Current U.S. Money Reserve president and former U.S. Mint Director, Philip N. Diehl, was appointed chairman of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA) at the association's Board of Director's meeting at the end of August. ICTA is a nonprofit association that supports the rare coin, paper money, and precious metals industry, with...
Gold prices seem to move in mysterious ways, but over the long term, a few forces account for most of these price changes. For those of us who buy gold and and hold onto it for a year or longer, these are the most important factors to bear in mind as we make our financial plans. Factors Impacting Price of Gold The value of the dollar...
I occasionally go back through my blog posts to see how my predictions bore up after a year or so. This can be humbling, but sometimes you get it right. I'll leave it to others to dig up the ones where I missed the mark. In August 2013, The Wall Street Journal Online and Asia Editions published an opinion piece I wrote about the effect...
I follow politics pretty closely. Back in November, I saw an article in FiveThirtyEight in which the author argued that the GOP’s primary and caucus rules doom the outsider candidates—Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson—by tilting the playing field in favor of the insider candidates—Marco Rubio, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush. I thought...
Gold prices have soared $150 per ounce since the first of January and, if prices rise another $60, the yellow metal will officially cross the threshold into bull market territory. Gold is soaring because investors around the world are panicking about the state of the global economy. And when large investors panic, they run to the safety...
In my last post, I wrote about prospects for civil war in Ukraine turning into a direct confrontation between Russia and the West, and what that would mean for gold prices. I said that markets had not yet woken up to this reality and when they did, gold prices would rise. Markets are now taking notice, with gold gaining $30 an ounce...
What is the connection between the price of gold and civil war in Ukraine? Simple—gold has long been a refuge in times of political turmoil. When investors and savers realize the severity of a threat to their wellbeing, they rush to gold to protect their wealth, driving prices up quickly. In recent weeks, the conflict in Ukraine has...
Gold jumped $22 an ounce on news that a Malaysian Airlines flight (MH17) was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Later in the day, all signs were pointing to a missile strike on the aircraft, and persuasive evidence was developing that Russian-backed rebels launching a Russian-built missile were responsible. The world awaited the smoking...
Read Part 1. In my last post, I discussed three myths about gold that Gary Alexander describes in a piece on Seeking Alpha. Understanding these myths is important because they deter many investors from making gold part of their financial portfolios. I’ll address four additional myths here. Myth #4: Gold is primarily a hedge against...
I recently ran across an article entitled “The 12 Biggest Mistakes the Media Make When Covering Gold Markets," by Gary Alexander. It’s a good article for potential gold buyers because it debunks many of the myths that lead investors, and their financial advisors, to exclude gold from their portfolios. For the most part, Alexander’s...
For weeks, I’ve intended to write a post on the current stock market bubble, and now, the New York Times' David Leonhardt has beaten me to it, but I'll make some additional points. Robert Shiller, a Noble prize-winning economist, is among the market analysts and economists whose work I follow and admire. I discovered Shiller several...
Read Part 1 The story of the Sacagawea dollar is relevant, today, not just because it’s an interesting piece of our history, but also because it’s a window into how Washington, D.C. works — and doesn't work. I’ve been around politics and government much of my career, in senior positions in the U.S. Senate, the Treasury Department,...
