Dividend Stocks

[gfp927z]

I agree, the bulk of the equity portion of a portfolio should be in a broad index fund or ETF.

Increasingly it looks like a decent size gold/silver position is only prudent. Jim Rickards recommends up to 10% in physical gold since another financial crisis is inevitable at some point.

There are more Derivatives out there than ever before (1-2 quadrillion), and the Fed is in no condition to do another huge bail out since they haven't unwound their balance sheet from 2008. Interest rates are near zero, so there's virtually no ammo available for another big bailout.

Rickards says when the inevitable crisis hits the only solution will be an IMF bailout of the US and the world. They're the only entity left with a clean balance sheet. The IMF's SDR/Special Drawing Rights will become the new global reserve currency.

So having a sizable position in gold seems like a good hedge. I don't have much in the stock market anymore. At over 7 years, the bull market is really long in the tooth. It's mostly propped up by the Fed/PPT and companies issuing debt to buy back their own stock. The economic 'recovery' since 2008 has been pretty pathetic. They re-inflated the stock market, but the real economy never did experience much recovery, and the US middle class has been hollowed out from 35 years of de-industrialization.