It was only a few decades ago that currencies around the world were back by gold which meant that whatever piece of money that people used in their day-to-day lives represented a real amount of gold held by that government. Today, the main influencing factors on exchange rates are as illustrated in the infographic below.

This infographic shows how many million barrels per day the TOP 10 oil and gas companies produce & how many years global oil reserves are expected to last.

Earnings may be a consideration when investing in the stock market, but whether you make money or not depends on the extent of monetary inflation. The rate of inflation has been twice that of the gains seen in the Dow Jones since 1920 but currently, while Wall Street may be seeing a “bull market”, the inflation adjusted returns investors receive from rising share prices aren’t compensating them for the decline in purchasing power the dollars their profits are denominated in. [Let me explain further.]

Is it time to sell all of your stocks because we’ve seen huge gains over the past five years? Not necessarily. It all depends on your time horizon and what kind of investor you are. Let me explain.

We are not as smart, or as unbiased, as we think. Outside influences can greatly - and adversely - affect our decision making. Here are two ways in which “doing less” can probably "make us more" in our investing lives.

What are billionaires good at besides achieving goals and rolling in the dough? Some of their habits and personality traits may surprise you. Who knows, adopting some of the characteristics and good habits of successful billionaires could help you along your path to greater achievements and riches.

Canadians are using their appreciating homes as ATMs (as Americans did in the early 2000′s before their housing crash) and the funds being borrowed are not just for home improvements, but in many cases to fund living and lifestyle expenses.

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Those in control will not allow the gold price to reach $18,000 an ounce where the 18,000 DOW sits today, but the DOW could drop 90%, as it did in 1929, to 1800 and gold rise to $1,800 an ounce! Could one accept the very real possibility that the DOW will unhinge by 50%...and gold rise to $9,000 an ounce? Look at these historical DOW to GOLD ratios.

Asset allocation is the most essential factor in building a high performing portfolio. Paying attention to the risk of each asset class allows you to create a portfolio that can beat the market in good times as well as bad.