By Jeff Clark, BIG GOLD
It may not feel like it after a 12% correction in the past 30 days, but Mike Maloney – founder of GoldSilver.com – is convinced that we’re in a gold bull market that will be life changing for those who participate. I interviewed him for our current edition of BIG GOLD and am sharing some of what we talked about here. You may be shocked at what you read, because he’s devoted a larger allocation to gold and silver than we have. See why he’s convinced a bubble is ahead for precious metals, how high prices will go, and why he stores some gold overseas.
Jeff Clark: For those who don’t know you, why is Mike Maloney such a big believer in gold and silver?
Mike Maloney: Around 1999, my mother needed help with the estate my father had left her. My sister and I interviewed a dozen financial planners and picked the one that had the most glowing recommendations and gave him control of the assets. He lost about 50% of them in the next year and a half. What I’ve found is most financial planners get it wrong. They’re always chasing yesterday’s news. To be fair, there was a market crash, but with 50% of her assets gone by 2001, I ripped everything away from him, moved it to cash, and started studying the economy like crazy.
I discovered that the people concerned about budget deficits and trade imbalances at that time were in the precious metals sector, the hard money advocates. All the rest of the economists and newsletter writers didn’t really care. Concerns about international trade imbalances and how they were going to come back to bite us one day were coming from the hard money analysts. They also wrote about monetary history, something I just fell in love with. The fact that things just repeat over and over again is amazing.
I have hard data from 1918 to today, and anecdotal evidence before 1918, that shows that throughout history a society has a certain amount of real money – gold and silver. Then they either come out with debased coinage, or paper representations of gold and silver and expand the currency supply, which eventually cause prices to rise. People then realize there was something wrong with the currency and they rush back toward gold and silver to protect their purchasing power… and in doing so, they bid up the value of the gold and silver in the country until it matches the value of the circulating medium.
It appears to me this process has been going on since 407 BC, with the first great inflation in Athens. I have charts in my book, Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver, starting in the year 1918, showing the value of the gold held at the United States Treasury compared to the value of all of the base money or paper currency, and it was a 1:1 ratio.
Jeff: So history shows that the value of gold eventually equals the value of all paper money in circulation?
Mike: Yes. Back then, the US dollar was a claim check on real money – gold. Base money was the number of US Treasury gold notes in circulation. Before World War I, base money equaled the value of the gold held at the US Treasury. Then we established the Federal Reserve and did a bunch of deficit spending for WWI, expanding the currency supply, so now there wasn’t enough gold to cover all the dollars they printed. In 1934 the price of gold was changed to $35 per ounce and the values of base money and gold at the Treasury were once again in equilibrium.
Then we expanded the currency supply to pay for WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and in the ‘70s the price of gold rose until its value at the Treasury exceeded base money. But, for a short time in 1980, the value of gold at the Treasury not only exceeded the base money, it surpassed base money plus outstanding credit card balances. This is important because credit cards are replacing cash in circulation, so you must include it if you want to estimate a price target.
Jeff: So how high do gold and silver go?
Mike: When I finished the book, it required a $6,000 gold price to cover base money plus outstanding revolving credit. I’m not saying that that’s going to happen, but if history were to repeat, that would be the price.
However, since the book was written, Bernanke created a whole bunch of base money to bail out the banks, and now it takes a $15,000 to $20,000 gold price. One caveat is that $1.6 trillion of excess currency is sitting on banks’ balance sheets. It has yet to enter circulation, and if it never does, then this price target changes. My point is that prices are a moving target. Putting a dollar figure on them is an exercise in stupidity, I think, because the dollar is always changing. You can’t use it as a measuring stick.
My target for gold is that it should be equivalent to 1/40 of a single-family, medium-priced home, or two shares of the Dow. So gold will probably buy you about 12 times more stocks and 3 times more real estate in the future than it does now. So those are my prices.
And silver will leverage you to that. There is more gold on the exchanges and with the dealers that investors can buy than there is silver. Their current prices do not reflect this. Gold is way too cheap compared to dollars, and silver is too cheap compared to gold.
Jeff: Sounds like it’s not too late to buy gold and silver.
