Alternative Investments

Gold- Rosland Capital

Watertree — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:52:53 GMT

I just got to ask! What is the story and your opinions on buying gold from Rosland Capital ? I am thinking of buying gold given possible high inflation and the declining dollar.

I currently ownsome GLD gold ETF.

What is the advantage of owning gold versus a gold ETF?

Opinions and insights please

Thanks

Watertree

The good and bad about Forex Trading.

Hank — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:01:31 GMT

Hi Folks,

I am not very versed on Forex trading. Would this be a good time to trade some of our liquid assets into Euros?

I wonder if anybody can tell me about Forex....good and bad. Is it better to buy Euro's from banks or Forex? If our US dollar goes south , would buying Euros be a good buffer?

Thanks,

Hank

I invested in Vanguard Precious Metals earlier this year

judyken — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:29:05 GMT

and now sit with a substantial paper profit. I can sell and pay the penalty for holding less than a year and still walk away with$40,000 in profit. Is now a good time to bail or do you think we are just getting started on this run? ken

Goldman goes gaga on gold

chipmunk — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:57:40 GMT

On Tuesday Goldman Sachs (GS ) came out swinging on gold, saying the price of the precious metal could rise to $1,150 to $1,200 an ounce.

And what’s the reason for Goldman’s bullish gold call? The premier investment bank said declining real interest rates and renewed buying interest by the world’s central banks. Goldman cited the recent sale of 200 metric tons of gold to India by the International Monetary Fund as a sign of an ongoing shift by central banks and governments around the globe from being net sellers of gold to net buyers of gold.

- Goldman didn't go far enough on gold, by Jim Woods, MSN Money

So...is gold headed higher, or is this just a sucker's rally? Is it time to cash in, or keep piling in?

Dan

What's best Plays for SILVER?

Limoman — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:23:27 GMT

Just wondering.

What's the Best plays for Silver?

MFunds

ETF's

CBOE

Stock?

Options

Dollar, oil and gold

yogibearbull — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:28:00 GMT

An interesting bar chart of performances since election day in 2008:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/171224-asset-class-performance-since-the-2008-election?source=yahoo

Dollar is down 10%, oil up 12.9% and gold up 43.5%.

So the move that gold has had cannot be explained by falling dollar alone. Purchase(s) of IMF gold by central bank(s) shows is good too--otherwise, it would have to dumped on open market as Bank of England did few years ago at generational bottom.

commodities

jrhino — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:18:14 GMT

im looking for long term historical commodity returns (greater than ten years). ive found a few indexes with about 10 years of history, but thats about it. the index must include all commodity classes (precious metals, oil, agriculture, livestock, etc.). anyone know of any sites or indexes with long term historical returns to reference?

MLPs ETP or OKS

Robertwa — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:38:41 GMT

I am considering my first investment into Mlps and two mlps are curenltly on my radar , and I was wondering if any one has experience with either ETP or OKS

Thank you Robert

Bank Of India Buys 200 Tons of IMF Gold!

Fairwind — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:07:09 GMT

The Talking TV Heads are pretty much ignoring this, but this event is a big, big, story. All kinds of stuff going on back-stage. For one thing, every ounce of Gold held by the IMF belongs to the United States Treasury..We stole it all from Japan and Europe after WW-2..The spoils of war so to speak..Until recently, the IMF was forbidden to sell any Gold..It took an act of Congress to release it. That event must have happened very quietly..How long before China buys the remaining 200 tons being offered?

All the "experts" thought this sale would cause a big Gold sell-off..Suprise,they were wrong. Gold jumped $25 to a new record price of $1080/ounce..

While the 200 tons of Gold were being loaded up, the Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS) became the biggest bank bailout in history...

Hang on, it's going to be a wild ride...

Managed Futures and Commodity Trading Advisor

Futures99 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:43:46 GMT

I'm trying to learn more from a reputuable person or webiste regarding Managed Futures and Commodity Trading Advisor.

Does anyone have suggestions on a webiste or person I can reach out to learn more?

"Marijuana" Social Scourge OR Economic Salvation?

EGAL01 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:31:47 GMT

Every day a friend of mine climbs a set of stairs in the back of his apartment building, no matter what kind of day he's had. He sits on a log or a rock. He's done this so often the animals seem to know him and scurry about with comfort. he sits there my friend and takes in nature, just him and the trees and the animals.

It's a beautiful site to behold, him sitting there so peaceful. He's like that my friend - one of the most gentle kind considerate intelligent people Ive ever had the chance to meet, and I'm sure any of you would feel the same. But due to miss conceptions and well placed hysteria, what my friend does next has caused him and others like him to be practically ostracized by main stream society. You see, my friend reached into his pocket and pulled out what the kids today call a blunt.

