All investors want their retirement portfolios to perform well and make money for them, but in the back of their minds they understand that their portfolios can be subject to huge losses. That’s why many of the most successful investors over time are those who protect their portfolios from major losses, not necessarily those who make the biggest gains. One...
One of the most misunderstood factors when it comes to buying gold, silver and other precious metals, is whether to buy physical gold or paper gold. Physical gold is just what the name suggests: physical gold coins and bars that investors actually own themselves. Paper gold is the term given to investments such as gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). How Do Gold...
Alan Greenspan was notorious as a Federal Reserve Board Chairman for engaging in “Fedspeak,” a variation of English that sounded as though he was conveying vast amounts of information but in reality was a bunch of gobbledygook that meant absolutely nothing. As long as the economy was booming, which for much of Greenspan’s tenure it was, he got a...
More and more Americans today are taking advantage of the stability offered by precious metals to protect their hard-won investments. With stocks subject to the volatility inherent in the booms and busts of the business cycle, they can be a great way to make money during the boom phase and a great way to lose money during the bust...
Stocks have been on a roller coaster ride for the past year and a half, nearing but never quite pushing through key barriers. While the S&P 500 finally broke the 3,000-point mark, the Dow Jones hasn’t managed to break through the 27,000-point mark, falling short every time. For professional investors on Wall Street, the fact that the Dow was near...
For the seventh consecutive month, the Chinese government announced that it has added to its gold holdings. The latest published figures are those from May, in which the Chinese government officially added 10 tons of the yellow metal to its reserves. While most analysts speculate that China’s official gold reserves and gold purchases are very likely higher than what...
When dealing with Wall Street investors you often have to understand that what they push their clients into investing isn’t always what they themselves would recommend. Due to the commission structure that accompanies stock and bond sales, many financial firms push their salesmen to recommend stocks and bonds to clients in order to capitalize on sale and redemption fees....
Silver has long played second fiddle to gold. Winners win a gold medal; runners-up get silver. Gold jewelry doesn’t tarnish; silver does. And gold is worth over $1,400 per ounce while silver just pushed above $15 an ounce again. But despite gold’s clear lead over silver, silver is becoming increasingly popular with investors. And one of the more popular...
With gold’s recent gain in value, predictions made at the beginning of the year about its overall gains have been left in the dust. Many mainstream analysts thought $1,350 per ounce was a reasonable price target for the end of the year, obviously laboring under the erroneous assumption that stock markets would resume their bull run. Even many gold...
Gold and silver have been popular investments for centuries, safeguarding investor wealth through thick and thin. And one of the most popular ways to invest in gold and silver today is through gold and silver IRAs. If you’re not familiar with gold and silver IRAs, it’s probably because your financial adviser or retail brokerage doesn’t offer them. But a...