Mike: No. What investors need to be aware of is that we are on the last legs of our currency system. History shows that the world sees a brand-new monetary system every 30-40 years – and ours is 40 years old. Right now all currencies on the planet are backed by debt. All of the previous transitions were baby steps from something (gold) to nothing (debt). In order to give confidence back to the currencies, we’ll have to go from nothing (debt) to something (most likely gold again) in one big, huge, gigantic leap. This will cause an economic convulsion the likes of which the world has never seen.
The end of this precious metals bull market will be marked by panic buying. Gold and silver will be going into an astronomical bubble one day, probably the biggest bubble in financial history. That is why I think gold and silver are still fundamentally undervalued.
Jeff: Investors reading this might be a little skeptical that a bullion dealer is telling them to buy gold and silver. Do you mind sharing what percentage of your assets is held in gold and silver?
Mike: My personal portfolio is 100% in gold and silver. I have no other investments. I am completely committed to this because I absolutely believe it. I spent 2-1/2 years writing what is now a bestselling book on gold, and I opened a precious metals dealership. There isn’t anything I do, no action I take, that isn’t somehow connected to gold and silver.
Jeff: What separates GoldSilver.com from other bullion dealers?
Mike: Everybody at GoldSilver.com invests in gold and silver. They have all been invested in precious metals since I started the company in 2005. Everyone is absolutely committed and very knowledgeable. So we are all on the same side of the boat as Casey Research. If you become a gold and silver client, you’ll know we’re invested just like you are. We’re walking the walk and talking the talk.
We also have a team of researchers who are constantly analyzing where we are in this bull market. It’s in our best interest to try to find the top of this bull market and sell when the time is right. I believe we can multiply your winnings by letting you know what we’re doing when it comes time to sell. The way I’ve set up my company is that if you don’t win, I don’t win.
Another thing you should know is that I am not a gold or silver bug. I couldn’t care less about these metals. They are just in their cycle right now and will be the best performing asset for the coming years – period – just based on history.
There are these brief moments in history where the safe-haven asset also becomes the asset class with the single greatest potential gains in absolute purchasing power. We’re in one of these cycles right now; as the currency supply gets ramped up and people realize there is something wrong with it, they’ll rush back toward gold and silver and bid the price up until it matches the value of the currency supply.
Jeff: You’re increasing the number of storage facilities outside the US; why should a US citizen consider storing bullion outside the country?
Mike: Some investors are concerned about “confiscation,” which is technically incorrect. The US government never confiscated gold; they “nationalized” it. In 1933, they bought it from US citizens at full face so that the Treasury could hold it as an asset for the entire nation. That’s the very definition of nationalization.
Jeff: Are you saying you don’t think gold could be confiscated?
Mike: It’s possible, but I don’t believe it would happen in the United States. More than half of our currency resides outside the border. We’re the only country in that situation. If Obama passed an executive order today once again nationalizing gold, I believe that banks and brokerage houses around the world would suspect something was wrong with the dollar, and they would immediately dump their dollars and buy gold and silver. That would cause the dollar to fall to zero and send gold and silver to infinity in a matter of weeks. I would hope there is someone in the government smart enough to know this. If so, then it makes nationalization very unlikely.
Jeff: Good point.
Mike: But I do believe that it is good to have some geographical diversity. I think we’re going to see governments trying to limit our financial freedom even more than we’ve seen since 9/11. They’ll do this by instituting such draconian capital controls that today’s IRS will seem magnanimous by comparison. I want to be able to travel freely and have access to my funds no matter what happens. Therefore, I keep some of my gold in offshore storage accounts in several countries.
Jeff: But why go to the hassle and bother with the reporting requirements?
Mike: Because if you’ve got ownership outside the country, you may be able to retain it, even in a nationalization. The point is, we don’t know the future. All we can do is look at what’s happening, try to figure out what governments are going to do, and then protect ourselves with a little bit of diversity. And of all the assets you could own offshore, I believe none are safer than physical gold or silver.
Jeff: Do you think foreign storage puts a target on my back with government officials?
Mike: Well, they want to make sure you’re declaring any capital gain. And I do think that precious metals investors will see some sort of windfall profit tax when the government tries to punish those nasty gold speculators that caused the dollar to crash. They will always point the finger anywhere but where it belongs – which is squarely at the government and the Federal Reserve. People are just trying to protect themselves from government stupidity and the Fed by buying gold and silver.
