Gold at high of $690 today!

Gold has risen from an average price of $271 an ounce in 2001 to an average of $673 last year. While I am writing this now, gold is trending around $690!
Some reckons that gold could post a similarly strong performance in the years to come, rising to more than $1,500 an ounce in the next few years - which would still be no higher than its previous 1980 peak (adjusted for inflation) of around $850 an ounce.
Independent metals research group GFMS reckons we could see an average of $725 in the second half of this year, and $850 next. One thing, Central banks are becoming less keen to sell as the price ticks ever higher, while many nations with massive paper currency reserves, reportedly including China and Russia, are trying to increase their gold reserves.
There are various reasons why the upbeat on gold price - the fragile dollar and ongoing geopolitical tensions are just two key reasons. But one main point is that investment demand, at $14bn, is still tiny in relative terms.
There is huge upside potential should big money decide to move into gold for any reason. Even without any particular trigger, there are long-term investors such as pension funds raising their stake in commodities generally, giving gold a rise up with all the others.
I reckon everyone should hold about 10% of their portfolio in gold, more if you are risk taker. Believe me, there are good reasons for having at least some exposure to the yellow metal in your portfolio.
Even Alan Greenspan - the interest-rate maestro, is a passionate believer in the wealth-protecting powers of gold. The Sunday Times quotes Greenspan‘s reaction to the UK‘s decision to sell gold. In May 1999, he said: “Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world… Germany in 1944 could buy materials during the war only with gold. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.”
Last week, despite the slowing US economy, core inflation in the US is running at around 2.7%, compared to the Fed’s ‘comfort zone’ of around 2%.
That will make it far harder for investors to rely on a ‘Bernanke put’ just as they relied on the ‘Greenspan put’ to bail them out when hard times loomed. And that’s just another good reason to keep holding onto gold.
Good luck, and Gold luck!

The Wife & Her Big Mouth

A couple are going out for a night on the town. They're all dolled up, ready to go; the lights left on, the dog put out.
But just as the taxi arrives and they step out of the house, the dog darts back inside and won't come out. They don't want to leave the dog inside, so the husband goes upstairs to find it, while the wife goes to wait in the taxi.
Not wanting it known that the house will be empty, she explains to the driver that her husband had just gone "to say good-bye to my mother".
A few minutes later, the husband gets into the cab.
"Sorry I took so long," he says.
"Stupid bitch was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat-hanger to get her to come out! Then I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching and biting me as I hauled her ass downstairs and tossed her in the backyard!
She'd better not sh!t in the vegetable garden again!".
The silence in the cab was deafening.

Looking for an Insurance Policy?

The Husband of a pregnant wife was thinking of buying insurance for his unborn baby.
So he asked Great Eastern and the agent said,
"Don't worry, man, we'll provide insurance right from the basket to the casket !"
The man was impressed but thought that he should probably seek another opinion.
He then approached Prudential.
The agent replied, "Oh, we have a new insurance policy which can protect your unborn child from the womb right up to the tomb !"
The man was stunned but thought that maybe all salesmen liked to bullshit.
So he decided to see the agent from AIA. He told the AIA agent what Prudential and Great Eastern had to offer. The AIA agent then think for a while and then said "Tell you something, we've one that is even better than Great Eastern or Prudential.
We'll insure your child from time of your ejaculation till your child's resurrection !"

Wah! Brother AIA, you win lah...you must be the Christian insurance agent...

Funny T-Shirts Spotted

1. "Frankly, Scallop, I Don't Give a Clam"
2. "That's It! I'm Calling Grandma!" (seen on an 8 year old)
3. "Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up"
4. "Procrastinate Now"
5. "Rehab Is for Quitters"
6. "My Dog Can Lick Anyone"
7. "I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts - Do You Want Fries With That?"
8. "Finally 21, and Legally Able to Do Everything I've Been Doing Since 15"
9. "ALL MEN ARE IDIOTS, AND I MARRIED THEIR KING"
10. "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. It comes bundled with the software"
11. "Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again? "
12. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance"
13. "STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"
14. "Live Bait "
15. "He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead"
16. "Time's fun when you're having flies.......Kermit the Frog"
17. "POLICE STATION TOILET STOLEN .... Cops have nothing to go on."
18. "FOR SALE: Iraqi rifle. Never fired. Dropped once."
19. "HECK IS WHERE PEOPLE GO WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN GOSH"
20. "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, but it uses up a thousand times the memory."

The Less Traveled Road...

I spoke about crossroads in my entry dated 11 Mar 07.
On a poetic scale, I found this poem by Robert Frost and it seem to capture something of that crossroads moment in my life. Here it is:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, I stood
And looked down one as far a I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day,
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(From: The Poetry of Robert Frost, 1969)

William Bennett, former US Secretary of Education, summarized this poem in a single statement when he said, “Courage does not follow rutted pathways.”
May you find your own trail in life and set that path aflame with passion.
For me, I will blaze my own!

Learn the 5 Language of Apology Part II

Learn the second language: Accepting responsibility.
This says, “I was wrong.”
When you speak this language, you accept responsibility for your failures and refrain from rationalizing your own bad behavior or blaming others for it.
Show the offended person that you fully own up to what you did and understand that it was wrong.
And remember to keep the "but" to yourself.
Refrain from saying, "I was wrong but you shouldn't have..."
Sometimes we are so tempted to defend our 10% fault while trying to highlight other's 90% mistake.
Don't!
Accept responsibility, even if it is only 5% of your fault
(which, honestly, it is not the case most of the time).

Btw, we are only at the 2nd marker. More tomorrow.

Adapted from:
The Five Languages of Apology: How to Experience Healing in All Your Relationships
by Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas, 2006

A Special Bank

Take some time to ponder this:
Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do?

Draw out every cent, of course! Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow".
You must live in the present on today's deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success!
The clock is running. Make the most of today.