The G Manifesto

Best Investment Advice for 2011

BG: What’s your best investment advice for 2011?

Jim Rogers: Buy the rmb [renminbi, the Chinese currency].

Bill Bonner: We are in a period much like the period following WWI, in which the great debts and losses of the war had to be reckoned with. It is an era of great risk. The U.S. faces many of the same challenges faced by Germany and England after WWI. Like England, it has huge debts. It is a waning imperial power. And it has the world’s reserve currency. And like Germany, it is attempting to fix its problems by printing more money. This is not a good time to be long either U.S. stocks or U.S. bonds.

Peter Schiff: Don’t be suckered into the idea that recovery is just around the corner. The current climate is like living in a hurricane or earthquake zone; it’s important to stay vigilant because you never know when disaster will strike. Physical gold is the financial equivalent of a flashlight, first-aid kit, and store of canned goods. It’s a basic way to protect yourself from any eventuality. From there, if you’re looking for returns, there are plenty of foreign markets with strong fundamentals, as well as commodities that feed those markets.

Investing in the U.S. is now driven largely by force of habit. It’s a habit you should resolve to break.

Jeffrey Christian: Do not invest based on what you believe, but on what you know. Gold is a market, like other markets. It rises and falls. You probably want to stay long gold on a long-term basis, but may want to cull the weaker gold assets from your portfolio in the first quarter, and put some hedges in place to protect a long-term core long gold position against the potential of significant price weakness over the next two years or so. Such a period of weakness would be an excellent time to add to one’s gold assets.

John Williams: As an economist, I look for the U.S. dollar ultimately to lose virtually all of its current purchasing power. Accordingly, for those living in a U.S. dollar-denominated world, it would make sense to move to preserve wealth and assets over the long-term. Physical gold is a primary hedge (as is silver). Holding some stronger currencies outside the U.S. dollar, as well as having some assets outside the United States, also may make sense.

Steve Henningsen: Dramamine (for volatile markets), a stash of cash (for potential investment opportunities), and move some of your assets offshore if you haven’t already.

Frank Trotter: My advice is first to look at the other side of your balance sheet – the liability and risk equation – before seeking out absolute gains. What are your goals, what resources do you already have to meet those goals, and what events (health, income stream, upheavals) might impact these risks? Place some assets to hedge these risks directly, then look to diversify globally into markets with higher growth potential than we see here at home, and that may balance your global purchasing power risk. Almost like a religion, we have had the phrase “Stocks are the only legitimate hedge against inflation” beaten into our heads. I say, look at assets that define inflation like commodities and currencies and evaluate where these fit into your risk portfolio.

Krassimir Petrov: Last year I recommended silver, and I would stick to silver again, despite the phenomenal run in 2010. Then it gets tricky. I usually don’t recommend diversification, but now I would again recommend a broad portfolio of commodities. Investing in 2011 should be easy: stay out of real estate, out of bonds, out of fiat currencies, and out of stocks; stay fully invested in commodities, overweight gold and silver.

What to watch in 2011: stay focused on the sovereign debt crisis and bond yields. Spiking yields will trigger the next stage of the crisis.

Bob Hoye: Once past the early part of 2011, the best returns are likely to be obtained from the junior gold exploration sector.

Source

The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life

http://www.thegmanifesto.com

How I See the World Today: Question and Answer Period | Jim Rogers

Sex and Clients

Here is a recent question from one of our readers:

“I respect your writing style and literary swagger, and I enjoy the hell out of your content. Keep it up.

(redacted)”

Excellent question.

I have never watched “Mad Men” but I am familiar with the gist of the show. (It is amazing how many people mention this show to me, I probably need to watch it sometime).

And yes, our world has changed a lot in comparison to years gone by. I often rap out and watch big boxing matches at this older biz cat’s crib that I am good friends with. He is always talking about the glory days of when he would drink non-stop at work and swoop his secretaries. But that is neither high heels nor greased up construction deals.

To get back to the heart of your question, I would say for sure it’s a bad move.

Thankfully, I have most of my life been working in “industries” where there are not many women around. And I like it this way. I like separating women and biz, since the two mix together like combustible pool chemicals.

Often I have been enticed by “glamour businesses” where you can swoop mad girls along with work (coincidentally, I almost just invested in one with a lot of model swooping upside), but I have been glad that I haven’t gotten involved. Bottom line:

1. Glamour businesses always seem difficult to get your money out
2. I love women as much as the next psychotic International Playboy, but hanging out with them 24/7 is for the weesh
3. See #2

Swooping work girls is understandable if those “work girls” happen to be Models (or girls with Beauty, Intelligence, Money and Family. BIMF’s) .

But 9-5 girls? No shot.

And all that extra risk for an additional 3 swoops per year? Better off taking a Mini-Retirement to Las Vegas and increase those numbers 10 fold.

