Mutual funds, gold bonds, real estate , keeps my portfolio smiling though am not really a invest, wait and save kinda guy i believe in invest and grow , so mostly my savings [ if any
😕] go back in work.
Thing with MF's is you could end up negative in a bad market isn't it. What is your aggregate rate of return ?
gold is solid investment and will continue to be so even after all everything fails, cause gold or other minerals based investments are backed by a solid security in end. a bubble is created on artificial or paper money as we call it, when there is no real money or security expect paper securities exchanging varoius hands , it's long and complicated affair , the crash of 08 was the result of a bubble of artificial money where there was none to go around. gold/sliver will forever be there, though prices may go up and down but it will never crash.
next big crash in 2012 will be in real estate
😛
Well this is the thing, if there is a crash coming then don't buy. There is also expectation of another recession in the US so stocks could go even lower that why ppl are edgy right now. About gold. Fareed did a good segment on it, lets see what your take is, completely
contradicts you ....
ZAKARIA: Now many people have been investing in gold, but Hugo Chavez wants to hoard it, physically, literally. The Venezuelan government controls the world's 15th largest stockpile of gold, about 365 tons. But like most gold investors, it doesn't really have that gold, at least not physically.
More than half of Venezuela's reserves are held overseas in London, Zurich, and New York. If you ever visit the New York Federal Reserve, you can even see it in the underground vaults, neatly labelled as Venezuela's.
Mr. Chavez you know doesn't like the west, he doesn't like his predicament. So, he's now announced he wants his gold. But how do you transport 211 tons of gold across the seas?
Well, by spending lots of money. You have to ensure against the gold heist like the one in "The Italian Job." **Experts say Mr. Chavez could spend at least 4 percent on insurance alone, with more on security and transport. Add it all up, and you could get about a half billion dollars spent. That's serious money for any country, let alone one that has negative growth rates as Venezuela does these days.
What in the world is Hugo Chavez thinking? Actually, he's not alone. From the ancient times of Egypt's study common to the gold rush in the mid 19th century right through the modern day, we've always been attracted to gold. Who can ever forget the appropriately named Auric Goldfinger from the James Bond movie?
ZAKARIA: There are many who share Mr. Goldfinger's sentiments around the globe, especially in times of confusion and uncertainty about governments. People worry that governments are keeping interest rates too low, that will cause inflation and could weaken the dollar and other currencies. So the answer -- store gold. Something that has always been seen as a solid, substantial hedge against inflation. If everything else collapses, the theory goes, gold will hold its value. For this reason, in the last decade, gold prices have risen more than 600 percent. Is this a rational response to legitimate fears of inflation? Or are we in the middle of a bubble? There are certainly signs that suggest a bubble. The fact is global demand for gold in industry and jewelry has actually declined by 18 percent since 2004.
And yet over the same period, prices have surged. So, it's clear that the market is flooded with speculators who see gold as an investment, not as a usable currency or product. What's really changed in the last few years is access. It's easier to buy gold over the internet than it is stocks or shares these days. In places like Abu Dhabi and some European cities, you can buy grams of gold at ATM- style dispensers. All over the world, there's a new gold rush. You switch on the
TV, and commercials warn you that you need to put your money in gold.
ZAKARIA: And Donald Trump is now accepting gold bars instead of wire transfers for his luxury condos. This is bizarre. A lot of it is simply scare mongering. The truth is that for two-and-a-half decades, between 1980 and the mid 2000s, gold prices actually declined unlike many other commodities which have actual end uses, oil and minerals, gold is just a symbol. As such, its price rises have more to do with psychology and emotion rather than reason. So, when it falls out of fashion, the price could really collapse. So, the next time you watch Goldfinger --
ZAKARIA: Or hear of the antics of a Hugo Chavez or a Donald Trump, be a little wary. Gold isn't the stock with real earnings. It isn't a bond with interest payments. It isn't oil. It won't help you drive a car, it won't help you light a fire. Yes, you can wear it, but you can't eat it. If doomsday really arrives, a can of baked beans might be worth a lot more than a brick of gold. We'll be right back.
Of course in India we are culturally programmed to go after gold so i expect the above may not make much of a difference.
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But for Mumbai, it not enough buddy
🙁 And even after combining my wife's income too, unable to make a good saving. Even if some saving is made for 1-2 months, I spend them in 3rd months.
Ohh, i forgot you live in the worlds most expensive city for real estate.
Hmm, somebody told me a few years ago they could get an appt around 30-lakh and be half an hour out of the city. I thought that was a very low figure.
But otherwise mumbai is a city i would never want to live in, where is the dignity in renting all your life ?
This 'come to bombay, come to bombay, bombay meri hai' song makes you forget about it maybe
😀