He sits there and smokes, in fact he has been smoking for several years and Ive known him ever since he started. He never exhibited any of the so called adverse affects of Marijuana, Never stole lied or cheated for it, and when he didn't have it there was no overwhelming urge or fits of anxiety. And present evidence would suggest that a person could smoke it and still run the free world

He's always been very straight forward and respectful, and as he sat their in this peaceful state it suddenly dawned on me that right now this kind intelligent individual could be arrested for finding even for a brief moment, a state of peace we all search for but some of us never find.

Its time to end the senseless unconstitutional persecution of individuals and business that deal in this harmless plant. I'm not saying go willy nilly and let every one and their teenage son and daughter have plants in their front lawn, but I do advocate ATF guided policies that would allow these people to come out into the light of day and enjoy their place in the sun; with those of you that feel the need to take a drink after work or a law sanctioned cigarette break.

Why should a person that smokes a harmless plant be denied employment verses a person that smokes arsenic, Tar, and rat poison. But this is the case and it's as I stated before, unconstitutional. California and other states are leading the way because they understand that the evidence supporting non legalization was false while the reasons supporting legalization were sound and humane.

If you have read any of my other blogs you should know that my style is direct and to the point. I try to relay the facts as my research dictates. I ask you to do the study. You will find that the present laws are based on old ignorant ideas, and we are cheating ourselves out of an economic stimulus that is being funneled to other countries; due to our unconstitutional and out dated laws. Most people base their opinion on an old film called "Refer Madness". Absolute madness is what it is. When I finally saw the film and researched the history of Marijuana's legal journey, I realized I've been on the wrong side of this argument. If my friend is any indication as to the type of people that did smoke it I felt very ashamed for my ignorance and prejudice.

This is a difficult issue to discuss. I even had some miss givings about writing about it. But as I always say, If we are to achieve the economic stability the future calls for, we must be bold in our search for new ideas and innovative economic endeavors. WE cannot be afraid to see truth for truth and propaganda for propaganda. I only ask that you do an impartial unemotional study and you decide. Marijuana, Social scourge or economic savior

Investment in China

shovel — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:26:35 GMT

Bessemer Trust had interesting observations in their recent report:

* 1/3 of 600,000 Chinese villages do not have paved roads to their nearest marketing centers;

* rail density in China is 40% of the United States;

* there are 1 commercial airplane per 1 million people in China compared to 22 airplanes per 1 million people in the United States;

* power generated per capita in China is 1/6 of the United States;

* 2% of Chinese have life insurance; and

* 3% of Chinese receive dental care.

finding an investment firm

dannyboy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:16:04 GMT

Maybe someone has good advise. i want to start investing a bi t each month for long term. How do i go about finding and chooses a successful investment firm, a household name? responsible and honest people.

investing in senior life settlements

summer11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:16:20 GMT

Anyone out there have thoughts of investing in fractional shares of other peoples life ins policies? These life settlements state they are not tied to markets and are a good alternative. investment money is not liquid, but returns are superior.

Farmland & Crops

bobmayo56 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:57:08 GMT

Anybody have ideas as to how to invest in farmland?

I'm aware of Black Earth Farming (BLERF), which owns farmland in Russia. Since I'm not confident in the stability of Russia's property ownership system I plan to buy only a minuscule amount.

I can not find any other companies where the major holding is cropland. There are companies with specialty plantations like tea, macademia nuts, pineapple, palm oil, etc, but I'm looking for basic farmland (think corn, wheat, soybeans, and rice). I've also found companies that hold timberland; I consider this a separate asset class. There are also institutional cropland funds where the investment minimums way to large for me.

Another alternative would be direct investment – buying a parcel of land in the midwestern USA. It looks like there are farmland managers that handle everything: finding tenants to cash-lease the farm, monitor activity, monitor preservation of the soil, etc. Has anybody tried this route? I bet owning a rental farm would be similar to owning a rental condo – with the right property manager it would be a breeze, but with the wrong manager being a non-local investor would be a headache. I wonder if there are tenants-in-common deals for those that can't afford a whole parcel?

There are also a few smaller private farmland partnerships floating around; anybody tried those? It would be a lot of work to investigate one thoroughly enough to be comfortable investing.

--Bob

Is it really necessary? I'll tell you why it's not.

DaveD82 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:41:01 GMT

You certainly hear a lot about hedging strategies these days. It comes at no surprise in my opinion, because with all of the degrading of buy-and-hold, diversification, and the importance of maintaining an appropriate asset allocation for your personal risk/return investing profile, something has to fill the void. But before you pull the proverbial trigger and start selling out of your current investments or investing the cash that you've presumably amassed in a similar (ineffective) strategy, please let me shed some light on the purpose of hedging and why we're all able to achieve it without having to jump into this mystical land of hedge funds.

What really defines the purpose of a hedge fund strategy? Simply put, to obtain a low correlation to traditional (equity/fixed income) investments so as to protect your portfolio from moving in the same up and down direction. I'll repeat my question. Is obtaining exposure to a hedging strategy really necessary?

