The main reason to buy gold and silver any time is as insurance against extreme negative events. The main reason for buying gold in 2016 remains the risk of an international monetary system collapse. Gold is money in extremis.

Seventeen million new vehicles were sold in 2015, the highest it’s ever been in United States history but, while the media claims that this record has been reached because of drastic improvements to the U.S. economy, they are once again failing to account for the central factor: credit expansion.

This year's World economic Forum proposes adding a new word to the English language motivated by a recognition that the word ‘debt’, as defined by Merriam Webster, implies something that is owed and will be paid back and that his definition is becoming a very Inconvenient Truth for the world’s bankers and politicians. It has been proposed that the word “debt” be replaced with the word “agfok”, an acronym for “A Gift For Our Kids”.

The financial industry & financial news networks have been discussing whether or not the government should be getting involved with more quantitative easing (QE4) in order to slow down or try to prevent the fall in the markets. This idea is unconscionable to us and it absolutely cannot happen. Here's why.

A tightening cycle by the Fed does one thing every time: slow our economy and end up in a stock market crash. History tells us this and if you haven't taken action yet, you may be running out of time. Here's what you can do to protect yourself:

According to RBS, the global financial markets are already showing signs of significant stress and the conditions are similar to those of the months before the Lehman crisis in 2008. Their advice is to ‘Sell everything’ and brace for a ‘cataclysmic year’!

What does the average trader think during a rally and the following sell-off? Here it is in graph form.

Most every shopper, except most common stock shoppers, are excited and appreciative when they see merchandise they want selling at a bargain price. Why is it that common stock investors seem to hate it when their stocks go on sale?

If imports and exports are both falling, that means consumption is weak pretty much everywhere, and weak consumption means slow or negative growth which means lower corporate profits, which, if history is still a valid guide, means less valuable equities, so could it be that the markets are simply figuring this out and revaluing assets accordingly?

Don’t tie your fortune to a rising market – and I mean any kind of market anywhere on the globe. This is a time to think strategically, stay hedged and diversified, and avoid big directional bets. I think active and hedged management will be the place to be in the coming period. To quote the motto of House Stark in Game of Thrones, winter is coming...