Black Monday Anniversary
A poster on the Diehards forum remarks that today is the 80th Anniversary of Black Monday 1929 – The Great Stock Crash that touched off the Great Depression. In this very interesting video you can hear first hand accounts of the events that led up to the crash:
This entry was posted by craigr on October 26, 2009 at 12:41 pm, and is filled under Investing. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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Why I own stocks…
about 1 month ago - No comments
After 2008 many people swore off stocks. “Too Risky!” they say and then tell you about their hot new investment in a multi-level marketing scheme or their Uncle’s new franchise opportunity. Isn’t it funny how whatever assets you don’t own you always think are “too risky” when someone else owns them?
Why these assets?
about 1 month ago - 4 comments
I’m often asked questions about substituting some asset X for one of the other assets in the Permanent Portfolio. I think this is a bad idea because you could introduce a potentially weaker investment for one of the time-tested assets the portfolio holds.
Now, as a recap we know that the Permanent Portfolio holds four core assets:
1) More >
Book Review – Books on Risk (and two podcasts)
about 1 month ago - 2 comments
A particular theme you’ll hear on this blog about investing is the idea that the markets are not predictable. You may believe that I’m referring to the idea that you can’t predict returns on investments ahead of time. That’s partially true. The other part though relates to extreme risks that sweep through the markets in unpredictable ways with unpredictable results.
Aside from standard market risks, when you look at your investments it’s also important to always ask yourself: “What if I’m wrong?” Because, odds are, you will be wrong eventually. It’s just a question of degrees on how wrong it will be: A little or a lot.
Which Asset Will Do Best?
about 2 months ago - 6 comments
I get asked from time to time about what asset class in the Permanent Portfolio is going to do best. Usually this is in the context of someone wanting to start investing in the Permanent Portfolio but they don’t want to buy the stocks or the bonds or the cash or the gold because they feel one or all of them are too expensive. Or they’ve read some articles and research about how one asset or another is just poised to fall at any moment and another is going to go up wildly in price. Well, my advice is always the same: Just do the four way split and don’t try to guess the markets.
Stock and Bond Only Portfolios: A Flawed Approach
about 2 months ago - 5 comments
To me, the idea of a portfolio that only holds stocks and bonds is flawed. It has too much risk of loss and too much risk of hitting a pocket of dead air where it effectively doesn’t grow for many years. If I see something is a flawed design I want to fix or get rid of it. I don’t keep using a flawed design hoping that it doesn’t break again when experience has shown, clearly, that it will with the same bad results.
Direct Bond Ownership vs. Bond Funds
about 3 months ago - 4 comments
A reader asked about why it’s recommended investors own their Long Term Treasury Bonds directly for the Permanent Portfolio allocation vs. using a mutual fund.
In two words: Manager Risk
Too much gold hype…
about 4 months ago - 2 comments
People are wondering about the gold price. Is it going to go higher? Is it going to go lower? Etc. Well the unexciting answer is nobody knows. That’s right, nobody at all knows. I don’t care how pretty their charts are or what logical arguments they have for or against. What I do know is that too many people are talking about the stuff.
Porn and the Permanent Portfolio
about 4 months ago - 4 comments
You can learn things from the most unlikely sources in life. When people ask me what it was that got me to start following the Permanent Portfolio I respond with one word: Porn.
A New Swiss Gold ETF
about 5 months ago - 1 comment
A reader sent me some information on a new gold ETF trading under the symbol SGOL. This ETF is a gold bullion ETF similar to the Street Tracks and iShares gold ETFS (Ticker: GLD and Ticker: IAU). What makes this ETF different is SGOL’s gold is stored in Swiss bank vaults and not US financial centers.
The Fugger Portfolio
about 5 months ago - 15 comments
An interview with Rob Arnott describes the portfolio of Jacob Fugger (“Fugger the Rich”) who lived from 1459-1525. The portfolio that made him so rich sounded very familiar and I wanted to share this part of the interview with Mr. Arnott:
Rob Arnott: Where do we go from here?
Audience Question: It seems you’re simply promoting More >