I decided to test the correlation of three mutual funds. Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTSMX), Vanguard Total Bond Market (VBMFX), and the Merger Fund (MERFX). Albeit, it's a simplified portfolio, the fact is that VTSMX and VBMFX are about as all inclusive in their respective equity and fixed income markets as you can get, while the Merger Fund was chosen to represent a long-standing hedging strategy associated with Merger Arbitrage. Granted, many hedging strategies exist, so feel free to test these investments using a similar analysis, but I'll bet it's pretty close to what I found out.

Using historical price data from yahoo finance, testing only weekly price movements between 06/24/96 and 10/26/2009, I used excel to calculate the correlation statistics. Here are the results (1= perfectly correlated, 0= no correlation, -1= perfectly uncorrelated):

VTSMX/VBMFX: -0.0048, VTSMX/MERFX: 0.4462, MERFX/VBMFX: 0.0263

As you can see, the best combination of assets to choose for minimizing correlation is between Vanguard Total Stock Market and Vanguard Total Bond Market. Granted, each of their respective correlations to MERFX is low, but simply not as powerful. Granted, it does support a low correlation to both investments, but is it really necessary? I'll leave that for you to decide, but here is the most important takeaway. These correlation statistics are only one piece of the overall puzzle. Determining an appropriate asset allocation of cash equivalents, equity, and fixed income is the driving force. Unless you're a Certified Financial Planner or Chartered Financial Analyst, I would highly recommend talking to one in order to make these decisions.

Thank you and best of luck!

Owning a Racehorse

Riprock — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:46:18 GMT

Hi,

Anybody ever own a racehorse or part of one? Trotters? As always thanks

Riprock

Indexed Linked CDs as alternated to a regular CD

redwing — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:17:33 GMT

I’m looking for an investment in my portfolio to replace some CDs that have matured. Problem with CDs is the interest rates are low and the same with bonds. IMO there is more room for interest rates to go up than down which would make a CD or bond purchase a poor invest investment at this time.

I have been looking at Indexed Linked CDs, sold by banks as an alternative. The principle is guaranteed like a regular CD by the FDIC but the “potential” interest rate is not fixed but is tied to an index like the DJIA or DJ Commodity index or a basket of 10 large cap stocks. The CDs offerings are differentiated by caps they impose and whether the gains are point to point or ratcheted etc etc.

These CD are very similar in many ways in structure to variable or indexed annuities but IMO much easier to understand and have less risk i.e. the principle is guaranteed by the FDIC and the calculation of the interest gains is very transparent compared to an annuity.

Anybody looked at these as an alternative to regular CDs or annuities?

Has anyone ever delt with Forex Gold Exchange?

LeeACIC — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:49:09 GMT

www.fxgoldex.com

I have spoken with one of their brokers and am considering utilizing my sphere of influence in real estate to facilitate some managed currency trades through a reseller agreement.

I have yet to recieve thier prospectus however, the broker stated that they are quite transparent. There are no management fees and that it is a performance based structure with bonuses for breaching the high water mark.

Thank you in advace for your responses.

Rare Earth Metals

farmera2 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:45:32 GMT

Since over 90% of the rare earth metals are produced in CHINA, and they are necessary for many miltary uses, wind turbines, cell phones, computers, Prius cars etc, it sounds like an opportunity to me. Trouble is there is no way to invest in them right now. But yet again China is holding the cards.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&ref=business&adxnnlx=1251796139-gqFszN92Ia3s/lu/Saik+A

http://www.hardassetsinvestor.com/base-metals/rare-earth-metals.html

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/08/31/china-may-hoard-rare-earth-metals-vital-to-some-clean-tech/

Anyone got any ideas on how to invest in these things.

Futures

runner45 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:41:24 GMT

My broker has about 8% of our portfolio in managed futures. They really havent done much in the last few years. They are worth about what we put into to them 6 years ago. What is the benefit of this as opposed to just putting them into a fund?

Bloomberg economic calender

libra123 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:33:09 GMT

I want to know if there is a way to get the economic calender information to email. I try to look at cnbc, bloomberg and fidelity but couldn't find a way to subscribe the info. to email. It would be more easy for me to view my emails rather than looking at the economic calender at bloomberg web site. If you know the way please share. Thanks in advance.

hedge funds today

pjhunter — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:56:49 GMT

I looked at the tables here at Morningstar and was quite impressed by some HF that managed to post very nice gains BOTH in down and up market.

How? I don't know. Luck? Smart systems + humans?

Anyhow, all of these require an initial investment that is way over my means. Is there anyway of playing into such funds moderately (let's say investing $20,000, vs.the usualrequirement of >$250K)? Ant share-way of investing through a brokerage house like Fidelity?

Many thanks.

REIT's from David Lerner

ddcawley — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:54:56 GMT

My Mother is curious about an private REIT offering from David Lerner called Apple REIT's.

Thanks, Darren

Synthetic Investment in Foreign Dollars

uwbadg123 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:07:01 GMT

How would you sythetically create an investment in a foreign currency using futures contracts and riskless borrowing or lending?