I think the reason they require the reporting is to make it difficult for people to cheat on their taxes. I don’t think it’s going to make you any more of a target than anybody else if you report everything. If you play within the rules, you’re not a target. I myself walk the straight and narrow. I make sure I comply with everything the IRS and the Treasury require.
Jeff: What about the small investor? Do you have any advice for the person who has limited funds?
Mike: Yes. It only takes $40 to become a silver investor. Regardless of what your income level is, you’re going to come out much better in the end. And once you take the leap and become an investor, your mindset changes and you find yourself starting to plan. A lot of people are not really planning on the future that much – but once you buy an ounce of silver and become educated, you give yourself a tremendous advantage over the rest of the population.
So just buy small quantities of silver. It has such leverage to it. And silver will probably go into some sort of super-spike that you will want to catch, which means you probably need some sort of guidance. That’s where subscribing to newsletters such as yours is very, very important for anybody who’s going to get into this.
Jeff: Thanks for your time, Mike.
Mike: You’re very welcome.
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This video features David Morgan’s thoughts on how physical gold and silver are the only asset class that exist outside the matrix of our financial system.
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Rich Dad’s Advisors: Guide to Investing In Gold and Silver: Protect Your Financial Future
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By Louis Lim, Business Correspondent
In view of the current economic difficulties facing many, people ought to be more ware of what’s happening in the world and how what’s happening can adversely affect their financial securities and lives; if it has not done so already!
It is not a well known secret that one can avoid being a financial casualty by simply acquiring a set of skills different from what we are usually programmed from young to have. The latter has to do with being enslaved to a job or business controlled by others; the other being about having skills to generate an income independent of any circumstance or other people.
Anyone depending solely on a job for a living would be almost completely lost if he loses his job. The unfortunate fact is that since the Multi-Nationals Companies began institutionalizing the treatment of employees as just another business resource, albeit commodity, the age of life-long employment seizes.
Financial results associated with satisfying shareholders’ expectations became the main reason for a business enterprise. Coupled with the practice of achieving short term objectives and the need to maintain share prices, retrenching workers became a normal business practice. Words like ‘downsizing’ and ‘business rationalizing’ became common business parlance.
This dehumanizing of business enterprises, prevalent throughout 18th and 19th century industrializing Britain was revived and practice by American businesses. The new reality in a capitalist environment anywhere means a worker is subject to his job being taken away any day. More importantly, this means also that the individual worker must realize quickly the insecurity of a job.
What then is a worker to do to secure himself? Off course there are skills like being a doctor or dentist and others which are not down sizable. However, most workers are dispensable!
Men are, however, born with an innate creativity which can be described as entrepreneurial but this has historically been replaced by skills which are intended for us to work for someone else. The result is that only the top five per cent or so of employees can acquire financially independence (with high salaries) while the rest remained dependent and vulnerable all their lives.
To acquire these forgotten skills would require a change in mindset from one of being a worker (a worker’s mindset) to that of being a boss (an entrepreneurial mindset). The latter entails having a ‘Possibilities Mindset” which would enable one to know how to garner resources and knowledge and, to apply them to secure one’s own financial objectives.
Henry Ford, the car genius, once said that ‘money is not a man’s security; he is his own security’. What he meant was that a man’s security lies in his knowledge and skills. However, if your skill and knowledge is tied to working for someone then those skills and knowledge can be replaced any time.
However, Henry Ford is not wrong; if a man’s skills and knowledge is in the area of creating a money making enterprise. Robert Kiyosaki, a very successful entrepreneur, said that ‘every man must mind his own business’. He didn’t express it too well but what he meant is that ‘to have financial security a person must learn to develop his own money making business’. Is this possible? Every man? In my opinion, in today’ new reality, any worker who wants financial security has no other option!
Off course, whenever an uninitiated thinks of starting a business he thinks of big capital, connections, special knowledge and skills. For a man who has little money and has just lost his job, it’s even more unrealistic to think of starting his own business. However, many have done it, albeit, at great odds.
But what if you are not retrenched yet? And you have some time to learn. Could you invest in a money-making skill that can provide an alternative income? Could you learn to be an entrepreneur with little resources and connections?
The answer is yes but you have to adopt an entrepreneur mind-set; which really means that you to start believing in possibilities! Remember that when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their little enterprises in garages all they had mainly were their belief in possibilities. The amazing fact is that because of them the possibilities have increased exponentially with the advent of the internet.
