I stole the title for this thread from some half-remembered book title...

This is horribly dull, boring stuff and probably is a needless bringdown... BUT I think that anyone with two eyes, half a brain and some savings is shitting themselves right now trying to figure out how to protect their money from inflation.

I am still seeing pointless optimism from the media's financial reports- the deck chairs on the Titanic have NEVER been more pristinely arranged. (Nice job, boys. Have a swim to cool off...)

I would like to hear your (NONPOLEMICAL) thoughts on what you're going to do to protect yourself in the year ahead.

I am also curious if you think that now is the time to refi the house to buy a studio gear counting on the fact that 2008 dollars will eventually be seen as a high water mark, right before the dollar turned into the Weimar Deutschmark.

I am looking at TIPS bonds:

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. TIPS, as they're commonly known, pay a fixed rate of interest, but their principal is adjusted regularly based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. So interest payments, which are made every six months and are exempt from state and local income taxes, rise with inflation. You can buy TIPS through a bank or broker or at www.treasurydirect.gov. The minimum investment is $1,000. You can also buy mutual funds that invest in TIPS. For more information on either I bonds or TIPS, go to www.publicdebt.treas.gov.

I figure that if Treasury Bonds crash and become worthless, then my savings will also have become worthless and it's a moot point.

Please don't turn this into another Bill Paul/Global economic elite/tha JOOOOOOOZE! conversation, because you fuckers are really not contributing anything, despite what you think.

How to Prosper in the Coming Hard Times:

Follow whatever advice clocker bob/rick reuben gives you.

yeah, thanks for that... NEXT.

I took what little money I had invested out a while back. No investments, no 401k, no savings. I've been putting all my money into amplifiers and guitars from the 60's and 70's. I'm hoping that as tangible, functional tools, they'll be worth something as time marches on. And if I'm lucky, since this is stuff that's old, desirable, and collectible (on top of being functional), it'll be worth more over time, even considering inflation.

In essence, I have no plan at all, other than to try and keep my spending however low I can without feeling like I'm being a cheapskate who's skipping out on living or anything. Hopefully if I hit a really rough patch, I'll be able to sell off a few amps and get a good amount of money for them. Traynors for Europe or Japan or whatnot.

My evil SUV is totally paid for, so hopefully no car payments for the next several years other than routine maintenance which can be a bitch as it is. I got no kids and am really thankful for that, as I'm not rich as shit which would be the only way I could support kids and have a life anything like I want to.

Yeah, no plan.

The only guy whoever gave me brilliant financial advice told me that a series of perpetually-rotating Treasury Bonds/Notes are the way to go, as they're guaranteed to pay you off unless the US Gov't declares bankruptcy. The only other thing he told me was that stocks are for suckers, but if I insist on going the stock route, to buy Lockheed (LMT). This was in 1999. Look at a 10-year chart on LMT and tell me this guy didn't know how to pick em!

What about investing in the company that'll be manufacturing the RFID chips they'll be implanting in humans any year now? The people who'll be building the HDTV set-top convertors that every jackass with an aerial antenna will *have* to buy in the next year? Manufacturers of bullets?

Yeah. This is a shit time to have money in the stock market.

Fortunately, I don't have any, and it looks like we've had the same investment strategy, roughly. I have been investing my money in drums and tacos.

Interesting that your guy recommended the same investment plan that I am considering.

Start stockpiling weaponry and survival supplies.

I've been thinking of converting my meager savings to Euros. I have no idea how good a plan that is, and if anyone can tell me it's good or it sucks I'd appreciate the input. I realize that 3 years ago would have been a better time to do something like that, but I figure the dollar's only gonna go down against it. Copper, gold, silver and other metals keep going up (from what I hear, havne't done any of my own research), so buying commodities might be good too. My relatively uninformed 2 cents.

I'm going to slowly sell everything I own and become a minimalist.

I've been told that municipal bonds are a good investment right now, but I can't give you any data to back that up.

Gold has been performing incredibly well lately and is generally a safe place to park your money; even when the market it volatile, there are limits as to how low the value will get. However, I understand that there's quite a bit of speculation in the gold market right now as people look for "safe" places to park money. If the stock market improves any time soon, look for a decline in the value of gold. Also, gold has been hitting record-level prices, which is usually the worst point to invest in something.

Dr. Geek wrote:How to Prosper in the Coming Hard Times:

Follow whatever advice clocker bob/rick reuben gives you.

Clocker is right about a few things on this, though, if you have the $, put it in a hard good, Gold, Copper, Tin.

I might avoid gold as it has already gone through the roof...