The reported, headline, GDP numbers just came in at 1.5% in the second quarter. This is a major revision downward from 2% in the first quarter of 2012. This brings the overall annual growth rate in at 2.2% versus the previous 2.4% in Q1 2012. Overall these numbers are not statistically significant. In fact, it […]
Category: Real Estate
June Housing Numbers (Corrected) and Your Self Directed IRA
Monthly changes in June home sales showed a decline of 8.4% for new homes, a decline of 5.4% for existing homes. Though large on a monthly basis, in the big scheme of things there numbers were not meaningful. Both numbers continue to show a developed and established pattern of low-level stagnation. Weakness in homes sales […]
June Housing Starts And Its Impact On Your Self Directed IRA
The June 2012 housing starts are out and they show a month-to-month gain of 6.9%. We should note that although that seems a like its a significant number, one number does not make a trend. This means that even though there is an increase of in the number, there are not enough numbers, of any […]
Fed Actions And How To Position Your Self Directed IRA
Mr. Bernanke just appeared in front of congress. What was very clear from his testimony is that the economy is weakening, jobs are not coming back, consumer spending is not materializing. This is clearly comforting. However, what’s ironic is that the markets actually rebounded because the implication is that the Fed will do more of […]
Hyperinflation Watch And Self Directed IRA Portfolios
As a general statement our predictions and outlook for hyperinflation remains unchanged. As we just reported, we are seeing significant signs of economic contraction from retails sales and consumer sentiment. We believe that its a misstatement of fact that the economy actually recovered and that we are now slipping back into recession. We contend the […]
Retail Sales Contraction And The Self Directed IRA
The June 2012 retail sales numbers are out and they show a 0.5% decrease vs. May 2012. This translates into a Q2 decrease of 0.20% which extrapolates into a 0.78% annual decrease. This downturn was the first for retail sales since Q1-2009. This can be viewed in light of the consumer sentiment index which also […]
Is Gold Money And How It Impacts Your Self Directed IRA
Americans feel “gold is the safest long term investment” today, a Gallup survey has found. Gold was favoured over four other types of investments perceived as the best long term choice for American investors today. 28% of the American public choose gold as their favoured investment of choice today. Real estate followed in second place, […]
The Low-Zero Yield Play And The Self Directed IRA
The Fed has continued to promote and enforce a low interest rate environment for the past several years. The purpose of such a policy is to promote and incentivize consumers and small businesses to borrow. When these groups (2/3rds of the GDP) have cash, they spend or invest it in business expansion, homes, durable goods, […]
How June Jobs Numbers Will Impact Your Self Directed IRA
Well, the June 2012 jobs numbers are out and they are terrible, as expected. There were on;y 80,000 new jobs created. May was revised upwards to 77,000 from the initial 69,000. Overall, the unemployment rate is steady at 8.2%. The numbers are starting to reinforce the a pattern that will become statistically significant. The implications […]
May Housing Starts And Self Directed IRA Considerations
Housing Starts are a key economic indicator as to how well the housing market is performing. It is a indicator of building an the level of building in relation to consumer demand for homes. The May 2012 Housing Starts numbers remain 69% below the 2006 peak. The housing numbers clearly show that home starts, and […]
Hyperinflation Around The Corner – Look At Your Self Directed IRA
We’ve recently seen the data that supports that the economy is not recovering, and in fact appears to be sinking back into recession. We’ve also seen that the Fed is going to continue to engage in operation twist, but as we’ve pointed out that’s likely to have little to no impact. There is a confluence […]
What The Latest Consumer Finances Survey Means For Self Directed IRAs
The Fed just published their survey for consumer finances which covers through the year 2010. This report provides an fairly good analysis of how the average American consumer is doing from a financial perspective. This report gives us insight in what the basic spending habits and patterns of Americans are or will be. We wanted […]