Bigworld, It was a relief to see Powell show up. I figure they'll continue to keep the markets buoyant as long as it's in their (Fed/bankster) interests to do so. But what happens when a crisis is necessary to achieve their broader goals? Then they'll stand back and let things unravel.
That's what happened in 1929, when they deliberately pulled the rug out by calling in the margin loans. Insiders and people in the know had already exited the markets weeks/months before. That will probably happen again at some point, when they need a crisis to justify the big reset/transition to SDRs. But when will this happen is the big question, and in the meantime they keep juicing the markets.
Fwiw I've been moving out of the sector ETFs and more into broad ETFs (Total Stock Market, S+P 500). I already had most of the stock allocation in these broad ETFs, but now it's almost exclusively there. These also give the ability to go to cash quickly if necessary. The high growth sectors like cloud computing and clean energy have done great, but got too overvalued, and with the economy recovering later this year, investors are moving into value and cyclicals. I don't really like those sectors as long term buy/holds, so figure I'll go with the broad indexes and get both growth and value in one ETF.
I figure stocks should continue to be OK for now, but am gradually reducing the overall allocation. Bonds don't look attractive so I only have 11-12% allocated there (way down from almost 40% at one point), and a small amount in REITS (1-2%). So a big % allocation to cash, but that pays zero income.
Hard assets like real estate seem like the logical place to be, but owning rental property isn't for everyone, and with Covid it is now legal for tenants to stop paying their rent. Buying undeveloped land seems risky. Having gold and silver is good but the prices are routinely suppressed.
One way to boost the hard asset allocation would be to just buy a bigger house to live in. I only have a condo now, and the real estate market around here is red hot lately, even in the winter. My sister's friend sold their house in 2 days after getting 8 offers. Unbelievable, especially in February and with the economy in the tank from Covid. I don't know where all these buyers are coming from. Having a paid-for home seems like one of the safer places to be, compared to stocks, bonds, etc. With gold, in addition to ongoing price suppression, what happens if the coming monetary reset has no role for gold?
China and Russia have been stockpiling gold for years in anticipation of the big reset, but the fact that they now have reached gold parity with the West could make the Western elites less likely to use gold in the coming monetary system. If the US/Europe/IMF still had a big gold advantage, the Western elites might push to include gold in the new system since it would ensure continued Western dominance.
But these globalists not only don't want a role for gold, they don't want physical currency at all. They want a 100% digital monetary system on a 'permissioned' blockchain that they control.
As Rickards says, gold is really only good for one thing - as money or as backing for money. But what if there is no role for gold in the new monetary system? Rickards says there isn't a central banker on Earth who wants to have the constraints of a gold standard. He said they might be forced into one in order to regain trust in the new system, but that is by no means assured. Silver seems like a safer bet since it has so many industrial uses, including solar panels.
