Why is the gold price falling? How is gold, from an investment point of view, at the current price and what will be the future trend?
Today there are a number of ways that one can invest one's surplus money in. There is equity, debt, government bonds, infrastructure bonds, mutual funds, deposits with banks etc. Out of these, products like government bonds, infrastructure bonds and bank deposits are, by their very nature, quite conservative in terms of returns on investment. The common thread in all the remaining investment products is their dependance on the growth that occurs in the economy. They are all performance driven. If an economy is going through recession, all these performance driven instruments of investment give lesser returns on investment and become less attactive to investors. Gold as an investment option is independent of the economic situation of a country. It is because it does not derive its value from anything other than itself. That's why even when business environment in an economy is at its nadir, gold does not lose it's value. On the contrary when an economy is in recession, gold becomes the only investment option whose value goes up. This is because gold has its own inherent value and people know this fact which assures them that gold will atleast not give negative returns even when no growth occurs in the economy. This assurance about gold makes people go on gold buying spree when economic chips are down which in turn results in increased demand for gold taking it's prices further northwards. This is the reason that gold started to rise insanely post 2008 when recession began setting in in the USA. Now that US economy is showing signs of recovery, gold prices are going down day by day. This is because US economy is the lynchpin of the world economy and it is the cross section of the world's economic health. The bottomline is that gold will always keep you at par with inflation. If you want your money to not lose its present purchasing power, invest in gold. But if you want to enhance your buck's purchasing power, go for other options like equity. But then you will also have to be ready for the bad news too.
How did the "cool kids" from your high school turn out?
Most of the cool kids I knew were bullies, always picked on the weakest of the pack. Some of the bullied kids I knew turned out to be more successful.Cool girl bully#1: Always picked on the kids in the special needs classes. She got pregnant after graduation and the guy ditched her. She had a second child, but the guy also ditched her. She works at one of the big chain grocery stores, has been since having her first child.Cool girl bully#2 (the anorexic girl): Picked on the overweight kids, called them pigs. She ended up in some psych hospital after she considered herself “too fat”, but she was just skin and bones. Last I heard, she moved to some kind of village where they have a support group for anorexics.The jock: Went to prison and stripped of his football titles for using steroids. He committed suicide by overdosing just after he was released.The obnoxious know it all girl: Pretty self-centered, said she knew everything. Was denied scholarship of the college of her choice because she was in trouble with the law. Turned out she had a habit of shoplifting.The poor girl with severe acne: I was friends with this girl, but had terrible acne. Kids called her a scaly lizard because of it. She ended up dating and marrying the young doctor who helped her clear up her acne.The goth couple: Married after graduation. Ended up homeless for a while. Now run a successful modern art studio. Pretty famous with some of the millennial generation.The brother and sister with fundamentalist Christian parents: I felt bad for these two as their parents were absolutely crazy about their religion. The brother moved out after graduation and banned his parents from attending his wedding to his sweetheart. He enrolled at a Christian college and became a youth minister. The sister ended up running away before graduating and lived with her brother and his wife for a while. She moved to Pennsylvania where she went to a community college and became a nurse. As for the parents, their children refused to speak to them. I don’t blame them.The quiet girl: Never had close friends, but was pretty smart. She went to college and graduated with top marks. She is married and works at Johns Hopkins University.The nerd: Always made fun of because his glasses and for reading too many books. He is a now working at a successful book publishing company.
What are the most cliche things ultra wealthy people do?
I live about a quarter mile from a country club that is a living monument and watering hole for rich people.The join fee is $40,000, per person. There is a mandatory spend of $100 per month or it gets charged to your account.What does that $40K get you? A pool and a clubhouse that has a clubhouse gym.I’m NOT a member. But I’ve been to the pool, clubhouse and gym plenty of times.And on absolutely zero occasions — have I ever seen anyone there who isn’t white.Well I’ve seen black people — but they were all employees wearing tuxedo-style uniforms and were working as waiters. I wish I was joking.This is old money Tampa. Bluebloods.Their teen children all drive fancy SUVs that cost more than the club membership fee.They are the most insanely spoiled kids I’ve ever met. It sucks because they look like me. It makes me want to stand in the mirror and slap myself.When those kids are in town I’ve seen them at the gym, and of course, they all have fraternity/sorority shirts on.Big shocker. Paying to have friends is an early hobby in life for them.What I’m going to say next is not an exaggeration. I’m being dead, ass, serious.If you were to tell anyone there you are a Democrat, it would be a record scratch moment. It would kill your social life among that crowd.The clubhouse gym always had at least two of the four TVs on Fox News. MSNBC? Don’t even think about it.The clubhouse has a dock with about 50–75 yachts and sailboats. That is a popular hobby there.Not everyone at this club is a terrible person. A few of my neighbors are members and I am very fond of them.But other than that, I try to stay off that scene.Country clubs are the embodiment of Rich People cliches.
