The massive corporate debt bubble that exists in the United States today is perhaps one of the most under-reported pieces of financial news there is. Even when you do hear about it, it’s as though trillions of dollars of corporate debt is something ho-hum, so ordinary that it doesn’t deserve a second look. But the size of corporate debt...
Most central banks will publicly denounce gold role in monetary affairs, claiming that it is an outdated relic of a bygone era. While central banks gave up on maintaining a constant gold price by the early 1970s, they still attempted to control gold’s price through coordinated sales through the late 20th and early 21st centuries. But every now and...
With the demise of pension plans, 401(k) plans have become the most popular employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States. Employees in the United States have trillions of dollars saved up in 401(k) plans, helping them to get financially prepared for retirement. The major benefit of 401(k) investment plans is their tax-advantaged status. Employees can contribute to their 401(k) plan...
We’ve already gone over why investing in a gold ETF isn’t a great idea. But if you want to invest in gold and realize that an ETF has drawbacks, how do you invest in gold? Investing in gold through a gold IRA is the clear choice, as it offers numerous advantages over ETFs. 1. Tax Advantages The first advantage gold IRAs...
Over a decade removed from the financial crisis, you would think that banks and financial institutions had learned their lesson from the crisis. With the banking system supposedly on the verge of collapse in 2008, only an enormous government bailout and massive injections of liquidity from the Federal Reserve System staved off a complete collapse. But have banks learned...
There’s no better way to accumulate wealth than by saving and investing. Merely socking money away into a bank account won’t grow your wealth. That money that you save needs to be put to work for you gaining returns. But many diligent savers don’t know where to invest their money. While stocks and bonds have been traditional investment vehicles in...
If you feel like your cost of living is increasing but your salary isn’t keeping pace, you’re not alone. The median American household’s inflation-adjusted income hasn’t budged in 20 years. But life is getting more expensive, with food, education, and healthcare costs continuing to rise above the rate of inflation. And with Americans terrified of losing their money in...
One of the most confusing and frightening aspects of the current debt bubble is the fact that there is so much negative interest rate debt in the world today. From $12 trillion of negative debt earlier this summer, it peaked at over $17 trillion in late August. That means that investors around the world invested $17 trillion of their...
While investing in gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may not be the best choice for most investors, there’s no doubt that they remain popular with many mainstream investors. And because data on private gold investment remains difficult to come by, investment in gold ETFs can be a useful proxy for overall private demand in the gold market. By that measure,...
If you thought that quantitative easing was a thing of the past, a response to the financial crisis that was dead and buried, think again. Not only is it not a relic, it is a policy response that has now become the Fed’s number one policy tool. Every time something potentially negative affects the economy, the Fed will now...