Investments

[ila]

I have investments in:
Mutual funds - taxable
Company stock - taxable
Registered Retirement Savings Plans - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it
Pension Plan - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it
Nontaxable savings account - I don't pay taxes on the interest. I can only invest up to a certain limit each year
Saving & chequing accounts - I pay taxes on the interest

I don't buy bonds anymore although I used to quite regularly. I've never invested in precious metals. The market for that seems to be to volatile.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by ila

I have investments in:
Mutual funds - taxable
Company stock - taxable
Registered Retirement Savings Plans - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it
Pension Plan - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it
Nontaxable savings account - I don't pay taxes on the interest. I can only invest up to a certain limit each year
Saving & chequing accounts - I pay taxes on the interest

I don't buy bonds anymore although I used to quite regularly. I've never invested in precious metals. The market for that seems to be to volatile.

Too bad you didn't have a nice bit of gold right now, ila. You would be getting a pretty nice return on it.

[ila]

Originally Posted by shadows

Too bad you didn't have a nice bit of gold right now, ila. You would be getting a pretty nice return on it.

I would, but gold has risen before only to dramatically tumble in price. Right now the price of gold is too high to even consider buying any.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by ila

I would, but gold has risen before only to dramatically tumble in price. Right now the price of gold is too high to even consider buying any.

I agree. It would be crazy to attempt to purchase gold right now, especially with it's propensity to tumble down in price at the slightest provocation. That being said, it would be great to have had that gold before the huge rise and then sell it right now while it is so high.

[The Conquistador]

Gold for me.

If a complete collapse of the economy or a really bad depression ever happens, metals will be the most useful things to barter. Gold, silver, hell even copper or brass would be in high demand. Federal Reserve Notes and other things of the sort are play money; a chunk of gold carries far more weight(no pun intended).

Just lookin out for the longterm you know?

[ila]

Originally Posted by TheAngryPostman

Gold for me.

If a complete collapse of the economy or a really bad depression ever happens, metals will be the most useful things to barter. Gold, silver, hell even copper or brass would be in high demand. Federal Reserve Notes and other things of the sort are play money; a chunk of gold carries far more weight(no pun intended).

Just lookin out for the longterm you know?

The problem with owning precious metals is that one's ownership is just pieces of paper. One doesn't actually hold the metals, but just certificates that show ownership. It would seem to me that if their is a massive economic collapse it will be all but impossible for one to get hold of those metals. Pieces of paper are hard to sell in an economic collapse. I would like some prove my theory wrong.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by ila

The problem with owning precious metals is that one's ownership is just pieces of paper. One doesn't actually hold the metals, but just certificates that show ownership. It would seem to me that if their is a massive economic collapse it will be all but impossible for one to get hold of those metals. Pieces of paper are hard to sell in an economic collapse. I would like some prove my theory wrong.

Wouldn't you be able to keep your precious metals in safety deposit boxes to prevent such a scenario from happening?

[shadows]

Copper has always been a good commodity. That is why so many thieves tend to fry themselves while trying to procure some from live power cables.

[GRH]

Originally Posted by TheAngryPostman

Gold for me.

If a complete collapse of the economy or a really bad depression ever happens, metals will be the most useful things to barter. Gold, silver, hell even copper or brass would be in high demand. Federal Reserve Notes and other things of the sort are play money; a chunk of gold carries far more weight(no pun intended).

Just lookin out for the longterm you know?

You see, I used to be a big proponent of this type of thinking. However, the more I thought about it, I realized something. The collapse of America (or any nation-state that is truly significant in the global scheme of things) would probably be preceeded by their central banks DUMPING every bit of gold onto the open market to try to prevent collapse. This would be a last ditch effort to keep fiat currency afloat. But it would flood the metals market and would therefore distort the supply/demand curve and would ultimately depress the price of metals. Therefore, metals utility in a complete collapse, while far from useless, would probably lack the utility that many people think they'd have.

I admit not knowing much about this subject. Are any of these "legitimate"? I would think this area would be rife with scams.

http://store.nwtmint.com/Bullion/

I think GRH is right about the .999 standard. So, I guess my "24K Gold" Obama coin is worthless?

Sorry, couldn't help it...

[GRH]

Originally Posted by ila

I have investments in:
Mutual funds - taxable
Company stock - taxable
Registered Retirement Savings Plans - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it
Pension Plan - nontaxable until I start withdrawing from it

What stocks and mutual funds do you own ila? And regarding the pension plan, is that a company plan, or is it administered by the Candian government? And is it invested in stocks/market or how is it invested?

[ila]

Originally Posted by GRH

What stocks and mutual funds do you own ila? And regarding the pension plan, is that a company plan, or is it administered by the Candian government? And is it invested in stocks/market or how is it invested?

My pension plan is government. I don't know what it is invested in, but about ten years ago the government of the day took 30 billion out of the plan because they said it was surplus.

Stocks are in the company that I work for.

My mutual funds are with one of the biggest investment companies in Canada. The particular funds that I invest in are scattered throughout the globe. I changed my exposure a while ago so that I would get a higher rate of return even though there is more risk. Even so I've more than made up for any losses during the recent economic downturn.

[The Conquistador]

I had a chance to get some Krugerrands awhile back. Shame I didn't know what they were at the time.

[GRH]

In the past few days I've increased my exposure to two ETF's. I bought a position in SCZ, which is an iShares ETF that tracks the foreign small-cap market. In addition, I added to my exposure in XLU, one of the sector ETF's that follows the utlility sector of the S&P. In December, XLU increased their dividend payment by 5 cents a share which pushed the yield of the security back over 5%. Thus, it made sense economically to reinvest some of my dividends into XLU.

[sesame]

Ai GRH,
I'm glad to see you here again after... centuries!
Nice Avatar, it goes well with your work.
So you are a busy trader now?

[GRH]

Good to see you Sesame! It has been ages. As for my trading, I'm really much too lazy and poor to be much of a "trader." I do some trading, but too much of it, and the commissions eat up your profit. A lot of my stock holdings I buy for the dividend income (which I generally reinvest in stocks) and secondarily for the capital gains. Since I invest for dividends, that means that my average holding period is usually at least 6 months.