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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Take cash from bank / Roubini
  • Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:09:24 -0500


On Sep 16, 2008, at 7:47 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:



1. Nobody knows the future for sure.

Yet in the major topics shaping out times like oil and finance, a pattern is
emerging. Some people have a very good track record for analyzing and
predicting the flow to things and some have just the opposite. It's not just one of
those things with the lottery balls bouncing around, it's not random. Some
analysts have been uncanny accurate in their predictions. Spooky, even.

This is worth more discussion.

Various people in various industries have done exceptionally well for themselves and those who followed them. A far larger group have failed. No one, no one has a crystal ball. Yes, some people are more knowledgeable, some are more discerning, some have a better sense of what items will carry the weight. It is fun to read and talk about current experts; it is a gamble to bet your future security that you have found such a person.

If anyone, anyone, were correct fifty-one percent of the time we would do very well to follow them. I have a friend who has a PhD in finance, is a vice-president of a major brokerage, is a financial advisor, is a professor of finance. He is wise enough to know that no one can dependably do better than to unemotionally spread his bets across a wide investment pool. Just as we homesteaders would do well to have seeds from several varieties of our preferred veggies and fruits, just as we would do well to have scattered gardens, just as we would do well to have multiple tools that will produce firewood, just as we would do well to have multiple friends with multiple skills, so, too, we would do well to spread our risk.

5. Bottom line, I like land that will produce food and fuel, and then

invest in seeds and tools and common necessities such as clothes,
salt, toothpaste, toilet paper. And good beer.

Do that first. But there's another tack to this. Get into a cottage
industry and invest your money in yourself rather than someone else's industry. For
example, if you were a quilt maker, buy bolts of cloth, batting, thread,
frames, etc. Those things stored well are inflation proof. If money becomes
worth one fifth its current value, then in the future you charge five times as
much for a quilt ... your original investment back with interest that keeps up
with inflation plus the profits from your own involvement:

I like cottage industries. Even such industries must have customers who not only want the product but who can pay cash or barter. Do not depend on that condition. A sinking ship puts all passengers into the water.

Have several life preservers.

Expect others to want into your raft.





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