Besides a strong belief in possibilities, an entrepreneur is one who learns to gather resources, knowledge and skills and organize them into money making processes. In most conventional businesses, this is usually a huge ask for any newcomer. Fortunately,, there are now other avenues where starting a business is made more possible for any one with little money and is prepared to spend time learning.
For example, the internet has made it easier to start your own business. The main thing you would need is a good PC, some affordable money, a willingness to learn and a lot of belief in yourself. What is to be learned is seldom difficult; a man’s limitation to success is often his own lack of self-belief!
If your motivation is create a secure financial situation for you and your loved ones, you need to be an entrepreneur. The days of secure employment is long over and moreover, personal wealth is seldom acquired by working for others.
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Entrepreneurship – A Panacea For Job Insecurity?
by Dayana Yochim
Procrastinators, rejoice! I’m not going to bombard you with an all-inclusive list of year-end financial housekeeping chores. Instead, I’m going to present the absolute must-dos — the four top-priority tax-related tasks that even world-class foot-draggers can’t put off. Legally, at least.
Once you get rolling, you may be motivated to seek extra credit — and a little more breathing room before next April. If you’re so inclined, I’ve also included some other tax-related chores that will eventually need your attention. No pressure. Just sayin’.
1. Slash next year’s out-of-pocket health-care/dependent-care expenses
During open-benefits enrollment, you not only have the opportunity to tweak your health-care coverage but also to secure savings of 25% or more on all of those out-of-pocket medical and dependent-care expenses.
This cost-cutting technique is possible with flexible spending accounts. FSAs come in two flavors — medical and dependent-care. In a nutshell, you fund FSAs with pre-tax dollars taken out of every paycheck. When you incur expenses not covered by your health-insurance plan, or if you write a check for dependent care, then you submit a receipt and get paid back with the money you set aside. See your plan pamphlet for eligible expenses.
Your must-do: Sign up. Not enrolled in your employer’s FSA program? Dude! Do it now. If you contributed $1,200 (about the national average) to a medical or dependent-care FSA and are in the 25% tax bracket, you’ll save about $420 annually, including federal and Social Security taxes paid, or $35 a month. To nail the contribution amount, use the worksheet from your plan or fiddle with the Health Expense Calculator at planforyourhealth.com.
Blow-off-able (for now): Using up last year’s FSA dollars. If you already have an FSA but haven’t used up all your dollars, don’t rush off to buy extra pairs of bifocals just yet. Many plans have extended the allowable time frame to incur expenses by two and a half months, so you may not have to scramble to spend the cash you’ve already set aside. (Check with your HR folks to be sure.) And for help managing all those receipts, ask your vendor for a hand. If you buy your prescriptions at one place, ask for an annual rundown of what you’ve spent. Many drugstores can easily provide that information for you.
2. Minimize next April’s tax tab
Time and money are short around the holidays. But saving strategically to minimize your April tax hit is the best gift you can give yourself. Right now, see whether you’re on schedule to max out your employer-sponsored retirement plan. Contribution limits this year are $16,500; if you’re 50 or older, you may be eligible to contribute $22,000.
Your must-do: Bump up your retirement-plan contributions. Since the remaining numbers of pay periods before the deadline is dwindling, opportunities for maxing out your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored plan are limited. Find out whether your plan lets you defer a heftier chunk of your final 2009 paychecks — some allow up to 100% of your compensation. It may be painful to pass up the pay, but giving up the compounding tax-deferred income is worse. What’s more, socking away money in a traditional retirement plan reduces your taxable income. If you’re in the 25% tax bracket, you’ll shave $250 off your federal tax bill for every $1,000 you contribute to your 401(k).
Blow-off-able (for now): Fully funding your IRA. If money’s tight, allocate any extra dollars to your company’s retirement plan instead of to your IRA. You have until April 15, 2010, to fully fund your IRA; but, again, the deadline for work-retirement plan contributions is Dec. 31, 2009.
3. Prioritize your final paychecks
Once you have the year’s final pay stub in hand, don’t just gawk at the size of Uncle Sam’s take. Strategize a few last-minute tax-time maneuvers.
