March 18, 2008

Who do you Listen to for Strategic Investment Advice?

Filed under: Debate, Economics — Tim @ 11:46 pm

gold-bling.JPGPeter Lynch aptly suggested that the easiest and perhaps most profitable way to jump into the stock market was to “invest in what you know.”

I follow the tech industry, it’s what I know.

However, unfortunately during this period of deleveraging, major portions of the industry will be hard hit with lower demand. And as TechCrunch recently noted, start-ups and venture capital firms are being hit hard with liquidity issues: 20% of Valley Startups Can’t Get to their Cash.

And because the Fed continues to lower rates, in the long run the dollar may lose value relative to other currencies (depending on the monetary policy of other countries). Thus, anyone holding dollar-denominated assets could end up as net losers each and every day. In fact, over the past 6 weeks, the dollar has reached a new low against the Euro, the Pound and even Gold. Though decoupling could change this.

With that said, there are still profitable diversification strategies that can put you in the black over the next few years.

The following is a list of financial experts I recommend if for no other reason than the fact that they understand how monetary and fiscal policies can negatively effect the value of your assets:

Jim Rogers – he’s spent years traveling the world (see “Adventure Capitalist“), doesn’t trust the Fed devaluing the dollar and is thus bullish on commodities, oil and precious metals. See his recent interview on CNBC and the other books he has written.

Doug Casey – like Rogers he has lived and worked in dozens of countries, looking for profitable ventures to take part in. For further reading visit his archives at EscapeArtist and LewRockwell.com.

Peter Schiff – see my interview with him here. He accurately predicted the housing bubble, credit crunch, decline of the dollar, rise of gold/oil and a slew of other financial metrics. Namely because he fully understands how the Fed distorts financial markets through open-market operations (e.g., change in the interest rates). In addition, Schiff’s own investment firm also looks for global, non-dollarized ventures to invest in. You can read some of his opeds at Safe Haven.

DealBreaker – is an extremely popular financial blog that was founded and run by John Carney who happens to be a fan of free-market everything and is also critical of Fed manipulation and bank bailouts. His brother, Tim, recently wrote an interesting book on these topic as well. Also, you’ll like DB if for no other reason than it helps keep you up to speed with the lingo used in that industry.

Paul Kedrosky – in the past he has worked as a venture capitalist and financial analyst. He operates a popular blog and always has some interesting insights (I’ve either quoted him or used his info in a number of my own articles: 1 2 3). While he may not be a libertarian or free-market purist like most of the others listed above, he is contrarian in his own way (and travels too).

If you’re interested in seeing what dollar doomsayers are investing in, here is a recent thread discussing individual portfolios.

And lastly, here is a very interesting debate between Peter Schiff and Art Laffer (namesake of the Laffer Curve). It should be noted that the debate is 18 months old. Laffer certainly looks like an idiot now:

2 Comments »

  1. [...] (via Tim Swanson) [...]

    Pingback by Ron Paul Blog - Flashback: Schiff vs. Laffer — April 14, 2008 @ 11:24 pm

  2. [...] how about it? Stop eating junk food, invest your cash strategically, and learn how to program. After all, in the worst gray goo AI scenario, someone that knows how to [...]

    Pingback by The rapture is coming, look busy » Doctor Recommended — June 4, 2008 @ 2:07 am

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