Most importantly, you never want to mess with anything that can potentially jeopardize your CASH flow.

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In other news, here is Marc Faber On The Japanese Disaster, On A 20% Market Correction And On QE18

Via Zero Hedge

And here is Marc Faber on Money and Women

The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life

http://www.thegmanifesto.com

The Whispers – Emergency Official Video

Jim Rogers: On Bernanke, Commodities and Currencies

Jim Rogers breaks it down for Larry “Cocaine and Cufflinks” Kudlow:

(And talks some sh*t a la Ricardo Mayorga.)

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Crude oil prices have been rising. Do you see supply constraints on mounting pressure from West Asia or speculation?

Of course, it’s supply constraints. Libya has closed down some of its oil production, while Egypt is having problems with its production. There are turmoils in many countries and this is causing supply problems.

These may be temporary problems, but the world, in the mean time, is losing some of its inventory. So, if there is calm and peace tomorrow, we may have oil go down for a while, but the basic problem that the world is running out of known oil reserves continues.

What is your medium-term outlook on crude oil?

Crude oil will continue to go higher, though there can be intermittent corrections. The price of oil is going to continue to rise for years to come.

The dollar index has fallen almost 6 per cent in the past three months. Do you feel that the dollar is losing its appeal as the reserve currency?
Yes, it is an ongoing process. The correction has been severe. But, that is going to happen with the US dollar, as it continues to lose its status as the reserve currency. It is a terribly flawed currency.

Are you investing in other currencies? Which is your favourite and why?

The renmibi is my favourite currency. China has a gigantic balance of trade surplus, and it is the largest creditor nation in the world.

The Chinese are trying to hold it down now, rightly or wrongly. And, I think it is a mistake to try to hold it down. But, the renmibi is the currency that has to appreciate a lot in the next few years.

The bull run has just begun in agricultural commodities. How long do you see that lasting?

I am very bullish on agricultural commodities, probably more than other class of commodities. My favourite agri-commodity is rice.

What is your outlook for gold and silver?

I own both gold and silver and I am neither selling nor buying these two precious metals at current levels.

This week, there are supposedly going to be mass demonstrations/protests in Saudi Arabia. If this happens, gold and silver prices will surge and I will then buy. So, I am not buying gold and silver right now, but I am certainly not selling.

After the recent correction, how are you viewing the Indian equities?

I am just watching. I have sold/short emerging markets and emerging market (EM) ETFs.

EMs have been one of the most exploited sectors of the market in the last two-three years. I have sold/short emerging market and I am not buying any markets anywhere except commodities.

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Click Here for A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing by Jim Rogers

Click Here for Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip by Jim Rogers

Source

The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life

http://www.thegmanifesto.com

Some Dope Books I have recently read: Jesse Livermore, John Perkins and Jim Rogers

Bogotá, Colombia –

I am notorious for starting books and taking forever to finish them. (At any given time, I am reading 8-16 different books).

Recently, I finished a bunch:

Amazing Life of Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader

This is a great book about quite possibly the greatest stock speculator of all time, Jesse Livermore. Perhaps more importantly, Livermore was a dashing financier and bigtime Playboy. He was also a Sharp dresser and Entered The Dragon as well:

“Jesse Livermore walked into the casino dressed in white tie and tails. Livermore enjoyed clothes. The tails had been custom made for him in England. He had four sets made several years before, and they remained unaltered. Livermore’s weight never varied.”

Great trading and gambling philosophy is explained in the book that unfortunately for Livermore all ended in tears.

“Only speculate if you can make it a full time job. Don’t take tips of any kind, no matter where they come from—don’t worry about catching the tops or bottoms, it’s a fools play. Keep the number of stocks to a controllable number. It’s hard to herd cats and it’s hard to track a lot of securities. Take your losses quickly and don’t brood about them, try to learn from them but mistakes are as inevitable as death—and only make a big move, a real big plunge, when the highest number of factors is in your favor, the highest probability for success is present.”

The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World

This book is written by the writer of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins. Perkins is a smart cat, and also an International Playboy, so like most smart cats and International Playboys, he is worth listening to. He give a good breakdown of the Corporatocracy, gives solutions that we must follow or we will be ruined.

A woman tells him:

“Stop being so greedy, and so selfish. Realize there is more to the world than your big houses and fancy stores. People are starving and you worry about oil for your cars. Babies are dying of thirst and you search the fashion pages for the latest styles. Nations like ours are drowning in poverty, but your people don’t even hear our cries for help. You shut your ears to the voices of those who try to tell you these things. You label them radicals or Communists. You must open your hearts to the poor and downtrodden, instead of driving them further into poverty and servitude. There’s not much time left. If you don’t change, you’re doomed.”

A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing

This is a book by G, Jim Rogers, the swashbuckling traveler and legendary investor to his two young daughters.

