:53 +0000

What would be the issue with using TIPS (esp. in an IRA) for the cash portion of the account? Even if they fell behind during inflation it would still do better than cash. During the other 3 period it doesn’t seem to me that it would fare any worse plus you would get some interest. Am I missing something??

2ravens

By: craigr

craigr — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:56:53 +0000

Mining stocks are not the same as gold bullion. It’s usually a better idea to buy physical gold outside of the retirement account. That way you aren’t using up valuable tax deferred space for your bonds, cash and stocks with gold that is not throwing off interest and dividends. Also, you can access the gold if needed and it’s not tied up at an IRA custodian.

By: acAeris99

acAeris99 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:13:07 +0000

Is there an alternative way of buying gold if your money is located in Vanguard? There doesn’t seem to be ways to buy gold within my Vanguard taxable, Roth IRA, or 401(k) accounts… the only one I see is the precious metal mining fund… but you had previously said this is not a viable alternative to buying gold.

By: Too much gold hype… | Crawling Road

Too much gold hype… | Crawling Road — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:55:00 +0000

[...] Gold FAQ [...]

By: craigr

craigr — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:12:32 +0000

Most insurance companies will allow you to add a rider for items outside of your homeowner’s policy. This is usually for Jewelry, coin collections, etc. Bank insurance will not usually cover safe deposit boxes so you may have to carry your own insurance to protect any valuables you store in them.

By: Marina

Marina — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:04:04 +0000

Hi Craig,

You wrote “a safe deposit box where it is protected against theft and insured”. On that last part, could you elaborate on ways to insure a safe deposit box? Would you have a list of insurers offering such coverage, and an idea of how much coverage costs?

Thank you,
Marina