In article , "dadiOH"
wrote:


Personally, I wouldn't touch gold (or silver) with a three meter stick.
Yes, they may go up more but they appear poised for a very large correction
(both short and long term) and unless you are an experienced AND successful
day trader you would likely get beaten to pieces. I'm talking about
commodity markets here, not physical ownership. I wouldn't even buy the
metal now to hold.


Never have understood why people buy would buy a mutual fund (or heck
even bars of gold) if the underlying premise is financial armageddon. If
things collapse, what makes you think you are going to be able to
convert a paper (allegedly) backed by gold into actual gold? Actually
the same with bars since you will have to do something to break them
down into usable amounts (Hey, Bob, you got change for a ingot?). The
only thing to actually own for the financial end times would be to own
coins or small (maybe ounce) ingots.

IMO, real estate is the bargain of the century. HUGE buyer's market and low
interest rates. Yes, prices may go lower and yes, it may take a few years
to really recover but it WILL recover and during the waiting period one can
at least get the benefit of rental income, tax benefits, etc. You can't get
any income or benefits from metal.
I am not as sanguine on the return of the market. The demographics
were arguing against a long-term bull market in real estate and all the
collapse did was hasten the demise. There would have been a big overhang
of housing develop over the next few years anyway as the Boomers began
to downsize and/or die out. The follow-on generations just aren't big
enough to soak up all of the housing the Boomers demanded. This is
obviously exacerbated by the excess supply brought about by people
getting into homes that wouldn't have in teh past.

--
People thought cybersex was a safe alternative,
until patients started presenting with sexually
acquired carpal tunnel syndrome.-Howard Berkowitz