Interesting, I’ve done the same pros and cons that you ran through. Dissappointingly, the Fidelity precious metals options I have did not track precious metals very well. Otherwise, I would have doubled my money.
I have been most heavily weighted in international stocks, and they have done OK, but I expect global melt down when the DOW collapses (and I think it will on the timeline given in the article).
I’m thinking that money market funds will preserve the most principle for me, to spin around and reinvest.
Outside of tax deferred, I’ve been accumulating a very large cash position. That money will go in after we hit hit bottom, do the dead cat bounce, and bottom out again. Assuming I haven’t used it to purchase a defensible chicken coup in Idaho.
Thirdly, I started purchasing valuable personal items of great utility and increasing value in 2008 and steadily increased my holdings. I could sell now for a 100% profit, but I believe I might need the utility, somewhere in Idaho, more than the cash.
So it has been 13 years and no higher???? It is simple we either go back down or go higher.....just put stops on everything... it is the 2000 points down in one day that will kill everything
Now's a good time to pay off any debt. I took a chunk of my non-tax-deferred cash, which was earning almost nothing, and paid off my mortgage -- an instant 4.5% return. The rest I, like you, am saving for the next crash. I loaded up when the Dot.com bubble burst in 1999 and again when the market crashed in 07-08, and did very well. I call it the "Mr. Potter (It's a Wonderful Life) Strategy" -- buy when everyone is selling; sell when everyone is buying....