US Great Depression II--Where to Park Your $?

[ppeter]

Lets assume the US and western world are heading towards another great depression in 2007.

Where is the best place to park your money?

US dollar will fall in the face of declining rates and rising deficits, and dollar has in fact been falling for years.
US bonds could be vulnerable in the face of the falling dollar and specter of eventual default by debt-ridden US gov't.
Equities worldwide will fall due to negative economic conditions (when the US consumer sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold).
Gold will fall because of declining worldwide ecomomic conditions (weaker demand for jewelry and investment).
Commodities in general will fall due to declining ecomomic conditions (e.g. a new house consumes 1200 lbs copper, if no building craze, copper, zinc, silver, etc will collapse).
Real estate is already collapsing and is one of the major reasons some are forcasting a recession or depression.

What is left? Is it foreign currency? How would one preserve or better yet, grow their wealth?
All five asset classes (cash, real estate, commodities, equties, bonds) appear to be vulnerable in the face of a imminent depression.

 

[DeathEatsaCracker]

Good question, and I hope someone knowledgable will answer it. I'm paranoid my 401k is going to get wiped out in a major crash.

I've moved 25% of my money into international stocks and I'm starting to concentrate more on CDs.

Any advice would be great.

 

[gbogo]

that is why hedge funds exist

they diversify traditional risk and bet both long and short all asset classes

your best bet may be

1. your home
2. modest stock portfolio usa
3. some bond holdings

to a total of 75 %

then 25 % in

3 hedge funds -- 1 commodities 1 foreign exchange 1 stocks

 

[BASEHEAD]

General Dynamics and OIL........war and oil.

 

[Presto]

ppeter, if the scenario you describe takes place, only a few items I can come up with that will appreciate in value. Guns and ammo would be number one. The second would be real estate close to fresh, or with access to well-water where one could farm and also hunt.

This will also be a time when the homeless will laugh at and mock all the home-folk getting tossed out on the street. Homeless veterans will be the new in-crowd. Hence, making homeless friends now could offer some value later.

Would be interesting to hear what Dante has to say about the subject.

 

[levistep]

Gold will fall because of declining worldwide ecomomic conditions

Why would gold go down? Gold would go up if there was a depression. Gold has every property that good money has to have; it's hard to counterfeit and it's easily divisible.

 

[guychance]

Gold is safest bet

Economic instability will result in Gold being the best investment. It might not go up but it will hold well against all other investments.

People will tend to hold Gold because of their insecurity.. As a hard asset, the value of Gold will always have value unlike paper stocks...They are only as good as the economy..