Personal Finance

Uncle Sam Stealing Retirement Funds

uncle-sam pan 14223IRA Retirement Funds Confiscation: it’s happening

I have an old acquaintance named Sam who has a hell of a deal for you.

Sam is actually a pretty famous guy with a big reputation. Unfortunately he has been a bit down and out on his luck lately… but he’s trying to make a comeback. And Sam is prepared to float you a really great investment opportunity.

Here’s the deal he’s offering: you give Sam your hard-earned retirement savings. Sam will invest your funds, and pay you a rate of return.

Granted, the rate of return he’s promising doesn’t quite keep up with inflation. So you will be losing some money. But don’t dwell on that too much.

And, rather than invest your funds in productive assets, Sam is going to blow it all on new cars and flat screen TVs. So when it comes time to make interest payments, Sam won’t have any money left.

But don’t worry, he still has that good ole’ credibility. So even though his financial situation gets worse by the year, Sam will just go back out there and borrow more money from other people to pay you back.

Of course, he will be able to keep doing this forever without any consequences whatsoever.

I know what you’re thinking– “where do I sign??” I know, right? It’s the deal of the lifetime.

This is basically the offer that the President of the United States floated last night.

And like an unctuously overgeled used car salesman, he actually pitched Americans on loaning their retirement savings to the US government with a straight face, guaranteeing “a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. . .”

This is his new “MyRA” program. And the aim is simple– dupe unwitting Americans to plow their retirement savings into the US government’s shrinking coffers.

We’ve been talking about this for years. I have personally written since 2009 that the US government would one day push US citizens into the ‘safety and security’ of US Treasuries.

Back in 2009, almost everyone else thought I was nuts for even suggesting something so sacrilegious about the US government and financial system.

But the day has arrived. And POTUS stated almost VERBATIM what I have been writing for years.

The government is flat broke. Even by their own assessment, the US government’s “net worth” is NEGATIVE 16 trillion. That’s as of the end of 2012 (the 2013 numbers aren’t out yet). But the trend is actually worsening.

In 2009, the government’s net worth was negative $11.45 trillion. By 2010, it had dropped to minus $13.47 trillion. By 2011, minus $14.78 trillion. And by 2012, minus $16.1 trillion.

Here’s the thing: according to the IRS, there is well over $5 trillion in US individual retirement accounts. For a government as bankrupt as Uncle Sam is, $5 trillion is irresistible.

They need that money. They need YOUR money. And this MyRA program is the critical first step to corralling your hard earned retirement funds.

At our event here in Chile last year, Jim Rogers nailed this right on the head when he and Ron Paul told our audience that the government would try to take your retirement funds:

I don’t know how much more clear I can be: this is happening. This is exactly what bankrupt governments do. And it’s time to give serious, serious consideration to shipping your retirement funds overseas before they take yours.

(Note to members of our PREMIUM service: look for an upcoming actionable alert on this topic).

by Simon Black

Simon Black is an international investor, entrepreneur, permanent traveler, free man, and founder of Sovereign Man. His free daily e-letter and crash course is about using the experiences from his life and travels to help you achieve more freedom.

 

Chart of the Day

For some insight into the current stock market rally, today’s chart presents the ten best performing Dow sectors (out of more than 100) over the past one year (i.e. January 28, 2013 to January 28 2014). The outperformance of the ten sectors illustrated in today’s chart lend themselves to a few themes. First, transportation (e.g. airlines and tires) headed in the right direction with some of that travel pointing towards casinos (6th on today’s list). Also, health related sectors (e.g. biotechnology and drug retailers) proved to be a healthy bet as baby boomers continue to move into retirement age. Finally, tech related sectors (e.g. Internet commerce and consumer-electronics) were also innovative with their outsized gains. The performance of each sector illustrated in today’s chart compares favorably to the overall stock market with the S&P 500 gaining a relatively modest 19.5% during the same period.