Your must-do: Put off collecting income, if you can. It’s hard to postpone pay, particularly during the spendy holiday stretch. But deferring some compensation — such as a bonus, or, if you’re retired, a retirement-account withdrawal — for one more month may be a better long-term financial move. Also note how your remaining paydays might affect your eligibility to make deductible IRA contributions, both this year and next.
Blow-off-able (for now): Withholding. More than 70% of Americans overpay their taxes every year. Sure, a refund is nice, but it’s even nicer to earn interest on your money instead of giving the government a free loan. Check your withholdings with the Form W-4 Assistant at paycheckcity.com. You can change your withholdings at any time of the year, so no deadline is looming. Still, you may be inspired to put this item on your “must do” list when you realize you’re letting Uncle Sam borrow money that you’d just get back anyway.
4. Pretty up your portfolio
Yeah, it’s been a lousy year on Wall Street, but the IRS kindly offers a little salve for those who have taken a hit. You can reduce the capital gains taxes you owe on any investments held and sold for a profit in regular, taxable accounts by offsetting the tab with capital losses from stocks that have declined in value. So if you’ve seen big losses, getting a tax break is at least a little bit of good news.
Your must-do: Sell your losers. Get rid of floundering investments and either put the money in another (but not identical) investment or wait 31 days and buy the investment back (to avoid breaking the IRS’s “wash sale” rules).Tax-loss selling must be completed by Dec. 31. But don’t do it willy-nilly: If you bought a stock at multiple cost bases, sell the most expensive shares first. If you don’t have capital gains in your taxable accounts to offset the losses but you still have investments worth less than what you paid for them, you can use capital losses to reduce your ordinary income by up to $3,000 a year. If you’re in the 25% tax bracket, doing so will reduce your taxes by $750.
Blow-off-able (for now): Dumping every loser from your portfolio. Got more stinker stocks than you can shake a stick at? The IRS allows you to carry over your losses for use in future years. You also may want to live with your losers a while longer, since getting caught up in a logjam of investors who are also selling off their shares may drive prices down even more.
Here is the original:
Don’t Blow Off These Four Year-End Money ‘Must-Dos’
Many people don’t realize that they have a fear of success. For the longest, I thought to myself:
“Why would I fear success when success is my most desirable goal? What kind of crazy person has a fear of success?”
There are plenty of people who have a fear of success. I didn’t realize that I had issues with this until I noticed that there were certain things that I wouldn’t do and I couldn’t figure out why. What was/is holding me back? Sometimes people fear success because they don’t know if they can live up to their achievements. Self-sabotaging behavior will usually occur when we have this problem. It can be defined as procrastination, a lack of motivation, etc.
How do you know you have a fear of success or self-sabotage issues?
Sometimes we will look at someone as being lazy when they have a problem with a fear of success. They will talk about the many things that they want to do with their life. They may have planned everything out and started on their journey, but instead of doing something about it they waste time surfing the net, watching TV or whatever else they can find to waste time. Being “all talk-no action” is a major problem that must be resolved.
Not trying and focusing on the negative is self-sabotaging behavior. This also leads to a fear of failure which is a major topic for another article.
Procrastinating and wasting time on activities that don’t help you achieve your goals is also a sign of self-sabotage. It’s very easy to stay busy with “life”, but if you don’t recognize this issue, “life” will pass you by.
All means of self-sabotage provides an excuse for you if you don’t live up to your own expectations. Instead of facing the fear that we may not be good enough, smart enough, etc.we can blame it on something minor like a lack of time. In order to correct an issue, we need to recognize that the issue exists.
How do we overcome a fear of success?
- Figure out why you have a fear of success – Take a look at your past experiences and how they affected your outlook on life or confidence in your own ability to succeed.
- Failure is your friend – Don’t be afraid to try something new. If you fail, learn from the experience and don’t repeat the same mistakes. How many times did we fall down as a toddler before we were able to walk?
- Self-competition – Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t achieved the “success” of your peers. Many times what we see is not reality. You may be better off than the person looking like they have it all, but are so deep in debt it’s crazy. Make an effort to push yourself to the next level. If you are a competitive person by nature it’s crucial not to beat yourself up over defeat. Use the “defeat” to push yourself harder.
- Think Positive – This is a reoccurring theme here. Positive thought will outweigh all negative circumstances you may experience.
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Fear of Success
