Author: admin

The Best Way to Invest in the "Oil of the 21st Century"

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The United States alone consumes 18.9 million barrels of oil every day, rain or shine. And China's appetite grows more ravenous by the minute, with daily consumption doubling from 5.5 million barrels in 2003 to nearly 9.8 million in 2011.

Aside from a brief downturn during the recession, global oil consumption has been moving inexorably higher.

Worldwide oil consumption passed its pre-recession 2007 peak in 2010 and continues to rise. It is projected to reach 90.2 million barrels per day this year. Meanwhile, the world's oil companies will only produce 90 million barrels per day.

In other words, demand will outstrip supply by 200,000 barrels per day, or by about 73 million barrels this year. Continue reading "The Best Way to Invest in the "Oil of the 21st Century"" →

Follow the Smart Money to Undervalued Miners

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The Gold Report: Gold recently witnessed some upside price support after the Cypriot parliament proposed taking money from private bank accounts to raise the 5.8 billion needed to qualify for an international bailout. What was your first reaction to that news?

Jeb Handwerger: Any confiscation of bank accounts would just highlight what I have been saying for a long timesavers are losing money in their banks. Bank deposits are supposed to be a safe haven. Investors are going to seek out alternative hedges against the deterioration of currency and financial repression worldwide. This isn't just happening in Cyprus, but all over the world where there are citizens losing money in their banks and are experiencing negative real rates. Investors need to look for the assets that will protect and grow their wealth in case public policies continue to destroy wealth and savings.

TGR: How does this differ from what happened in Greece? Continue reading "Follow the Smart Money to Undervalued Miners" →

Don't Gamble, Own the Casino Instead

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"Gamblers always die broke, young man," whispered the grizzled, old casino lizard at the Blackjack table as I gathered my meager winnings.

It wasn't very nice to hear: A recent college graduate, I had just earned a small sum during my first visit to a casino. But that advice ended up being among the wisest and most foresightful I have ever heard.

Soon after I met the old man, I read comments from billionaire casino owner Steve Wynn: "The only way to win in the casino is to own one." His words still resonate with me.

I thought to myself "Money lessons come from the most unexpected places." Here was a successful casino owner and a hard-core gambler essentially giving the same advice -- don't gamble and remember that the only way to win is to own the casino. I have never had interest in casino games since. Continue reading "Don't Gamble, Own the Casino Instead" →

A Bubble Bigger than Housing Is About to Pop

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The most devastating market events are those that no one sees coming.

Take what happened to the Lehman Brothers in 2008, for example. Up until the last minute, virtually no one could have imagined one of the country's leading investment banks would file for bankruptcy. The housing market crash was the same way. The Street believed housing prices would never go down.

With the market totally blind to the growing risk in each investment, anyone who had investments in housing or with Lehman Brothers suffered huge losses.

Despite these tough lessons, there is now another epic bubble developing and the market is ignoring this one too.

In fact, this bubble is so big, the 2006 housing bubble and the 2000 bubble pale in comparison. And when it pops, it will hit the most conservative portfolios the hardest. Continue reading "A Bubble Bigger than Housing Is About to Pop" →

Get Ready to Profit from the "Return of the Consumer"

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After a stunning 15% surge since mid-November, the market has struggled in the past month, trading up and down in a tight 1% band. Problems in Europe have reignited and many on Wall Street are expecting consumer spending to weaken during the rest of the year. It is all making the case for a bull market very difficult, except for a key report the U.S. Federal Reserve recently released.

I am not talking about the Fed's stance on interest rates, or whether it will maintain record bond purchases. This report is even more important because it concerns the driver to 70% of the nation's economy and, despite current bad news, it's pointing straight up.

But first, a bit of background... Continue reading "Get Ready to Profit from the "Return of the Consumer"" →