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HERE IS JUDITH AFTER WINNING 4TH PLACE IN THE IEA NATIONAL COMPETITION LAST WEEK IN MARYLAND.
JUDITH WORKED VERY HARD AND I'M VERY PROUD OF THIS ACCOMPLISHMENT. SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL AND GRACEFUL RIDER.
JUDITH AND I WERE HAPPY TO BE STANDING TOGETHER IN THE WINNERS CIRCLE! |
Silver Takes A Ride
On The Rollercoaster
This chart shows the price of SLV, the silver exchange traded fund, for the year so far, courtesy of yahoo finance. As you can see, SLV started at $30 per share at the beginning of the year, shot all the way up to $47, and then in one week went back down to $34. That's more than a 25% drop in one week! On the plus side, it's still up for the year over 10%.
If you've been reading this column, you know that I've been warning you that silver (and gold) are far more volatile than people want to believe. They can go up quickly, but they can fall even faster. This is why you need to be really careful when you hold large positions in these assets.
I'm not a big fan of holding large percentages of your portfolio in hard assets like silver and gold. 10% - 15% holdings? Fine. But when you start getting more than that, you are rolling the dice.
But if you are going to roll the dice like that, at least do it the way a large number of hedge funds do it - use options to protect yourself. While I could never give options advice in a newsletter like this, I can at least tell you that options provide you a couple of ways to protect yourself when prices plummet on you, yet still allow you to cash in when things go well.
This is one of those areas that you need to talk to me about one on one, as each person's circumstances are different.
Is this the beginning of a bubble popping in gold and silver? Who knows? Is it a wake up call that prices can plummet quickly when you least expect it? I sure hope so. |
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Please bring a friend or family member and join us for Dinner .
Our next financial workshop and dinner will be:
Dinner Tuesday, June 7th at 5:30 p.m.
OR
Dinner Thursday, June 9th at 5:30 p.m.
Buckeye Hall of Fame Grill
900 Goodale Boulevard
Columbus, OH 43212
Details to follow!
If you and a friend would like to hear Don Ross discuss retirement planning strategies for 2011.
Please email or call in your reservation.
RSVP
614-545-0277 or linda@rosswealthadvisors.com |
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Will This Be Your Last, Best Chance For Roth Conversion?
Lately, I've come to be pretty concerned about what's happening to the overall American economy. If just half of what I'm seeing comes to fruition, retirees throughout the country will end up paying heavily.
So what am I talking about?
The clock is ticking.
Our Government is acting as though they are working hard to reduce the deficit, but when you dive into the numbers, you find both sides of the aisle are only touching the surface.
Meanwhile, Standard & Poors has announced that they are expecting to lower the credit rating of US bonds. How bad is that? It would mean that many companies out there would be considered a better bet to pay back what they've borrowed than our government, and our government can print money!
The housing market is in shambles still, with no end in sight.
Tax rates are almost certain to increase.
Inflation is already at 10% if we simply measured it the way we used to.
So why does this bode so poorly for retirees? It all boils down to increased taxation combined with inflation.
Many retirees hold a large chunk of their nest egg inside of retirement plans. This is money that has never been taxed. When tax rates go up, the net value of your retirement plans goes down.
When you mix in inflation to a reduced nest egg, you end up with an ugly result.
I believe we are living in the last couple years of low tax rates. I can see tax rates increasing significantly down the road for all of us. Increased tax rates immediately reduce the net value of our retirement plans. Now is the time to take advantage of low tax rates to convert your IRAs to Roth IRAs.
You can invest in such a way to fight inflation. But the only way to fight increased taxation is to convert to Roth.
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