A short time ago I started looking at the question: "Is gold an effective hedge against a financial crisis?" Having studied the question in more detail, I find the answer is no, gold is not an effective hedge against a financial crisis. Here's why.

Almost every one of the precious metals has some sort of explosive feeling and that is especially so with the price of silver. Let me explain why that is the case.

More and more retirees are looking to retire abroad where the sun shines almost daily, the weather is temperate, the lifestyle is enjoyable and the cost of living is a fraction of their current expenses. Have you ever considered Asia? This infographic compares the cost of living, lifestyle and personal safety of 9 countries worth considering. Words: 999; Photos: 5

BIG INFLATION is THE BIG MONEY trend today and smart investors will use it to generate literal fortunes - and if you're not already taking steps to prepare for this, it's time to get a move on.

Recently I discovered a website which tracks pundits in finance (and politics and sports). Check it out to see how many of the calls and predictions of your favorite prognosticators have turned out to be true. You’ll be surprised and, no doubt, disappointed!

When prices are set by companies that can profit by manipulating or rigging them, we’re screwed. This “harvesting” of our money in ever-more-creative and hard-to-detect ways is not just stealing by reaching a hand into our pocket and taking out money, but stealing in which banks can hit a few keystrokes and magically make whatever is in our pocket worth less. This is corruption at the molecular level of the economy - space age stealing - and it’s only just coming into view.

Everyone must be wondering where this "unprecedented global financial crisis", (the World Bank's words), is heading. What follows, for what they are worth, are my cogitations on this crisis. Words: 1641

The Fed, together with other central banks from around the world, have created the perfect crescendo of worldwide credit bubbles and asset bubbles leading to the excesses and decadence which are the normal finale to a secular trend. They have totally destroyed all major world currencies and left the world with debts that cannot and will not be repaid with normal money. As such, there are only two alternative outcomes, debt default or hyperinflation. Both will have disastrous consequences for the world economy.

A few years back I published an article that itemized what 148 supposed experts of the day were predicting for the future price of gold and as it turns out none of them – not one – knew what they were talking about. By trying to do so they were all playing a fool’s game, a game reserved for the brave but foolhardy.

The chart below measures the performance of spot gold versus the S&P 500 Index versus during 11 crisis periods since 1985. Gold returned an average +6.4% compared to -21.7% for the S&P 500 for these 11 crisis periods.