<p>Turkish government bonds (which are investment grade) are yielding nearly 9% right now. South African government bonds (which are investment grade and rated higher than Turkish) are yielding 8% right now.</p>
<p>I have more faith in the stability of SA than Turkey. :)</p>
<p>Yes, we all have to figure out our risk toleranceâhow much we NEED, WANT, & CAN TOLERATE. Iâm mostly interested in yields I can safely get in the US and developed countries. At this point in my life, donât need to reach for higher yield, nor want it, nor can tolerate the potential sleepless nights.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Buy some South African bonds then. </p>
<p>Even Australian, which is pretty safe, is yielding 4%. </p>
<p>I think I have referred to this before, but pages 17-19 of Warren Buffettâs 2011 letter to shareholders is a very good and very succinct synopsis of the choices available to investors. I recommend that people read it. It will help you get your head clear of the noise and fluff around making investment choices.</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2011ltr.pdfâ>http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2011ltr.pdf</a> p. 17=19</p>
<p>Iâm more pro-bond than Buffett is, but itâs always a pleasure to (re)read what he writes. Except for my wifeâs company stock (which we have no choice in owning), the only individual stock we own is Berkshire Hathaway. It hasnât done wonders in the past few years, but it has done nicely for us longer term, and hasnât done poorly even in the more recent past. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It looks like itâs about 70% up in the past 3 yearsâŠ</p>
<p>By the way, does anyone know an easy way (like a fund, I put money in one day and take it out another day) to take profits on volatility, rather than on a good market or a bad market? </p>
<p>Anyone else have their eyes glaze over when it starts getting into the nitty gritty number crunching stuff? Iâm also a long term kinda galâŠI spent the time initially picking the funds and then I just let it go and reassess once a year. </p>
<p>You can only put so much into retirement accounts, how do you get the best tax benefit in your long term savings that arenât in âprotectedâ accounts?</p>
<p>
By not churning the investments (buying this and selling that) all the time, and by investing in indexed funds. YMMV, but that has worked for me.</p>
<p>âBy the way, does anyone know an easy way (like a fund, I put money in one day and take it out another day) to take profits on volatility, rather than on a good market or a bad market?â</p>
<p>I do not think there are any straightforward ways to play with VIX other than VIX options, but I could be completely wrong.</p>
<p>There are a number of etfs and etns that are based on vix futures both positively and inversely but you should not even touch them unless you are absolutely sure that you understand the way that they work and the risks involved.</p>
<p>There are also a variety of options strategies that are designed to profit from either volatility or a lack of volatility, but I am the wrong person to say anything about them.</p>
<p>Those are things that you have to trade yourself. I was wondering if there was a fund, that tries to capitalize on volatility, like something like a fund that a stock trader has or something. So you contribute to the fund and you gain profits corresponding to the profits the trader makes.</p>
<p>@Vladenschlutteâ , I donât know of such a fund that would be open to normal investors. There are probably hedge funds that do that kind of thing, but youâd have to be a qualified investor. </p>
<p>You seem willing to bet your money on things you donât understand but think that experts do (currencies, volatility). Itâs your money, but searching for that expert is likely to be painful. IF such an expert exists, he doesnât need your money. If he wants your money, well, you know âŠ</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>With the forex signals I can see the actual returns that they had. If theyâre good, that should be evidence that they know what theyâre doing.</p>
<p>Itâs good to try a few things to see what works. I traded commodities and gold in my younger days. I had money to loose I guess. Just donât be the house on them.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that nobody will refuse to have $50mln, but very few will have them. Anything below is just not that much.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What does this mean?</p>
<p>@Vladenschlutte You can buy VXX which will spike when volatility rises(i.e. when stocks tank). Itâs a long term loser simply because of its structure, but can be traded short term/</p>
<p>Iâll ask the same thing I just asked on that other siteâŠ
Wondering what you guys think of FATCA, coming to a country near you on July 1, 2014. Do you think that will affect ordinary stockholders, or spook the market, crash the dollar? Or is it just a bunch of fear and hype (unless you have a lot of overseas investments)? </p>
<p>Ha. I am deeply involved in a project with a client right now working on FATCA deployment. The primary purpose of FATCA is to identify US persons who are keeping assets overseas in individual accounts or masked in layers underneath a corporate account to avoid taxes. Unless you are doing one of these things, it wonât mean a thing to you. There will be some shuffling of accounts between banks, as some foreign banks will decide it is not worth the hassle to handle accounts for US individuals. Might be some inconsistency in the first couple of years in how banks handle the paperwork side, but it will sort out soon enough as everyone gets use to the regulation.</p>