Skip to main content

Gold: What Can Trigger the Inevitable?

A stronger dollar or rising interest rates could derail the epic yellow metal mania

 

Before you sell that last piece of jewellery, keep in mind that the gold price will not go up indefinitely. There are number of reasons why it might crash.
If you're over weighted in gold or commodities, the warning is the same: A stronger dollar, strengthening US economy or rising interest rates could derail the epic yellow metal mania. Who knows? Congress could even reach an agreement to clear up its balance sheet and pay down its debt.


What are the chances of any of this happening? It's beyond the limits of my minuscule, clouded crystal ball, which is about the size of a pin-head.

 

Nevertheless, you should prepare your portfolio for any number of eventualities, which can be easily accomplished with exchange-traded funds. Gold is troublesome in my book because it really isn't an investment. It's a reserve currency of sorts that's heavily traded by institutional investors. It doesn't pay any dividends or interest and is bought in times of widespread fear.


The savviest traders buy gold as a hedge against the dollar. In the past few years, it's also been a bulwark against the Euro as well, which has been bruised by sovereign debt woes in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Is the Euro financial fizzle over? I don't think so, but it's still not a reason to load up on gold. The clearest threat to gold's reign as the reserve currency of nervous Nellies is a possible rebound of the dollar. In a speculative portfolio, you can go long on worldwide stocks through a fund like the Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF, own gold through the SPDR fund and go either way on the dollar.


Stick to your long-term goals. Only professional traders who have the discipline to make quick trades will get out and make a profit. If you try to time or short any vehicle, you'll be stuck holding the bag. If you need income, forget about the rest of the world and find the safest investments at the lowest possible cost. Your second goal would be to protect yourself against loss of purchasing power
Before you pawn your wedding ring, keep in mind that in real times of crisis the metal won't replace food or water. As Voltaire reminded us in 'Candide', it would be better to tend to our gardens.

 

— John F Wasik/Reuters

 
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:

 

1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html

 

2) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html

 

3) Reliance Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-hdfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

4) Sundaram Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/07/buying-sundaram-mutual-funds-online.html

 

5) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-birla-sunlife-mutual-funds.html

 

6) UTI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-uti-mutual-funds-online.html

  

7) SBI Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-sbi-mutual-funds-online.html

 

8) Edelweiss Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-edelweiss-mutual-funds-online.html

 

9) IDFC Mutual Funds:

http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-idfc-mutual-funds-online.html

 

 

Popular posts from this blog

Mutual Fund Review: Religare Tax Plan

Tax Plan is one of the better performing schemes from Religare Asset Management. Existing investors can redeem their investment after three years. But given the scheme's performance, they can continue to stay invested   Given the mandated lock-in period of three years, tax saving schemes give the fund manager the leeway to invest in ideas that may take time to nurture. Religare Tax Plan's investment ideas revolve around 'High Growth', which the fund manager has aimed to achieve by digging out promising stories/businesses in the mid-cap segment. Within the space, consumer staples has been the centre of attention for the last couple of years and can be seen as one of the key reasons for the scheme's outperformance as compared to the broader market. It has, however, tweaked its focus and reduced exposure in midcaps as they were commanding a high premium. The strategy seems to have worked as it returned a 22% gain last year. Religare Tax Plan has outperformed BSE 100...
Read more

Stocks with a high dividend yield

Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Mutual Funds Online Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India) Stocks with a high-dividend yield can provide investors additional cash flow. More importantly, it is tax-free   With April 2011 just over, the 'earnings season' is well and truly here. This is the time most companies pay out a portion of their profits as dividends to shareholders. Since dividends are tax-free, they are an attractive income source with a select class of investors, who depend on these for additional cash flow. SIGNIFICANCE A company doing well and generating profits will usually be in a position to declare dividends regularly. Hence, a key parameter one should look at whilst investing in a stock is whether the company has a good dividend record. Typically, dividend yield stocks are large-caps and generally not capital-intensive. This is suggestive of the fact that the downside risk on...
Read more

For Retirement Invest in growth Assets

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Buy Gold Mutual Funds Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300   Last week, I wrote about the need for retired investors to have a growth component in their corpus to fight inflation. In the financial advisory space, it’s a challenge to convince retired investors to take risks in order to achieve capital appreciation in their portfolios. Many choose a compromised lifestyle and curb their expenses in retirement. What should they do instead? There are only two ways to create a large corpus: saving a large part of the income, or investing the saving in growth assets. In a country of savers, the first has been the natural choice. However, the second deserves attention. An investor who is saving for retirement is trying to replace the human asset with an investment asset that will generate the require...
Read more

HSBC MIP Savings Fund dividend

Invest HSBC MIP Savings Fund Online   HSBC Mutual Fund   has announced dividend under the following schemes: Scheme Dividend ( R /unit) HSBC Income Investment-DQ 0.1733436 HSBC Flexi Debt Direct-DQ 0.18056625 HSBC Flexi Debt-DQ 0.18056625 HSBC MIP Regular-DQ 0.18056625 HSBC MIP Savings-DQ 0.2022342 HSBC MIP Savings Direct-DQ 0.2022342                     The record date has been fixed as June 27, 2016.     ----------------------------------------------- Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds Top 10 Tax Saving Mutual Funds to invest in India for 2016 Best 10 ELSS Mutual Funds in india for 2016 1. BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund 2. Axis Tax Saver Fund 3. Franklin India TaxShield 4. ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund 5. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund 6. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 7. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 8. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund 9. Religare Tax Plan 10. Birla Sun Life Tax Plan I...
Read more

Systematic withdrawal plan

  Start Systematic withdrawal plan Online Although an SWP gives you regular income and saves on taxes in the long term, you cannot open an SWP on a scheme where you have an ongoing SIP   iStockPhoto If you are planning to take a sabbatical from work or are retiring soon, you may be looking at different investment options that give a regular income. Usually, a lump sum is invested to get regular fixed amounts later. Popular products include post office monthly income scheme, Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme and monthly income plans (MIPs). A lesser known option is the systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) in mutual funds. Recently, some funds have even removed the exit load on SWPs if you were to withdraw up to 15-20% in the first year, to encourage people who want to start investing in this instrument. Here is a look at what an SWP is. WHAT IS SWP? Many of us would be familiar with a systematic investment plan (SIP ), where a corpus ...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now