For centuries, mankind has been obsessed with shiny pieces of metal known as gold.  Even today, investors the globe over often flee to gold in times of economic instability because it has often functioned well as a hedge against inflation and a falling currency.  True to form, gold has been on a tear of late, [...]

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Over the long term, corporate earnings tend to comprise about 10% of GDP.  This number fluctuates, of course, but the long-term trend is relatively consistent.  Since corporate earnings are eventually reflected in stock prices and their share of GDP is relatively stable, we can use economic growth forcasts to predict future stock returns.  The long-term [...]

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All investments have risk, even supposedly “risk-free” assets like US Treasury Bills.  For practical purposes, however, the yield on the 90-day US Treasury Bill is often referred to as the risk-free rate because the risk of these securities, while not quite zero, are extremely close.  According to Investopedia, the risk-free rate is
“…the minimum return an investor [...]

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Nobody knows the future and there are no crystal balls, but that doesn’t stop people from trying to divine the future of stock prices.  There have been many methods put forth over the years, most of them bunk.  That said, there are several workable frameworks that have shown themselves to be reasonably accurate over the [...]

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Let’s face it:  the dollar is weak and seemingly getting weaker by the day, with currency experts forecasting it will get worse before it gets better.  While I don’t buy into the “end of the dollar” hysteria, I do think it’s prudent to hedge your bets.  There are a few simple ways you can benefit from [...]

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In volatile times, investors often flock to investments with perceived safety.  These investments include short-term treasury bills, precious metals such as gold, and hard assets such as real estate and commodities.  All of these asset classes have a place in a well-diversified and balanced portfolio.   Commodities in particular offer an interesting investment proposition.  On their [...]

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Buy low, sell high.  Sounds easy, right?  Apparently not.  The Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) sector experienced net fund outflows of $7.1 billion in 2007, a sector that had previously been as hot as any in recent history.  Meanwhile, Vanguard’s REIT Index ETF (VNQ) dropped 16.4% for the year on recession fears due to last summer’s credit [...]

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