REPEAT: MY SON DAVID IS ON VACATION TILL MONDAY. FOR SERVICE, CALL ME, DON, AT 1-888-786-8822
Albert D, a wonderful client I have never met, graciously sent me a 1974 booklet, titled, “Inflation Survival Manual,” and guess what? The advice in that thirty page gem, is exactly the same advice I give today!
The first half deals with inflation, how it happens, (printing money, reckless spending), and who does it. Politicians, of course, who can’t stop spending, as it is their means of winning votes to stay in office. It details how inflation is a tax on everyone, without our vote or permission. From page 11: “Unless your money is drawing eight, nine, or 10 percent interest, inflation is eating up the principal faster than interest is increasing it. And, if you believe as I do that the inflationary rate is 15% or so, any investment you make with your money isn’t holding you even.”
From page 14: “Essentially, the best hedge against both wild inflation and deep depression is investment in gold…the time honored, inflation-proof, depression-proof, store of value. Down through recorded history, gold has been the refuge of the people against dictators, kings, potentates; against natural disasters, against tyrannies and selfish acts of rulers, against the foolish acts of inflation-prone legislators.” The booklet then spends a couple of pages on silver, noting that there are no more silver coins, as silver was too expensive to be used in coins.
From page 18: “Forget about the stock market. It offers little or nothing in the way of protection for Joe Doakes, the average American. You should own land only if you have enough assured income to pay the yearly taxes on it. Because taxes go on and on, regardless of the state of the economy. And the land you own should be free and clear, un-mortgaged. Mortgage payments may well be hard to come by in the years we see ahead.”
Many thanks to Albert for sending me this little gem! In 1974, the author said that he could see gold going up as far as $300! In 1974, when the booklet was written, gasoline was 53 cents a gallon, eggs 78 cents a dozen, and a new home was $38,900. In 1974, there was no Medicaid, Food Stamps, and a jillion other welfare items, so the federal government debt was a paltry $483 billion (now $9 trillion, with promises made of $53 trillion), and the D.C. Gang spent only $289 billion that year. How times have changed, but also how much they have stayed the same. The advice given in 1974, still applies, and had you bought gold and silver in 1974, you would be sitting pretty today. If you do it today, years from now you will also be sitting pretty.