gfa: I wish I had held on to my house money until now...I'd have been able to buy a lot more shares. But I've been too busy to worry much about it. I've been working too much, and still tying to get the rental house organized the way we want. Hanging pictures is a real pain when my wife is involved. Up 2 inches. No, down 1 inch. Over to the left by 1/2 inch. And we have to hang about 15 pictures. It takes all damn day.
Hard to predict the Dollar moves in the short run. If Covid reignites over in Europe and then jumps over here it could continue to weigh on equities and precious metals. Over the intermediate to long term I have no doubt where precious metal prices are going. Up. The Federal Government and the Fed have to keep supporting equity prices and suppressing bond prices or the whole Ponzi economy comes crashing down. Many State and local governments already are terribly underwater on pension obligations. Imagine how the pension plans would look after a 50% drop in equities. And I imagine every cop in America will be bailing out the day they vest in their pensions. Their job is being rendered impossible and the Democrats and the media are making it worse. Public pensions are going to become a big issue over the next decade. All the big cities are going to be in grave financial condition due to the exodus of the middle class that pays for everything. Home builders are going gangbusters putting up new suburban and exurban housing. The fragile coexistece of ethnicities that the cities enjoyed for a few decades is now over. Hedge fund guys are bailing on New York, Connecticut and New Jersey....and are all moving to Florida for the favorable business climate and tax structure. With the lock downs and the rapid growth of working from home people realize that there is no longer any reason to live in cities with their higher costs, higher taxes, higher crime rates, snarled traffic....Now California iis considering another increase in tax rates AND a wealth tax that would follow any resident that pulls up stakes for 10 years after they exit. I doubt that would pass Constitutional scrutiny but it does illuminate the mind set of California politicians. We are already starting to plan a 2 or 3 week scouting trip to Portugal for this time next year. We want to narrow down our geographical search, make contact with a local property manager/realtor, and start the Visa process so that we're ready to make our exit in September 2022. If we aren't in a full blown civil war before then.