The general price level in 2010 relative to 2009 shows average price levels that are nearly flat. The reason for this trend is significant commodity price increases in 2007 and 2008 that collapsed after the global financial crisis. Much of the reason for the price volatility in commodities is leveraged buying and selling through hedge funds that drove prices up during the bubble and precipitated a price crash after the bubble collapsed as many entities were simultaneously deleveraging their positions. To demonstrate this phenomenon, we have graphed the Consumer Price Index for Urban residents (CPI-U), Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG) and Producer Price Index for All Commodities (PPI-AC) from 1995 up to the present time.
Year: 2011
A Dollar is NOT a Dollar
One of the most important concepts for investors to understand is that a dollar today is not the same as a dollar yesterday, and is not the same as a dollar tomorrow. Over time, inflation erodes the purchasing power of currency. This is critically important, because most people focus on the nominal change in the value of their investments, but unintentionally ignore their real value after accounting for past and expected future inflation.
Real Estate Trends for 2011 – Solomon Success Predictions
One of the most impactful news items heading into 2011 is the announcement by Bank of America that foreclosure activity is being suspended1, and the decision by government agencies to increase scrutiny on the foreclosure process. In the wake of this announcement, nobody completely knows how long this increased scrutiny will last, how intense it will be, and what impact it will have on market activity.
Orlando, FL, Investors Can Expect a 22.5% Return This Year
The city of Orlando experienced a tremendous increase in market prices from the year 2000 through 2006, and a downward correction in prices since the beginning of 2007. As 2010 concludes and 2011 unfolds, we expect to see prices stabilize and regress toward a long-term linear growth trajectory. Currently, approximately 68% of listings are from foreclosures.
The “Barbell” Strategy of Investing
In the marketplace of ideas, there is no shortage of strategies for investing to produce superior returns. These range from the ‘crackpot’ infomercials schemes that infest early morning television to people that are afraid of the stock market altogether, and also include the research of Nobel laureate economists. The key question for an aspiring investor to ask is what they can learn from each method and strategy.
4 Tips for Successful Bible Investing
Odd as it might seem, successful Bible investing comes down to a lot of stuff you already know, and a little bit of common sense. Still, it might be a good idea to have a short refresher course on exactly how you can take that common sense inside and put it to use, through investing, to increase the bounty God gives you. We’ve boiled down what can sometimes seem to be an overwhelming field of study into a four simple ideas that should keep you on the right track.
Packaging Your Commodities: Commodity Investing Through Residential Real Estate
For most people, it is difficult to read through a financial newspaper or watch late night television without seeing repeated (possibly obnoxious) exhortations to invest in commodities such as gold or silver. The logic of these advertisements is frequently sound, since it is certainly true that government irresponsibility is leading toward a currency collapse and massive inflation. What frequently gets left out of the analysis is the other options available for investment that offer far greater prospects for return than gold or silver.
Solomon Proverbs 1:10 – Enticed by Sinners
Part of the deal in reading and understanding Solomon proverbs is that you have to embrace righteousness as a desirable characteristic. If you can’t do that, everything else is simply a waste of time. Righteousness decrees that no matter how enticing a sinner is, no matter how your weak flesh and mind beg you to succumb, you cannot do so, and perhaps nowhere is the concept of sinners and sin more obvious than the financial arena. It seems that all the worst aspects of human nature surface in a boiling brew when money is involved.
Remember, A Dollar Is Not Always A Dollar
In case you missed the recent “Predictions for 2011 and Beyond” conference call hosted by Jason Hartman and Empowered Investor Network, one of the primary topics covered was the fatal flaw made by many investors who assume a dollar is always a dollar. This basic economic fallacy can kill your portfolio, and leave you with much less money in your retirement years than you had hoped.
* By the way, you can buy the ebook containing all the information from the conference call at THIS LINK. The $197 price includes a private 30 minute consultation with Jason Hartman.
But back to the dollar. The critical concept to understand is that a dollar today is not worth the same as a dollar one year from today, or even ten years from today. The real value of a dollar, expressed in terms of what you can actually buy with it, continually erodes over time. The reason for this is, of course, inflation, which has been a constant factor in our economy in a major way since President Nixon took the country off the gold standard in the early 1970’s, and granted the Federal Reserve de facto permission to create money out of thin air.
Talking With the Stars…Jason’s Marquee Guests on the Creating Wealth Show
In the last few months, Jason has had some big name guests on the Creating Wealth Show. Some of Jason’s recent guests of note are Pat Buchannan, Robert Kiyosaki, and Catherine Austin Fitts.
Pat Buchannan is well known in the United States as an outspoken conservative voice in favor of limited government, and less globalization. In his Jason’s interview with Pat, they discussed the prospect for large amounts of inflation in the near future. Pat commented that the US debt would be floated away on a sea of inflation. At the Financial Freedom Report, we couldn’t agree more with this sentiment, and advocate that investors defend their financial wellbeing with income producing assets that are financed with fixed-rate debt.