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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 20, 2024

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My question is, so what? What do I, a retail investor pleb with barely six figures saved, mostly in things like equities and 401k, do with this information?

Not much. We're probably just all going to have to be poorer for awhile as stagflation bites.

Here's what I'd do. Over time, I'd stop putting new money into bonds. While I'm actually somewhat bullish on treasuries in the 2-5 year time frame, they are doomed to suck in the long run due to the massive U.S. deficits. Personally, I think a 10% allocation into precious metals (either physical or in funds) make sense and will diversify your portfolio. But over time equities have outperformed gold.

And for the love of God, do NOT buy gold miners.

And for the love of God, do NOT buy gold miners.

What's so bad about gold miners?

Decades of horrible performance and capital destruction

Given Burdensome's comment, I suspect this means "don't invest in the companies actually prospecting and mining for gold, gold production is near-flat and is practically a money sink."

Which, given the apparent propensity for gold to value upwards, would suggest that the amount of new gold being mined from Earth is at a trickle.

And for the love of God, do NOT buy gold miners.

Second this. Gold has done very well over the last few years but gold miners are basically flat. The market doesn't expect gold miners to be able to keep a lid on their production costs in the medium term (which might tell you something about other firms).