Is another global financial crisis coming in 2019?
Well. There’s a lot of predictions about late 2019 and early 2020 by many measures, the economy is in its best shape since the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. Unemployment hit an 18-year low of 3.8% in May. Average wage growth is widely expected to reach 3% by the end of the year. And the economy is projected to grow nearly 3% in 2018 for just the second time since the downturn.In other words, It seems that when longer-term rates drop below short-term rates, a recession often follows. But this is also true for unemployment claims: a recession seems to follow whenever they drop below 300,000Yet the economic expansion is the second-longest in U.S. history, leading many economists to forecast a recession as early as next year. Half the economists surveyed last month by the National Association of Business Economics foresee a recession starting in late 2019 or in early 2020, and two-thirds are predicting a slump by the end of 2020.Why?Precisely because things seem to be going so well.The late stage of an economic expansion is most vulnerable to a popping of the bubble. It's typically when unemployment falls, inflation heats up, the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to cool the economy down — often going too far — and investors and consumers pull back.“It’s just the time when it feels like all is going fabulously that we make mistakes, we overreact, we overborrow,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.More: Rural malls hit hard times, leaving shoppers adrift as more stores closeMore: McDonald's: You buy more from touch-screen kiosks than a person. So expect more kiosksMore: Java jolt! Starbucks raises coffee prices across the U.S.But some other ingredient typically is needed to tip an economy into recession, Zandi says. In 1990-91, it was an oil price shock. In 2001, it was the bursting of the dotcom bubble and resulting stock market decline. In 2007, it was the housing crash.“A recession fundamentally is an outbreak of pessimism” that causes consumers and businesses to rein in spending, economist Jesse Edgerton of JPMorgan Chase says.Here is the baseline scenario that could push the nation into a recession in the next couple of years:Ref: The economy is humming. So why do experts foresee a recession in 2020?
What college are you attending this fall (class of 2018)?
I will be attending the University of Michigan and I’ll be studying biochemistry on a pre-med track in the college of literature, science, and the arts (LSA).Out of the other colleges that I got into, I chose UMich for many reasons. The first is that I think that it is the perfect distance from me. From where we live currently, it is an hour and 30 minute drive, compared to just 30 minutes for one college and 7.5 hours drive for the third college. This way, I can home whenever I want to without having to take a plane, but it’s also far enough to be able to have the college experience.The academics are also a big reason why I chose UMich. It was recently named the top public university in America according to the QS rankings. There are also so many academic opportunities that exist at UMich. For instance, I will be taking part in the WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) residential program and it offers many chances to learn more about this topic and it also offers a lot of support in the form of community and study groups. Additionally, I was accepted into the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), because of which I will be able to pursue research in my chosen area, the health sciences, and I will also be able to earn work study money for doing what I love.Mosher Jordan hall where I will be staying my freshman year.Obviously, the school spirit and the location in Ann Arbor are a big plus. Everyone that I met at orientation and at previous events were amazing people. I am so excited to attend the University of Michigan this fall and Go Blue!
What is an interesting fact about you?
