Inflation-Proof Your Portfolio: Protect Your Money from the Coming Governme

Preface xiii     What This Book Is (and Isn   t) About xiv     Time to Take Action xvi     Chapter 1 The Dollar   s Shrinking Value 1     Why Governments Love Inflation 1        It Can   t Happen Here       or Can It? 2     How Low Can It Go? 3     What You Don   t Notice Won   t Upset You 4     Infl ation Is Already Picking Up Steam 6     A Hope Is Not a Plan 7     Principle 1 Exchange Dollars for Real Things     Chapter 2 Life in the Gold Rush? 13     Gold: Traditional Haven for Nervous Investors 13     Caution: You Are Late to the Gold Party 14     Beware Investors Fleeing Gold 15     Why to Buy Some Gold Anyway 15     Buying Gold Now 17     Gold Supply and Demand 17     How High Will Gold Go? 17     The Easy Way to Buy Gold 20     Downsides of Exchange-Traded Funds 21     Warning: Exchange-Traded Notes = Added Risks 21     Why You Should Have Some Physical Gold 22     What Coins to Have on Hand 23     Why to Avoid Bullion 23     How to Buy Mining Stocks (If You Must) 24     Silver   the Other White Meat 24     Why Silver Is Undervalued 25     The Pros and Cons of Holding Silver Coins and Bullion 26     Learning to Like    Junk    26     Another Way to Profi t from Silver 27     Key Points 27     Chapter 3 Real Estate: Home Is Where the Hedge Is 29     Why You Should Own Your Home 29     Is Now the Time to Make Your Housing Move? 31     When Renting Makes More Sense 31     How to Invest in Apartment Buildings 33     How to Steer Clear of Passive Income Losses 34     How to Protect Your Real Estate Equity against Falling Prices 35     Invest in U.S. Farmland 36     Risks of Farmland Investing 36     Key Points 37     Chapter 4 Dollar Down = Oil Up 39     Why You Need to Invest in Black Gold 39     Why Proved Reserve Figures Are Unreliable 40     Is the World Running Out of Oil? 41     Will Abiotic Oil Avert a Hubbert Curve Peak? 42     Political and Environmental Pressures Are Pushing Oil Prices Up 43     Shale Gas   Energy Bright Spot? 44     The World   s Biggest Oil Companies and Their Ticker Symbols 44     The Easy Way to Own Oil 45     How to Profi t from the Oil Supply Chain 45     Should I Invest in Oil Drilling? 46     Canadian Royalty Trusts: Good Investments No Longer 47     Key Points 47     Chapter 5 From Diamonds to Trees: Alternative Assets 49     Another Precious Metal   Platinum 49     Why You Should Stay Away from Palladium 50     What about Stamps? 51     The Danger of Diamonds 52     Art: Love It or Leave It 53     How to Get Money to Grow on Trees 53     Profi t Opportunity: People Have to Eat 57     The Copper Shortfall 58     Key Points 60     Principle 2 Future Money Is Cheap Money     Chapter 6 Beat the Banks at Their Own Game 63     Why Fixed-Rate Mortgages Are Your Friend 63     Cut Your Mortgage in Half 64     Don   t Get Locked into HELOCs 65     Buy Big Houses and Lease Used Cars 65     If Your House Is in Foreclosure 66     FDIC    Insurance    May Be Hazardous to Your Wealth 68     Why Your Financial Accounts May Not Be Safe: Bank    Holidays    68     Save Your Pennies 70     Key Points 71     Chapter 7 Dueling with the Devil: Credit Cards and Student Loans 73     Why Credit Cards Aren   t Worth the Plastic They   re Printed On 73     Don   t Expect the New Law to Save You 74     How to Outwit the Credit Card Companies 75     How to Be a Bad Credit Card Customer 76     Goose Your Contracts with a Gold Clause 76     How to Use Infl ation to Discount Your Student Loans 77     Beware of Prepaid Tuition Guarantees 79     Key Points 81     Principle 3 Diversify Out of Dollars     Chapter 8 Fleeing the Dollar: Foreign Currencies 85     The Dollar: From House of Bricks to House of Straw 85     The Dollar Near-Term: Temporary Upswing 87     Foreign Currencies: Risks and Rewards 88     Which Currencies Should I Invest In? 89     The Chinese Yuan Is Going Up   for Now 89     Beware: China Has Its Own Stimulus Problems 91     The Euro: Slow-Motion Meltdown 92     One Way to Invest in Foreign Currencies: ETFs 96     How to Invest in Foreign Bonds 96     Low-Debt Countries = Good Bond Bets 98     Gold Private Currency 100     Become a Foreign Farmer 101     Key Points 103     Chapter 9 Manage Your Government-Regulated Accounts 105     The Threat to Your IRA Wealth 105     Two Mutual Funds You Can Buy to Hedge against Inflation 106     U.S. Treasury Bonds:    Certifi cates of Guaranteed Confiscation    106     Twisting in the Wind 107     TIPS: Inflation Protection or Inflation Fraud? 108     Why You Can   t Trust Government Inflation Statistics 109     What to Hold in Your IRA 110     Start a Self-Directed IRA 111     Convert to a Roth IRA? 111     When Not to Convert to a Roth IRA 113     Key Points 113     Principle 4 Prepare for the Worst, but Expect the Best     Chapter 10 Why Your Taxes Are Going Sky High 117     The Numbers Speak for Themselves: Someone Has to Pay 117     Say Goodbye to Bush Tax Cuts 118     Defi cit Lip Service: How to Fool Some of the People Some of the Time 119     The Greek Road to Ruin 119        New    Defi cit Reduction Strategy: Taxes 122     Coming Soon to Your Pocketbook: The Alternative Minimum Tax 122     Loophole: How to Turn a $700,000 Tax Bill into $10 Million Tax-Free Gift 123     How to Tax a Trillion Dollars 124     Your New Health Care Plan: Financed by Deception 124     Baby Boom Legacy: Spiraling Entitlement Costs 125     The Next Money-Grab: Value-Added Tax 126     Tax Fig Leaf: Erroneous Economic Models 127     Ouch! Economic Medicine That Works 129     Why the United States Will Never Be the Same Again 130     Key Points 131     Chapter 11 Look for the Warning Signs 133     The Warning Signs of an Imminent Currency Collapse 133     Is the U.S. Government Secretly Engineering a Weak Dollar? 136     How to Be a Billionaire   Zimbabwe-Style 138     Is the United States the Next Greece? 139     Got Gold? 140     Wage and Price Controls 140     The Lesson of the Russian Grandmothers 142     Key Points 143     Chapter 12 Looking Up While Hunkering Down 145     Speak Out 145     Another Way to Multiply Your Voice 146     Develop a Necessary Skill 146     Start an Export Business 147     Prepare a    Stay Bag    148     Tangibles to Keep at Home 151     Whisky and Pot: Your Depression Friends 152     The Health Care Bomb: Better Have That Surgery Now 153     Consider a Move to the Country 154     Buy a Generator 155     Go off the Grid 156     How to Avoid Snoopers 157     Maintaining Your Privacy in a Facebook World 158     Key Points 159     Conclusion How to Sleep at Night, Whatever Happens to the Economy 161     Notes 163     About the Author 189     Index 191