Posted on 03/06/2013 7:43:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Former Texas Congressman Ron Paul is known for his full-throated endorsement of gold as money. And he's put his money where his mouth is by investing in a lot of it.
Last year during the presidential election, The Wall Street Journal reported on Paul's financial disclosure.
The Congressman's portfolio was heavily weighted with precious metals. Last year we learned that a shocking 64 percent of Paul's $2.4 to $5.5 million portfolio is tied up in precious metals like gold and silver.
At the time, people were gushing at how smart of a move that was in that market.
But today, gold is getting massacred — it's been said to be in a "death cross," the market rally means prices are sliding, and sellers are getting desperate — and Paul's investments seem to be tanking too.
Via Google Finance, here's what has happened to three of Paul's largest holdings — Barrick Gold, Goldcorp and Newmont Mining — in the past 6 months. Losses of over 20% on each:
Paul has investments in 23 other miners — many of them small Canadian risky "juniors" — so it's doubtful he's doing much better with the rest of the portfolio.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Calling all Stock Broker / Money Manager / Hedge Fund Freepers. What IS the deal with Gold in general. I read both directions - hold or get ready to buy.
Per Stuart Varney on FOX Business, he thinks this is a temporary rise in the market, caused by investors dumping bonds and buying into stocks and doesn’t think it will sustain itself at all. The left is jubilant about this and claims this will continue. With the Fed printing 85 billion dollars per month (?) and shoveling it out the door, THAT is fake and this is NOT your dad’s Oldsmobile type of market.
Please chime in as this Freeper would love to know what Freeper experts say about Gold. Thanks and have a great day.
Mee too.....but with the USA prinitng 85 billion a month and the rest of the world doing the same...I am sticking with my real money...it will turn....the Bernanke put will fail in the long term...
Depends on when Paul purchesed them...
If you bought that much back in 2007 you’ve made a baotload bfore a recent slide. On the whole you would be up a whole lot of money.
Holding wealth in US dollars in US banks is a winning strategy ... until it isn’t.
The Big boys are just manipulating the market on Gold and the other stuff to get Gold prices down so they can buy up Gold before the big collapse...
DHS is investing in mine proof vehicles and brass and lead...
The market manipulators are just positioning themselves for the collapse, this will happen after the latest market correction or the next correction they engineer.
They are hoping the gold bugs will dump their gold so they can buy cheap, a lot of gold bugs are never going to dump, so they will continue to manipulate until they do, which won’t happen, this will speed up the coming collapse perhaps....???
If you bought that much back in 2007 you’ve made a baotload bfore a recent slide. On the whole you would be up a whole lot of money.
If you bought around 2000-2001 you are sitting REALLY NICE!!!
Simple. As it's always been -- an irrational panic metal that assumes when things get bad, you can trade gold for anything you want. Sorry; no. Aside from being used for fishing line sinkers, it has no intrinsic value when the economy goes belly-up.
Don’t take investment advice from people for whom a given investment strategy is a religion.
RE: Depends on when Paul purchesed them...
Ron Paul has been into gold and precious metals since as far back as the housing bubble (before it all came crashing down). *THAT* is how far back I have read his newsletter ( nope I don;t subscribe, I have a friend who lends me his old copies ).
I think the price of gold is being manipulated down. The central banks can do this easily because of the paper transactions of gold without the actual gold to back it up. How long this game can go on I don’t know.
I'm sure you have documented facts to back up your conspiracy theory.
To some people gold will always be a cult instead of an investment.
What kind of an idiot buys something when it is at an all time high? I guess the same kind that sells when something hits an all time low. Ron Paul, bless his deluded little antisemitic sympathizing heart, only lost this money if he SELLS NOW. If he holds onto it (and he didn't buy high) gold will probably eventually climb back to a value where selling it would have made it a good investment.
(1) It took me about 23 years to break even on those Krugerrands I bought back during the Carter administration.
(2) The internet and cable TV are full of people who tell me how my paper money will be worthless within months or years, but strangely they are only too delighted to give me some of their precioussss metal in return for those doomed pieces of green paper.
So IOW he lost 20% on an investment which is probably already doubled or tripled..
Yea I wish I was losing money like that
Precious metals are a hedge against inflation and a security instrument. In our investment driven media world everything is viewed in terms of investment performance and this does not capture why I like precious metals.
You can say the same thing for beans and bullets. Some of us want to preserve our wealth and a commodity I physically possess may ultimately be worth more than a commodity stored in digital format at a bank. Which one do I really control?
Many folks would be wise to modify their investing beyond recommendations of the chattering class on the business channels. Worse case scenario - I can eat my food investment in the next decade. My grandkids can shoot a mosin-nagant (or other variety) rifle forty years from now. I am not sure I can say the same thing for my mutual fund so I might be very happy I invested some of my portfolio in useful commodities on hand versus the wall street casino that is ultimately tied to the value of a dollar controlled by reckless politicians and greedy banksters.
My 5 gallon buckets of screws and nails may be worth more than a few shares of a mutual fund in 10 years. Same for 5 gallon buckets of 22 ammunition. Same for 5 gallon buckets of honey, sugar, salt, oats, beans, and rice. Silver and gold will always spend - I am not so sure about the purchasing power of a $20 dollar bill in 10 years.
My orchard will probably have great value in 10 years as will my garden and pasture. I am still invested in the market because of my job, but I try to invest in useful commodities with any extra money. I even have bins of nice clothing stored for my small children thanks to the thrift stores.
Just food for thought and best of luck diversifying your portfolio...... Think outside of the electronic box!
According to the WSJ article, he has held this portfolio since 2002.
So if he bought, say, Newmont in 2002 then he bought around $30 and it is now $39.
Which means that over 11 years his annual return has been about 2.7%.
The article also says that he shorted stocks over the same period.
The Dow Jones just hit its all-time high.
Yea I wish I was losing money like that
If you give it a second thought, you'll find that you don't wish that at all.
It’s looking good the past couple of days. If silver can hold $29 for a day or two, I’d say the bottom is in. Reaching and holding $1600 for gold might take a little longer.
Goldman Sachs’ talk of $1200 gold is pure BS, as usual.
I agree with your thoughts.
I would only add a couple things...
1 gold is a hedge against government - it hedges you against the manipulation of fiat currency by governments
2 hedging government jurisdictions is always the best diversification - in this case, gold outside your own country - if everything you own is in one jurisdiction, it is exposed to keystroke seizure and you are not diversified or secure in your property - this will eventually be outlawed through capital controls... Act accordingly, while possible
3 if everything you own is denominated in one currency, you are not
diversified
4 I believe we are entering a time where paper assets will be traded for real things - act accordingly
This is my studied opinion, which I have acted upon for the benefit of my family. Readers will make their own call and live with the consequences.
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