The most amazing thing about me is that I hate being defined or build an image. I value freedom more than anything else which comes only when you are free to live your life in your way.We usually define a person from his qualification, profession or passion. However, none of these have been able to trap me so far.My QualificationHere is the list of my professional qualification.B Tech IIT (BHU) Varanasi (Mechanical Engineering)M Tech, IIT Delhi (Design of Mechanical Equipment)PhD, IIITM Gwalior (E-Governance)You may, therefore, expect me to be a highly qualified Engineer who must be expert in technical matters.In reality, I have nothing to do with any technical field and I read anything except technology associated with my qualificationMy ProfessionI have worked for twenty-five years in the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise).Hence, you must expect me to be an expert in taxation matters and think like a government officer.In reality, I hardly have any interest in the tax matter and my thinking is quite liberal and progressive as evident from my writings.My PassionMy first book was published in 2013 with the title ‘Practicing Spiritual Intelligence”. This book was about spiritual intelligence though I have not read any book on spiritual intelligence till date. If you read my book, you would find a totally new concept of ‘spiritual intelligence’ which you can never find anywhere in any other book. My concept of spiritual intelligence is unique in the world.Most of my readers and friends expected me to write my next book on spirituality. However, my next book was on totally different topic i.e. “The Secret Red Book of Leadership”. This book is diametrically opposite to my book on spirituality in which I have justified the dark side of the real leaders including Machiavellian methods.My next book is on totally different topic and it has nothing to do with spirituality or leadership.I love to be undefined as I believe that the real joy of life comes from exploration and not by arriving anywhere.I feel suffocated to be trapped in any image because:-All images are like prisons that we build around ourselves.All prisons are painful, whether they are made of bricks or of gold.
Why is Brexit good for the United Kingdom?
Brexit is good for the UK because we'll be out of the EU. To many this isn't a good thing. But for many it's the reverse.I live in a poor area. I'm all but homeless. I'm of poor health due to depression. I'm unemployed. The last holiday I had was to Spain in 1995.I keep hearing that Brexit will make me poorer. The truth is though I could more comfortably lose 50% of my income and not really know it whilst those who have money and enjoy the continent will suffer.The problem is that those in London look to the continent rather than to the north. And those in the EU look internally rather than to the UK.Rulings come down on us from the EU, not from London.Many Remainers are spaced out. They look down on our nation as a bunch of numbers and graphs. They're blind and ignorant to the negative effects of the EU. Tell them true life story's and they'll add a pinch of salt or bog you down with stats and rhetoric.I find many think on rails. I blame "education". Education isn't about teaching people to think. It's about regulating thoughts, ensuring that we are productive and that we can add to the economy and help the rich get richer. Those that slip off the rails are regarded as stupid, or crazy. The media ensures that we look down on such people. They fill our prisons and hospitals and dole queues.Globalisation is an idea and that's all. It's not good. Just because we've thought of it doesn't mean we must relentlessly persue it.The EU is a trial run. It's mini-globalisation. Again, to many there are benifits. But for just as many there is misery.For anyone who feels the need to tell me I'm wrong, forget it. You will impose on me your own beliefs and principles. I don't seek wealth, or fame, or power. Ideally I'd love my own little home and let the rest of the world crack on with their games.I will never own a home.
What should I do during a stock market crash?
First rule, never try to predict or time the market. Market timing is flawed exercise where people actively trade stocks trying to outsmart the market. The market is unpredictable, capricious and too complex for the individual investor. Wealth is acquired deliberately thru the accumulation of solid assets over a lengthy period of time. Wealth is not acquired gambling at the horse races using get rich quick schemes. So when the inevitable downturn, correct or crash occurs one must have thought matters through in advance. This means having enough income and saved cash to ride out a worst case multi year downturn. Never panic, never sell.If you attempt to buy near the bottom wait until the market is up something like 10% to play it safe.Do not catch a falling knife.If you buy near the bottom make sure you will never need to sell for years in case thing fall even further.Even if you have to hold assets for 3 - 4 years.Not overextend, do not get greedy. Many people lose their shirts during the crash because people are forced to sell at below fair value prices to make ends meet.Have enough liquid assets (cash) to ride out the storm for at least 2 - 3 years.A stock market crash is a fiscal liquidity crisis, a free market failure, cash is king, deflation protects cash.Like at the beach, a crash is when the tide goes out and you see who has been swimming with no bathing suits. "Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." John Maynard Keynes "The best time to sell is never" Warren Buffet Crash recoveries take at least several years, often longer (this last one took 4 years). I did a little shopping myself in March of 2009, when no one else was buying. But only make modest determined purchases because the market can always go lower. Make small moves, not big moves. Again, never panic, never sell.Easier said than done but it can be done.I held fast in 2000, 9/11/2001, and 2008 / 2009.It was the right move and I knew this at the time. Have no doubts have a plan and have certainty.When you change plans in turmoil you always lose.