What about e-currencies like Bitcoin? Could that be the future of currency transactions?

I'd say investing in any useful firearm or ammunition is a good investment. Pick a useful firearm or ammunition. Track prices over the last 7 years. I found their values (measured by the market prices) increased more than ANY other investment I have. It's not even remotely close.

Note that cash (e.g., U.S. Dollar, Japanese Yen, etc.) can decrease in value just like any other investment. Cash is desirable because it's convenient. That's a big advantage, but I see no unique benefit otherwise.

By the way, I just compared the Japanese Yen to the U.S. Dollar. I wish I had been exchanging my Dollars for Yen over the last several years!

Make sure you're buying physical gold if you decide to get some...

If you don't hold it, you don't own it.

One of the big lures of physical gold bullion is that it is an asset that you can clearly and freely own with no counterparty risk. With other assets, whether Treasuries, stocks, real estate, or even bank savings accounts... there is some other party on the other side of deal at all times. If you buy and hold physical gold, then no one else can make a claim against it and there is no entity on the other side of your deal that can default. It also does not carry any tax burden while you hold it (think property taxes that come every year). Holding physical gold in your possession also provides you with a high level of privacy that other asset classes can't match.

Be careful with unallocated storage or pool accounts where your gold is pooled with others, or buying shares in GLD. These are only paper claims on gold, NEVER actual gold itself. If things get bad, you'll never see any gold, only a check made out in depreciated dollars.

Hence the rumors that Fort Knox is actually empty...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagCoUYvIXE

ireckon, that's my thought exactly. So far I've got only GP100 .357 and S-12. Could you recommend something maybe even more useful for my "investment" collection, please? A rifle, a pistol?

Invest in firearms that interest you, what you like to shoot! The chances are somebody else will like it.

Here's the ammo I have: .40 cal, .22 lr, .308 Win, 12 ga (many different shot sizes).

I bought almost all the ammo I have right now more than 5 years ago. I could sell most of my ammo at 200% what I paid for it and still undercut current store prices. I kid you not, the prices have gone up so much that I don't want to shoot up my ammo at all. I blame it entirely on ammo prices (i.e., ammo values).

I know this is a hard pill for anti-gun folks to swallow, but I'm primarily making an economics argument, not a pro-gun argument. Anyway, the more laws you pass to control guns, the more valuable my firearms and ammo will become.

The theory behind Bitcoin is very intriguing to me from a technical perspective, but for the time being, I'd steer well clear of it unless you were committed to basically becoming a day trader in Bitcoin and were strictly speculating in it, not trying to invest or even park wealth in it. Even then, the major exchange for trading Bitcoin was hacked just a couple months ago, so it is still suffering some major growing pains.

In the long run, unless the government itself puts forward an e-currency, I can't see how it would gain widespread popularity and acceptance except in fringe transactions. Look at all the other digital or alternative currencies since the dot com days that have bitten the dust. You'll never be able to pay, say, your taxes in one of these alternative digital currencies.

If you (we) hit bottom, what's going to be your source of income to repay these debts? Is it still going to be there, or will it have ceased to exist?

I have the funniest feeling that we aren't talking about 2008 here. Try 1930.

Sue

Susan, the idea behind is the investments you are making in liquid goods as an alternative to paying off your debts - in contrary to the JBMat's advise in the second message of the thread: "pay off your debts asap and don't buy anything". IMO, that mantra works in the stable world only.

I tend to agree. My house is currently underwater by a large amount. I will not be trying to pay off my entire mortgage right now. I will only being paying the minimum. I also will not be paying extra to get above water. That's known as "throwing good money after bad".

In other words, I have a failing investment (my house). Instead of throwing extra money at my house, I should be putting my money into something that is more likely to appreciate. It is quite likely that I would not be able to receive a positive return on my house for another fifteen years, and I'm only talking about being a little above the purchase price. So, if you consider inflation, I'd still be losing money. For all practical purposes, my house is a losing investment for the rest of my life. I really should do a short sale or a strategic default.

What about the damage that will cause to my credit score, you ask? Who gives a crap about credit scores? Banks surely don't. My average credit score is over 800. I still can't get anything done that someone with 680 can't do. I can't modify my mortgage, and that's all that really matters to me. The concept of a "credit score" has been about the biggest scam to control my behavior as a consumer. I have not benefited at all from having an ultra high credit score. Striving for an ultra high credit score has only limited my lifestyle. I'm talking zero benefit over the last 10 years.

Even if my credit score goes south from a strategic default or short sale, it will rebound to a respectable number in 3 to 7 years. Meanwhile, my house value will behave as explained above (15+ year outlook). So, should I stick with a failing investment, or should I sacrifice my credit score while saving a lot of money?

The answer to me is obvious. I just need the balls to "pull the trigger".