Notes:
Where should you invest? The answer may surprise you. Find out right now with the exclusive & Barron’s recommended charts of Chart of the Day Plus.

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Quote of the Day
“I never buy at the bottom and I always sell too soon.” – Nathan Rothschild

Events of the Day
January 31, 2014 – Chinese New Year
February 02, 2014 – Super Bowl XLVIII – Groundhog Day

Stocks of the Day
— Find out which stocks investors are focused on with the most active stocks today.
— Which stocks are making big money? Find out with the biggest stock gainers today.
— What are the largest companies? Find out with the largest companies by market cap.
— Which stocks are the biggest dividend payers? Find out with the highest dividend paying stocks.
— You can also quickly review the performance, dividend yield and market capitalization for each of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Companies as well as for each of the S&P 500 Companies.

Subscribe to the Free Chart of the Day

Will Silver Make A Comeback?

imagesDespite the recent fall in the price of silver during last week, silver is still up in January. Will silverresume its upward trend in the coming weeks? Let’s analyze the recent developments that may affect silver (SLV).

The rally in silver price has also reflected in the rise in demand for leading precious metals’ ETFs including iShares Silver Trust. During January, Silver Trust’s price rose by 2.5%. The upcoming FOMC meeting may affect the direction of silver price. Let’s take a closer look at this issue.

FOMC’s monetary policy

The upcoming FOMC meeting will be Bernanke’s last meeting as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The current expectations are that the FOMC will announce another tapering of $10 billion. Thus, the long-term asset purchase program will decline to $65 billion a month. In the previous meeting, the decision of the FOMC to taper QE3 has resulted in a sharp drop in the price of silver the following day.

….read more HERE

This Commodities Giant Is A Growing Power In Natgas

It’s well known that China is major driver of resource markets.

The nation is one of the world’s largest importers of commodities like copper, coal and oil.

But news last week suggests Chinese consumption is also becoming a critical factor in another market. Natural gas.

Platts reports that its estimates of Chinese natgas imports surged in December. With liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to the country up 33.3% year-on-year. To 2.43 million tonnes.

Pipeline imports also showed big growth in December. Rising 20.1% over levels from the same month in 2012. Overall, Chinese natgas imports jumped 27.1% during the month, to 4.28 million tonnes.

That’s a major increase in consumption. Especially for a nation that’s already a significant force in global natgas import markets.

And it looks like the trend is set to continue. China’s total natgas demand during the full-year 2013 rose an estimated 15.4%. Projections from various sources in the country peg demand growth for 2014 at similar levels—likely between 10% and 15%.

The most critical point for international investors is that this supply is increasingly coming from imports. Total Chinese natgas imports for 2013 grew 30% over 2012 levels. Imports accounted for 32.3% of China’s total demand—up from 28.7% in 2012.

This means a lot of gas is going to continue to be diverted here. Attracted by high prices for products like LNG. At a time when demand from nearby nations like Japan and Korea is also running high.

Driven by such competition, China has shown a willingness to source gas from out-of-the-way suppliers. Nations like Yemen, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea all sent significant supplies here during the past year.

This openness to new supply sources bodes well for new LNG projects being developed—especially in the Pacific sphere. Places like Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea are well-positioned in this regard.

We’ll see who moves to capitalize on rising demand in this center of the resource universe.

Here’s to the big players,

Dave Forest

dforest@piercepoints.com / @piercepoints / Facebook

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Federal Reserve Changes In Leadership: Eye-Popping Look At All 13 Of Them

The FOMC meeting this week will also be a milestone in the U.S. Federal Reserve leadership transition from the outgoing Ben S. Bernanke to the incoming Janet L. Yellen. In anticipation of this event, I recently studied the associations between all the changes in the Fed’s leadership and the movements of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or DJIA, during the subsequent trading year in each case. Graphic results of this study include a chart of the Dow in every one of these cases: Some are more eye-popping than others.

….to read more & view all 13 charts click HERE or on the chart below:

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