We have a long way to go in housing.  It’s interesting to me that the ones who speculate that housing will improve soon and the end is near don’t have any reasons for it.  Instead, they just figure it’s been long enough of a decline, and thus, the decline must be over soon.  How could it keep going?
Unfortunately, this type of analysis while it might make sense on the surface doesn’t really hold up and doesn’t really mean anything at all.
On the other hand, the folks that look at the …

The market has been going up everyday it seems like.  Complacency and volatility is very low.  As such, I’m buying some option calls on the VIX (volatility index).  With the possible end of QE2 around the corner combined with tons of uncertainty in areas like the Middle East or even the debt of Europe, buying cheap insurance at this point seems like a prudent move.  I’m buying July Calls on the VIX for just a couple hundred bucks.  If the volatility index exploded in conjunction with a significant market correction, …

Fewer investments get the emotions going on either side of the argument like precious metals, specifically gold and silver. The bulls and the bears have been arguing about this metal for thousands of years I’m sure, and I admit I’ve argued plenty with people I know recently. This post aims to put some objective insight into the bullish case of owning gold and silver.

If you read this blog, you know I’m pretty negative on the economy overall.  I think there are structural issues that are going unaddressed and are not easily fixed as a result of decades of various economic policies.  The result is a coming adjustment in the average standard of living for Americans in my opinion.
When I talked to people, I’m often categorized as just overly negative, or someone who thinks the world is coming to an end.  I’d like to clarify this a bit…
First, I’m not negative for the sake …

In light of the increase volatility as a result of world events such as Middle East protests and the multi-faceted Japanese disaster, I think there are a number of steps to take now if you’re an investor:

Get your capital ready – hopefully, you’ve followed what I’ve been saying for the past six months or so and sold some of your hottest positions and have some dry powder ready to take advantage of depressed asset prices.
Pick out the stocks you want to own long term.  These companies should have solid fundamentals …

If you were to go back to the start of the year and were asked to give what you thought would be the biggest sources of uncertainty that was possible for this year, you probably would have not have named Egypt, Libya and Japan.  While I’ve been saying for years that there is plenty of global uncertainty, identifying ahead of time the actual form of it and what it will actually look like is very difficult.
Now, calling for a natural disaster similar to what just happened in Japan is of …

The following chart tells the entire story. As you’ll see, employment as a percentage of population isn’t budging. Yes, the unemployment rate is dropping but that is because people are stopping looking for work.

Daniel Gross of Yahoo makes a suggestion that the government of America should pursue the option that millions of broke people across our great country have pursued – and that is to cash in their gold to continue to fund an unsustainable lifestyle.  Ah yes, that’s just a fantastic idea.
I’ve talked before about how the popping up of cash 4 gold like outlets is not a sign of a peak in gold prices, but instead, a further sign of a peak in consumption and spending.  Selling your gold is essentially …