Poor Mr. Buck

I and many other gold/silver folks believe there is a long term, concerted move away from the dollar - by the Chinese, the Russians and even regular investors that don't think it will be a good vehicle for saving. These two articles are just a couple of examples of the bearish outlook for the dollar.

The first is just a general prognostication by some investment folks at PIMCO and the second is about how Russia is looking to get away from exposure to the dollar, just like the Chinese. In this case, they are shorting the dollar in a kind of indirect way that would not be quite as obvious as if they were to alter their central bank reserves.

I hope more people begin to see the US dollar as only a medium of exchange for goods and services but not a way of saving. People ought to save with things that will retain their value, like precious metals (in sensible quantities) and land, which is real wealth.

Dollar to Extend Slide as Global Economy Recovers, Pimco Says

Russia Prepares to Short $18 Billion USD

Retirement

This is a link to a podcast I am fond of called The Survival Podcast, hosted by Jack Spirko. He does a great show on retirement here and makes some good points. Namely, that the advertisements you see on TV give you a picture of retirement that is often not realistic. Strolling down a beach with your wife and living life to the fullest.

Often people who are 65 or more have health problems and may have to deal with loneliness. The idea of waiting for most of your life to finally get out of the rat race seems stupid and Jack offers some suggestions on how you can go about planning for retirement (and rethinking what retirement is) so that you can achieve freedom and independence earlier.

I think a reexamination of what retirement is and what it should be for YOU is long overdue. With the problems we have with Social Security (a generation put its faith in that and it looks like Uncle Sam may have trouble paying out), I think people will become more and more receptive to this message.

Preparedness as a Retirement Plan

Work, Taxes and Death

I know this is not really connected with precious metals investing but I want to occasionally post articles and commentary that I think are important for an overall understanding of finances and the world we live in.

This article talks about something I myself think about : Should I try to earn as much money as possible? If I work extremely long hours in a 5 or 6 day week, miss time with my family and friends and neglect projects and interests that I enjoy, is it worth it? It's not just a mathematical calculation for me, it's a question of what is really important in life and what makes one truly happy and fulfilled.

I generally don't like the government and I don't like paying taxes to finance its often stupid and occasionally evil initiatives (I recently saw a commercial for some government organization called the National Fatherhood Institute or something - do we need government to tell us to spend time with our kids?). Maybe if we weren't taxed so much to pay for the National Fatherhood Institute we could spend more time being fathers!

But I digress. I think that one does not need a lot of junk and extravagant expenditures in order to be happy and if we did not chase after money and prestige we might have a better chance at achieving freedom and independence. We need to think outside the box not only when it comes to investing, but also to work, retirement and life.

When Work Doesn't Pay for the Middle Class