Redflare,

One strategy for investing that my wife and I are currently using is balancing our liquid and our tangible assets. For example balancing the need to save cash for the future with investing in tangible necessities like water, food, shelter, land, transportation and tools. With our awareness that banks can close and corporations can go under and inflation pressures can suddenly make our cash worthless we just can not justify putting all of our resources into the "semi-liquid" assets of CD's, stocks or even gold for that matter.

Good luck on your decisions. Reading well researched books from multiple viewpoints is always good. I would balance the book you want to read with a well regarded traditional investing guide and weigh the good points you see in both.

Cheers,
Nemo.

P.s. Hey I just noticed my post count! I am now officially a member!

Nemo - Funny you mention Canada I just had that discussion with a friend the other day! Also, that bike you linked to does look very useful in your situation

PS: Congrats on becoming a member.

-Todd

7 steps to surviving the rough economy

snip
1. Understand that the rules have changed. The very first step is to change your “mind-set.” What worked before won’t work now. In the past, debt allowed you to have things today and pay for them tomorrow. ...snip...
My mind set never LEFT this pattern, so how have things changed? Don't buy what you can't afford


2. Take an honest look at your finances. Start by making a list of what you owe — and what you own. ...snip...

I owe - 5 more months on my truck at 0.0% - Thank you - I'll use THEIR money for the rest of the 5 months - and my fixed rate 6% Mortgage - from 2001 - and I put down about 35% on the house


3. Cut your expenses....snip.. Yep - done that, there are still place to cut, but I do like my daughter taking Dance, and my son playing soccer. Next Month, FIOS comes to my block, and I can save $20/month by making the change, so I will

4. Earn more! It’s easier said than done, I know... I've been pulling in side work for years

5. Deal with your debt. In spite of the Fed’s action, rates on credit cards may be slow to drop, so pay extra to lower your balances. ...snip... No balances - I've always treated a "credit card" as a "charge card" - Full balance gets paid on the 1st of the month - remember what I said about NOT buying what you can't afford?

6. Keep investing. ...Maxed out on my company IRA - wish I could afford to invest more, but...

7. Stay optimistic. ...snip..

Actually, I don't think times are that bad - if you look at historic unemployment levels they are actually quite low, yes, we are having some nasty for recent term memory inflation on fuel and food, but even those, by historic standards aren't so bad

It's just that we've become a "Gimmie Gimme - NOW" culture. I took my parents stories of the Depression to heart as a kid. I remember the 70s - When we get to double digit inflation AND double digit unemployment, at the same time - wake me up

Pretty slick....

As far as investing, I'm still not sure how things are going to play out. I'm looking at it in terms of inflation vs. deflation, and neither one looks like the definitive outcome, given what the fed may or may not do. In the longer term, I would be surprised if we didn't end up with 70's style stagflation.

Given that, we've done the things listed above to reduce debt, lower expenses, etc. It has really helped me mentally to deal with the uncertainty.

But I am confident that in the intermediate to long term that oil and natural gas will be relatively expensive. Based on that, I've moved some money toward energy services companies and natural gas exploration companies. As long as the prices remain relatively high, someone's going to pay to try to find it and get it out of the ground. Refiners are going to have a tougher time, as refining margins will continue to get squeezed. Integrated Internationals (e.g. Exxon, Shell, BP) are going to have a hard time since so much of the oil/gas is controlled by national oil companies. I see their market share as steadily declining over time.

I see energy services as a hedge. If I'm wrong and oil prices plummet, I still win, because everything else will likely be doing well (I don't see a major crash causing lower prices, as oil is just too important).


I've followed the strategy of diversified mutual funds for many years, and until recently, I was pretty sold on it. Right now, I really think things are changing, and I'm not so confident that it offers the risk-return tradeoff that matches the things that are going on in the credit and commodity markets.

Back to the OP, there's an interview with the author here:
http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/2006/Leeb.html

It's 2 years old, might be interesting to hear in retrospect.

Thanks Bluesky for keeping us on target. After listening to the interview I felt a little squeamish over his advice. One reason I think food and energy prices have risen so steeply is due to investor speculation of food and energy commodities. The author's predictions are right on the money regarding the urgency of the energy problem but his investment advice smells funny to me. Something just feels wrong to bet on the downfall of others. I guess he justifies it by saying things like: the country will bounce back in a decade or so but its going to be really bad during transition that time.

Just my impressions, maybe I'm just young, naive and idealistic. Guess I'm starting to sound like an academic again eh?

~L

IMHO and totally unqualified opinion, maybe take a look at companies that are involved with battery/power supply technology. Just something I heard a bunch of years ago. It seems to have been true.

Disclaimer: I am not a stock broker or technology company owner anything like that.