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Iron Ranger
@
2011 Dec 13, 1:59am
You must have gone to Cherry or Cook or one of the other St. Louis county schools - I also grew up in the same area (Embarrass), same time frame, same lower 99%. I can go thru the same stories, heated our house with wood - but all those cords the first year by hand with a crosscut saw & a bow saw - and I was 12. -60 below one winter in the early 70's with 40 mph winds - we dressed up and went outside just to see what it was like LOL. 59 in my high school class and I was a National Merit Scholar. Tough place, tough people - almost no one can relate.
You got it! rural St. Louis County school district. Uff-da! Nothing like splitting poplar after hauling it out of the swamp in -20F weather. Easy splitting when frozen. The best motivation to get to California. Have you ever been to Mesaba Lake Park? Commie country there. I had friends in Babbit. Embarass takes the all time cold temperature record though.
I read your missive and I would be more than a little concerned that you seem to be completely ignoring (or unaware) of the current macroecon situation.
I am more than aware. I read John Mauldin -- The End Game. The next great depression is a real possibility. The Eurozone might bring us all down. Good advice fellow Ranger!
Iron Ranger : Glad you are aware, hate to see you lose that money.
I left the Range in the 80's for CA and it was quite an experience - been back to live for short stints, but I've had enough winter to last a lifetime. I have a lot of family back there still, and I love them but not -50 degress love them LOL so I'm staying on the west coast. CA is in deep deep trouble financially IMO and the plethora of laws and regulations is too much for me so I don't go there much any more.
Anyways, never read mauldin before, went and looked his book up - synopsis looks spot on to me. If you grokked that then I think you've got it covered.
If you have money and are wondering what to do with it (like I do and you do), a lot depends on how far down the rabbit hole you think we go. If this is 'investable', then the best thing to do right now would be to park your money to wait for the massive deflation still to come.
I just think we go a lot further down that hole than people want to consider. Only good news is that I think it takes some time (another 5+ years to get there). I don't think the US gets away with stiffing China for a couple of trillion without some kind of war. Having lived in China for a while, the chinese are a lot smarter and sneakier than the govt and the citizens of this country understand.
Anyways, best of luck - we all pays our money and takes our chances.
kochevnik
lots of advice to buy US bonds. Why would you buy that 1% paying below inflation crap of a country that is likely to default.
Buy a house.
Buy inflation-protected stocks (an advisory would help). Don't buy inflation adjusted bonds.. Government will lie about the rate.
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Well, I hit the jackpot. I had a stake in a startup that just sold. Amazing.
Now what?
I just moved to the Bay Area from the Midwest this year to take an awesome job at Apple. Sold my big home at a 33% loss and was happy to be free of that money pit. Living in a 2 bedroom apt with wife and 3 kids. It's pretty cramped. Kinda nice being debt free though.
Do I buy a home in the Bay Area now? Are there pockets of value? I think prices will slide, or crash with a global depression. If I buy, do I pay cash or get a loan and invest the money so I get the mortgage interest deduction?
Where to invest? CA tax free state bonds? That freaks me out.
It's surreal, but nice. I had some successes in my career, no big ones, lots of failed startups. A dot com startup that made investors some money, but not great.
#housing