“Understand this: If everyone saw himself as a citizen of the world rathter than of his town, city or country, the world would be a more peaceful better place where success in all forms is abundant and available to all. That’s not to say that we can’t be patriotic and love our country. But we must always be open to those who are different, because people from different backgrounds have much to teach us and vice versa.”

And

“Probably the best advice I can give to anyone, anywhere in the world is to have your children and grandchildren learn Mandarin. For their generation, Mandarin and English will be the most important languages in the world.”

Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip

This book is about Jim Rogers’ Guinness Book of World Records trip around the world. He gives a great breakdown of the world and continually drops investment gems:

“I differentiate between trading and investing. Traders are the short-term guys, and some of them are spectacular at it. I am hopeless at it—perhaps the world’s worst trader. I see myself as an investor. I like to buy things and own them forever. And what success I have had in investing has usually come from buying a stock that is very cheap or that I think is very cheap. Even if you are wrong, when buying something cheap you are probably not going to lose a lot of money. But buying something simply because it is cheap is not good enough—it could stay cheap forever. You have to see a positive change coming, something that within the next two or three years everybody else will recognize as a positive change.”

Click Here for Amazing Life of Jesse Livermore: World’s Greatest Stock Trader

Click Here for The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World

Click Here for A Gift to My Children: A Father’s Lessons for Life and Investing

Click Here for Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip

How I Made $729k Buying & Selling Websites – Extreme Website Flipping

The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life

http://www.thegmanifesto.com

pt 1/2 Jim Rogers on CNBC Squawk Box 2_27_11

Cocaine, Custom Suits and Wall Street

Good article on the Cocaine and Banker scene in Hong Kong:

Out on the streets of Central, barmen and the public relations staff at nightclubs even dole out free cocaine to regulars and models, keen to get the party started at the weekend.

“That’s the way the clubs work,” says one industry insider. “They dish it out for free because they want the attractive people in there, so that the men will go in and spend money. They give the models coke to get things going.”

“I know guys who hit the clubs, pick up these models and then go back to a suite at the Four Seasons and keep partying all weekend, fuelled by the drugs,” he adds.

Source

I always thought I would do well in Hong Kong. Just added to my travel docket.

Good news, Custom Tailors Enjoying a Boom:

Custom-made clothes—which were popular in the ’50s and ’60s—are making a big comeback in Europe.

“People have come to realize that the expensive designer suit they are used to buying is made to fit a thousand other people,” says Rome-based tailor Luigi Gallo, who has been in the trade for more than 30 years. “In addition, they’re paying a huge price for that logo sewed into the jacket.”

Business is thriving as well on London’s Savile Row, where an average of 10,000 hand-made garments are sold every year. The Row has seen a steady increase in business in the past five years despite the economic downturn. In 2010, order books swelled more than 10% from 2009, says Mark Henderson, founder and chairman of Savile Row Bespoke, a group of 14 companies formed to protect and promote the art of hand-crafted tailoring on Savile Row.

Mr. Henderson said he’s convinced the recession has made people question the true value of things. “People have started to look for real quality,” he says.

Source

Steady increase in business in the past five years? Interestingly enough, that is about how long I have been yapping about the value of the Custom Suit.

I think Savile Row owes me a thank you card. Or at least some pro-bono pocket squares.

A good article on 25 Guys to Avoid on Wall Street. Some of the best ones:

8. Avoid the guy who offers his clients ‘a very special opportunity’ to invest in anything. He has a problem with cocaine.

10. Avoid the guy who throws his phone across the trading floor whenever his positions go south. He’s an angry dude, and the more time you spend with him the more reasons he’ll find to dislike you.

11. Avoid anyone who tells you that you should relax and have a couple of drinks—at 9:15 on a Tuesday morning. You’re not cool enough to hang out with this guy.

12. Avoid anyone who won’t relax and have a couple of drinks—at 9:15 on a Thursday night. They’re not cool enough to hang out with you—and ultimately they’ll resent you for it.

16. Avoid the guy who tells you, “Seriously, all I do is work and then go home and lift.” He’s telling you the truth—and he’s as dumb as a stone.

21. Avoid the guy who can drink all night, take a shower, and come into the office as crisp as a $100 bill. He’s got an oxlike constitution—and it will be fatal to your career to try to emulate his example.

Source

It’s no secret that I spent a tour of duty in the financial world. I like #10. However, I didn’t throw my phones across the trading floor. I would just smash them. I led the league in broken phones.

I also like #21. That was me. I would come into the office minimum two to three days a week on no sleep after a night of partying and swooping fly girls. And it did ruin other cats that tried to keep up with me.

Stamina has always been one of my strong suits.

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The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life

http://www.thegmanifesto.com

I am kind of feeling this track lately. Early contender for “Summertime track of The Year”

Stalley ft. Rashad “SLAPP”