Yes....
There are more then rumblings that all the different “country” banks (the banks like the FED) are investing directly in the real assets (stock market, real estate, precious metals) due to the low rates - in the EU the rates are negative. It’s the only option they really have left to make any money.
As those Trillions start to buy up assets the assets are going to blossom in price. (basic supply and demand).
Even if this isn’t true the market returns for dividend paying stocks are better then interest rates in savings and/or CDs. I’m hard in the market with about 75% of my money (with about 10% of that in REITs (real estate funds)), 20% is wrapped up in the house (real estate). Maybe 5% I have I Gold and silver....probably lighter than that and I do plan to buy some more.
My big issue is I was just offered a buyout on a pension from a company I worked for years ago, and I have to make a decision on if I believe the company can pay it in the future or if I should take a payout as a lump sum now. I’m leaning lump sum, because I think I can make a better return on my own....still.....I haven’t made up my mind.
The only thing that would say not to do one of these would be if Trump is not reelected. Then I’d be all into shifting to precious metals (in hand not paper).
I believe Trump will be reelected easily...so I’ve made my decisions accordingly.
One of my Real Estate Ventures had appreciated so much - located 40 Minutes from Branson, and now in Springfield city limits—that I decided to sell it.
That reduced my Real Estate from 60% to around 30%. Now we are cash heavy and spending it— I hope to acquire the lot directly behind us. That would give us 1.5 Acres where our home is. We are building a storage shed over a basement/storm/root cellar with some of the proceeds.
We are going to set up a standby generator, and look into solar and or wind power to back up that for the well pump.
I’d say get out of debt—I would not be able to sleep if things imploded and I had debt. YMMV
Don’t forget about investing in food—prices will go up. In my budget/retirement plan, we calculated that prices would double the first half and triple the last half.
We have purchased some long term stuff(20-30 year shelf life) each year with our minimum distribution IRA withdrawals—food for emergencies. We do buy a lot of stuff on sale by the case from the local grocery—stuff we eat all the time. Stock up on 6-12 months.
I think a balanced portfolio could contain 10-20% Precious Metals-maybe more. I’d consider buying Precious Metals to pay the property taxes too—in case of melt down or great inflation.
It’s a tricky situation with your pension. I did take a lump sum and rolled it over into a self-directed IRA—but that was right before the dot.com bust. So the market did not do as well as I had hoped.
I did liquidate half of my stocks and funds in IRAs in 2007. That gave me enough cash to pay off debts, if I should need to make a withdrawal. Did not need to though, so I’ll just keep it there in case of medical emergency.
I took the lump sum pension, because I was afraid the company would not honor the pension. We had a lot of people in St. Louis that lost their pensions at a number of companies at the time I retired so that was on my mind then.
I haven’t checked to see if the market is fully valued or not. If it is or if overvalued, then it’s
Pay off debt
Park some cash somewhere
Real Estate (not REITS)
Precious Metals: Silver and Gold.
I read several books about preparing for emergencies. One author pointed out that some rich people in Europe have survived a lot of ups and downs. Thei wealth was portable. They took the bag of gold, rolled up their paintings, took their deeds and important papers.
When the crisis passed, they came back and claimed their property, rehung their paintings, and got on with their life.
My best investment turned out to be the Real Estate. Close enough to a city to more than double every decade. I had a 334% return for the 33 years—A little more than 10%/year.
Market returns during that same time was less than 6% for mutual funds “professional Management”. My own portfolio did better, but I used that to live on during the early part of my retirement.
Good luck to you—hope you figure it out.